Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a friar and Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany. While
undertaking scriptural studies, Luther arrived at an essential tenet: the Bible alone was the source to salvation and
true Christianity. Luther rejected the authority of the Pope, and thought that people should go to the church and pray,
directly to God or Jesus, and not to anyone who claimed special powers or holiness. On 31st October 1517, All Saints’
Day eve, an occasion that attracted many pilgrims to the city, Luther nailed 95 theses to the church door. These
disputations, in Latin, were a provocative attack on indulgences, which he saw as a money-making scheme by the Church.
Initially posted to generate scholarly debate, the theses marked a beginning on the Reformation timeline. Importantly,
it was not only the theses that sparked the revolution; the time was ripe for action.
Luther was a preacher with a prolific publication output. He utilised the relatively new technology of printing to
disseminate his works, many slender tracts (flugschrift) and sermons written in German, to a wider audience. Supporters helped, including Philip Melanchthon and Frederick the
Wise, Elector of Saxony. And of course there were his opponents such as Johannes Cochlaeus, who wrote the first
biography on him, and Emperor Charles V. The Papal authorities saw Luther as a ‘notorious heretic’, and he was
excommunicated at the Diet of Worms in 1521.
This exhibition, 500 Years On. Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, is a celebratory one that not only acknowledges Luther’s provocative action back in October 1517, but also the result,
the spread of Reform that followed across Europe. The major players in this drama included Huldrych Zwingli, John
Calvin, John Knox, and Henry VIII, who was instrumental in starting the English Reformation. There was also the
inevitable back-lash, those involved in the ‘Catholic’ Counter Reformation. On-going Catholic and Protestant differences
resulted in the wholesale persecution of various sects, the English Civil War, and internal religious and social strife
throughout many European countries.
The exhibition presents an overview of what was a massive revolution that occurred in Europe, and Luther’s legacy
continues to impact on the world today. The books on display are from Special Collections, University of Otago, the
Hewitson Library, Knox College, and a private collection. Notable items include Hartmann Schedel’s famed Nuremberg Chronicle, printed in 1493; a late 15th century medieval Book of Hours; a sheet of the German Bible, printed in 1483, an early guidebook to Rome (1515), and most notably, a rare Latin Bible
(1481) that contains fragments of indulgences printed by William Caxton. Luther’s own work features, including his Deuteronomy (1525), his Works (1550), and a facsimile of his Bible, Die Propheten Alle Deutsch [1534]. Works by Johannes Cochlaeus, Erasmus, and Philip Melancthon, Luther’s friend and colleague, also feature. Also
on display are colourful facsimile leaflets (flugblatt) from the period. They include Weiditz’s ‘Käsebauer und Käsefrau’ [Cheesemaker and his wife] (1521) and Erhard Schön’s
‘Der Teufel mit der Sackpfeife’ [The Devil playing the Bagpipe], 1535.
The exhibition starts at the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago Library, on 24th March and runs
to 9 June 2017.