Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode we are going back to one of our favorite times to the time of the reformation and one of our favorite figures Martin Luther.

Well, there's a recent book on Luther, well it's five years old now but relatively

recent, that talks about how Luther used the printing press to advance these ideas and the theology of the reformation.

But in addition to using the printing press, this book also talks about how Luther used something rather innovative for scholars and theologians at the time.

He used the language of the people and not Latin.

The author of this book, Andrew Petagery, says says Luther was a cultured and purposeful theological

writer. He wrote fine Latin and his Latin works measured up well against those of talented adversaries. By saying that he was

cultured meant that he was educated and saying that he was a purposeful theological

writer means that he could get into the technicalia.

He could be exacting in his writing and in his logic, and he could go toe to toe with those

in the Academy.

But then Dr. Pedagree says that Luther made the decision

to make the case in German.

This was with a very crucial momentous publication, his 1518 sermon on indulgence and grace.

Now, we know in 1517, of course, we have the 95 theses.

They were written in Latin.

They were intended to be a debate within the church.

We also know that they were quickly translated

from the Latin into the German and through the printing press and these printing presses popped up all over the hamlets and cities of Germany

that Luther's 95 theses were quickly distributed, spread like wildfire across German-speaking lands.

But what he wrote in 1518, this sermon, he purposefully wrote it in German and had it printed in German. And the reason is very simple. The people

needed to hear this message. They needed to hear this message because they lived in darkness.

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