Hi, I'm Peter Adams, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, brought

to you with the support of the Philosophy Department at King's College, London, and

the LMU in Munich, online at historyofphilosophy.net.

Today's episode, no Lord but God, the peasant's war and radical reformation.

When you begin to read up on Martin Luther's political ideas, you may come to see it as

rather ironic that he was the namesake of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whereas King committed his life to resisting oppression and seeking racial and social

equality, the original Luther was apoplectic with disapproval when an uprising against

oppression and inequality arose in his own time.

Even though, or more likely, because, his own teachings had helped to inspire it.

In 1525, peasants staged a revolt against church and secular authorities, initially

along the Rhine and in Swabia, and spreading from there across southern Germany and parts

of modern-day Switzerland in Austria.

Luther responded by denouncing the uprising with violent rhetoric.

When he was criticized for this, he doubled down, writing,

Rebels are not worth rational arguments for, they do not accept them.

You have to answer people like that with a fist until the sweat drops off their noses.

The peasants would not listen, they would not let anyone tell them anything, so their ears

must now be unbuttoned with musket balls until their heads jump off their shoulders.

We should not be too quick to suggest a posthumous renaming of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Believe it or not, there is actually a distant parallel between Luther's ideas and the

pacifist tactics King employed in the civil rights struggle.

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