And just like that… we’re onto the Saintly Sixteen. Round 2 of Lent Madness begins NOW.
The Memphis Martyrs punched the final ticket to the dance, and frankly the Memphis Grizzlies could learn a thing or two from Constance and her companions after they dominated the Martyrs of Uganda to close out the first round 75.25% to 24.75%
But enough warm-ups. The second round tips off with a matchup that may cause some serious Episco-Lutheran tension. It’s Richard Hooker vs. Martin Luther.
Forget full communion… today it’s denomination domination. Does Luther have a three-legged stool to stand on? Does Hooker have 95 theses, but a trip to the Elate Eight ain’t one?
Read the blogs, watch the video, and cast your vote. Only one reformer is rolling on. 🏆
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a revolutionary monk who kick-started the Protestant Reformation and the Lutheran Church in the early 1500s. Martin had a way with words, notably in his 95 Theses, which he nailed to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral in 1517. Scholars theorize that he didn’t really start out wanting to break away from the Roman Catholic Church – but several of the theses are rather in-your-face. (For example: In Thesis #86, Luther wants to know why the Pope, being one of the richest people on the planet, asks for offerings to build churches instead of financing them himself.)
Luther stood trial at the Diet at Worms, and famously refused to back down, saying: “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”
By arguing that both the popes and the ecumenical councils had erred in interpreting the scriptures, Luther was again not helping his “I promise I am not a heretic” case, and he was convicted. However, a friendly neighboring German prince hid him on his way back from the trial, and he was saved from immediate arrest.
It actually took the Roman curia a few more years to decide that Luther’s work was actually heresy. Initially, when Luther was told of the papal bull which declared him a heretic, Luther assumed it was a mean joke by a rival theologian (theologians being notorious pranksters after all.) Once he was given a copy of Exsurge Domine, which declared 41 sentences of his to be heresy (though didn’t specify which ones), and gave him 60 days to recant, Luther published a response pamphlet entitled “Against the Execrable Bull of the Antichrist”. On the day he was supposed to recant, he cancelled his classes at Wittenburg, marched his students down to the town gates, lit an enormous bonfire, and threw copies of the papal bull into it.
Clearly, Luther was not a chill, calm person, but as he himself said–”Be a sinner and sin boldly; but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.”
— Megan Castellan
Richard Hooker
If he isn’t remembered for anything else, Richard Hooker will be remembered for the three words that define Anglicanism: Scripture. Tradition. Reason. The three-legged stool.
Educated, a church scholar, a leader, Richard Hooker is the "Father of Anglican Theology."
Born when Mary was queen, ordained and married when Elizabeth ruled, he served churches throughout the English countryside. As a leading theologian, he was embroiled in the Protestant Reformation. And his words echo through the ages to today.
Through his comprehensive and groundbreaking (and earth-shattering!) eight volume work “The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,” Hooker defended the Reformation and all that went with it. It’s here that he argued all belief in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is grounded in Scripture, Tradition, and Reason (there’s that three-legged stool again!). He upheld the Book of Common Prayer and shaped the Anglican via media between Protestantism and Catholicism.
Hooker had much to say about aspects of life: “Of two Evils we take the less.”
On change: "Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”
On religion and society: "For if the course of politic affairs cannot in any good sort go forward without fit instruments, and that which fitteth them be their virtues, let Polity acknowledge itself indebted to Religion.”
On human judgment: "To live by one man's will becomes the cause of all misery.”
On authority: "For men to be tied and led by authority, as it were with a kind of captivity of judgment... this were brutish.”
On speech: "The end of speech is to teach, to inform, to persuade, and to move".
On goodness: "Whatsoever is good; the same is also approved of God.”
On ministry: "Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves.”
On law: "Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world.”
While Hooker had many detractors (like the Puritans!), he attracted some notable fans: Pope Clement VIII is said to have stated that Hooker’s work “had in it such seeds of eternity that it would abide until the last fire shall consume all learning.”
Renowned English author and apologist C.S. Lewis was quoted that, in England, "controversy had involved only tactics; Hooker added strategy.”
King James I, in Hooker’s biography, said, "I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil."
In addition to the “The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,” Hooker’s other writings include a collection of his sermons.
— Neva Rae Fox
75 comments on “Martin Luther vs. Richard Hooker”
I am swerving my vote to Richard Hooker in the hopes of staving off a late-round debate about anti-semitism. Were it not for that factor, I would vote for the man who nailed reformation to the door over the man who fine-tuned reformation's three-legged stool.
Thanks, Alice LT!
Not Lutheran or Episcopalian - but Mennonite. Maybe next year I will nominate Menno Simons.
I grew up Mennonite and was in a Mennonite church until I was in my 30s. If I lived in an area where there was a Mennonite church nearby that’s probably where I would be again. I miss the sense of community. Yay Mennonite Simons!
Oops - sometimes I hate autocorrect! Menno Simons!!
Given the ample and irrefutable historical documentation of Luther’s unambiguous antisemitism, a vote for Luther is WAY out of the question.
Only because he couldn't comprehend how after hearing about the grace of Christ in which we live move & have our being, God's chosen didn,t covert, flumocced him. He was overly condemning, but it was in conceivable to Luther that one wouldn't become Christian after knowing the love & graced of Christ.
Luther was an anti-Semite. Can't vote for that!
As a cradle Lutheran (who memorized Luther's Small Catechism in elementary school and purchased 500 temporary tattoos of Luther's seal in 2017, giving them ALL away to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the "posting" of his 95 Theses), I cast my vote for Brother Martin.
Correction: Dr. Luther did NOT post the 95 "to the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral," as blogger Megan Castellan wrote. First, the name of the town is Wittenberg not "burg" (as in the Wartburg, a castle/fortress of the Elector of Saxony, where Luther hid for over a year after the Diet of Worms). Nor were the 95 posted on a door to a CATHEDRAL; it's the door to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, where the nobility worshiped.
As Alice LT noted earlier, Luther's anti-semitism was horrible. Twentieth-century American Lutheran scholars recognized this deep flaw in the man and included an English translation of that awful treatise in the American Edition of Luther's Works. They did not attempt to cover-up this ugly side of the man but made it available for English speakers to read and see first hand that we are "simul justus et peccator" - at the same time saint and sinner.
In fact, there wasn't any nailing either. It was a list of points to debate, and he just handed them around. The antisemitism was typical of the time. But I'm still voting for Hooker & his stool.
Hooker for me: I deeply appreciate Anglicanism's "via media."
Also, I loved C S Lewis's assessment of him above:
Renowned English author and apologist C.S. Lewis was quoted that, in England, "controversy had involved only tactics; Hooker added strategy.”
A Mighty Fortress is our God!
Need I say more?
Luther stepped out of the comfort zone, talked the talk, walked the walk, wrote clear instructions and also the soundtrack!
I have a book called Glorious Companions, which features the words of many important Christian theologians,including Richard Hooker. I love his writing. He gets my vote.
As a former Catholic and now a happy United Methodist for decades, I have to go with Martin Luther in spite of his anti-semitism. He brought to the surface some of the appalling doctrines that the Pope/Church hierarchy taught that were not from Jesus.
Perhaps Luther defines Protestantism, but Hooker defines Anglican or Episcopal Protestantism. God may judge both deserve a Golden Halo in Heaven, but may He forgive me, Hooker gets my vote here on earth.
Wow, I see it is going to be close. OK, as I am an EPiscopalian, it does grieve me to cast my vote "against, " but really, I do have to vote for Martin Luther.
Hooker's "three legged stool" oor no!
Martin Luther
Vote for Richard!
Richard Hooker gave the Church in England a lot, including Scripture, Tradition and Reason. Reason is a wonderful gift. I voted for Richard Hooker.
gotta go with Hooker!
The reminder of his anti-semitism determined it for me!
I was raised in the Lutheran Church (both ELCA and Missouri Synod). I am now an Episcopalian. One thing that seems to be missing in most discussions about the 95 Theses is that Martin Luther was a teacher at the University. Today these would be considered writing prompts or debate starters. I was taught that Martin Luther was trying to start a discussion; he never intended to leave the Romas Church only to bring it back in line with Scripture. That the powers that were at the time took offense wasn't too surprising. Even King Henry VIII wrote a response to Luther's writings and was named a Defender of the Faith by the Pope. Given the history and culture of the times, his anti semitism was not unexpected.
Did Richard Hooker take exception to the discrimination in his time, which was more than 200 years before England took a stand against the slave trade?
We are all flawed human beings and an understanding of the history and culture of the times in which the nominees lived and worked and worshiped should be taken into account before passing judgment.
Except that Luther's antisemitism wasn't at all mild and can't simply be argued away as simply being "of his time." He called, in very specific detail, for Jews and their entire culture to be obliterated. In fact, his writings on this subject were popular among Nazis and used to help justify the Holocaust. This man has no business winning a Golden Halo. I'm sorry, but no.
Amen.
Are you blaming Martin Luther for the Nazis?
I love my Lutheran colleagues and neighbors, and like any Episcopalian can hold the ambiguity of the same people doing both good and valuable things and hateful and horrible things. But Luther's embrace of antisemitism went on long before it could perhaps be explained away by dementia in his later years. And he spoke of the Jewish people in words and tone that should never be aimed at any of God's children -- words that spurred horrible historical events. And how in the name of the God of Love could Luther worship a Jew as his incarnate savior, and then wish deprivation and death on Jesus's own family? Especially in this present age of demonizing and bombing whole nations and peoples, I'm saddened that we're debating this again. Here I stand.
What a terrible choice. I grew up Lutheran and I have family membersxwho are clergy, so I voted for Luther. But I also love Hooker! Wow.
Disappointed to find no less than four errors of fact in the write-up for Martin Luther:
- Correct spelling is Wittenberg, not Wittenburg.
- The church on which Luther's theses were posted was not a Cathedral. A cathedral is a bishop's church. All Saints Church was the church of the local ruler and also served as the church for the university.
- It was not a "neighboring" prince but Luther's own prince in Saxony who kept Luther hidden at the Wartburg Castle.
- Luther had been excommunicated by the papal bull Decet Romanum in January 2021, three months before his appearance at the Diet of Worms. He had already burned the papal bull threatening excommunication, Exsurge Domine, in December 1520. This is a far cry from the claim that he was not declared a heretic for "a few more years."
I've been a fan of March Madness for many years. I appreciate the history, the spirituality, and the playfulness. While I don't expect the celebrity bloggers to be experts on all of their subjects, I don't think it's too much to expect accurate information.
Jan Hus, of Bohemia, was a contemporary of the Englishman and thinker John Wycliffe. Jan Hus' influence continues; the Moravian Church still looks to his pioneering Reformation.
Both were a century before Martin Luther. Interestingly, Jan Hus. John Wycliffe, and Martin Luther were Catholic priests.
Yes, alas, Luther had a nasty streak. The Lutheran church has apologized for his comments about the Jews. Obviously he was wrong. Luther was also a sick man; not making excuses, please, but truly, his physical and mental states had to have affected him adversely. Otherwise, I believe his theology was sound. I appreciate Hooker's three-legged stool concept: isn't it particularly useful in our modern age? But I've been a Lutheran for 73 years. And when I'm not Lutheran, I'm Episcopalian! Love you guys!
Although I'm a devout Episcopalian and have the greatest admiration for Hooker's achievements (we still use his prayer book, with minor tuneups), I have to go with Luther for kick-starting the Reformation that made Hooker's work possible.
As a committed Episcopalian, I have to go with Richard Hooker! (Love that 3-legged stool!)
I have been thinking about my vote for 2 days, worrying that I was being too hard on a great man for his antisemitism . Then the awful event in Michigan (could have been so much worse). I fear there're too many people with too much hatred for this world to bear. I pray daily for God to help me be kind. We need to try harder ,each of us, to love each other as He loved us. I fail daily. What a different world if we each tried harder every day. I do not regret my vote for Hooker but I do not regret the outcome. I only pray for help for this world that still has the same problems over and over. God be with us all.
Richard Hooker for sure!