Luther's Anfechtung: The Nightmare of the Soul

[RamistThomist]

The following is from Roland Bainton's Here I Stand. This is biography at its finest.

After Luther failed in giving the Mass

The terror of the Holy, the horrors of Infinitude, smote him like a new lightning bolt...Luther's tremor was augmented by the recognition of unworthiness...Before God the High and Holy Luther was stupefied...The word he used was Anfechtung, for which there is no English equivalent. It may be a trial by God to test man, or an assault by the Devil to destroy man. It is all the doubt, turmoil, pang, tremor, panic, despair, desolation, and desperation which invade the spirit of man.

p. 31

In consequence the most frightful insecurities beset him. Panic invaded his spirit. The conscience became so disquieted as to start and tremble at the stirring of a windblown leaf. The horror of nightmare gripped the soul, the dread of one waking in the dusk to look into the eyes of him who has come to take his life. The heavenly champions all withdrew; the fiend beckoned with leering summons to the impotent soul

p. 42

 

[R. Scott Clark]

Dramatic yes, colorful yes, but historical? Well, that's a question.

Be wary of attempts to ground Luther's turn to Protestantism in a decisive religious crisis or experience.

It didn't happen all at once. It happened gradually over a period from 1513-1521.

Did he have various episodes of terror? Probably, but the so-called Turmerlebnis (tower experience) is more a figment of the the modern imagination than a fact of history or even of Luther's recollection.

In the same way, there's real doubt about whether Luther actually nailed the 95 Theses to the door. The mailed them certainly.

While I'm at it, the celebration of Oct 31 1517 is very much a modern phenomenon. It's the result of Freidrich Wilhelm III's desire to unite the Reformed and Lutheran Churches in the early 19th century. The tercentenary of the 95 Theses became a time of celebration. Until then, we hadn't paid much attention to it. In fact the 95 Theses weren't all that Protestant. Except for a couple of lines here and there, Luther was, as he later described himself, "a roaring papist" when he promulgated them.

Here endeth the rant.

rsc

 

[RamistThomist]

I know. He also probably didn't thunder into Worms on the white horse and defiantly shout "Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen." Still, it makes good biorgaphy.

 

[Puddleglum]

So all the classic Luther story is just a made-up story? Dang it . . . it's a good story.