Luther, Ideas & the Information Age

Warning! Ideas may be hazardous to your health!

Continuing with my reflections on Luther, I was struck by the part in the movie where Luther finds all the peasants and his former colleague at the university wreaking havoc (revolting, burning, killing, mindless mob stuff). Luther takes the torch from the man and yells at the crowd. His former colleague says that he was only carrying on Luther's cause, to which Luther replies that this (i.e. the death, destruction and anarchy on a massive scale) was not his idea that it never was idea. I don't doubt that. I certainly don't think Luther wanted to cause a huge uprising that resulted in an incredible loss of life. I don't think he wanted to create so much dissension and strife. However, all of those points describe his intentions and NOT his ideas. I think that this sheds light on an important issue, which is the power of ideas and the responsibility associated with ideas. Based on the example of Martin Luther along with many others throughout history, ideas can be very powerful things and as such they should be approached with great caution and an understanding of one's responsibility for them. I think all too often we are impetuous and do not consider the ramifications of our actions, words, thoughts and ideas. As a psychology student, I know that many of our unconscious mental processes directly determine and significantly impact the way we act and interact with our environment. It is not difficult to understand then, that very radical or powerful ideas can have a very decisive effect on others' actions. Once information or ideas are made public, they can be used or abused in incalculable ways by any number of people.

Foresight: Did Luther need corrective lenses?

In Martin Luther's case, I wonder what would have transpired if he had perhaps been more careful and gradual with the introduction of his ideas. Just as he abruptly abandoned his life/career path and incredibly spontaneously withdrew from the world, his friends and his family and entered a monastery, so too did he act quickly with regard to his relations with the Church. Based on the many reversals and loose associations in the thoughts contained in Luther's writings, I personally think that Luther had not fully developed his ideas before pressing the issue. I feel like he had to make quick, on the spot judgments and flush out his ideas in a short period of time while also being under great pressure. If he had been more deliberate in his planning, his drive for Church reform may not have been as drastic and dramatic as it was. I don't think he always thought about the consequences of his actions and his words. For instance in his Letter to the German Nobility (which was written before his conciliatory Freedom of a Christian written for and dedicated to Pope Leo X) Luther calls the Pope the antichrist numerous times. How is it possible that Luther could think that he would not be causing a break/rift with the Church if he was calling its head the antichrist? It may be that Luther did not look far enough ahead to see what kinds of implications his works might have on his own life and the world in general.

Modern Applications

It is also interesting to note that Luther used the new media tool, the printing press, to disseminate his ideas throughout Europe. This quick and fast dissemination made it even more imperative that Luther take into consideration the implication of his ideas and accept responsibility for them. It is interesting that the same type of situation is quite common today. Right now as I post on my blog, I am putting ideas out into the public domain that any number of people can read. Like Luther, with the advent of our modern media tools, the computer and the internet, we have the ability to circulate our ideas to wide audiences in a short span of time. Luther's example might caution us to be very careful what ideas we choose to share with the world, and make sure that we are willing and ready to accept responsibility for our ideas. Luther's ideas changed the face of Europe forever, and while that may have been 500 years ago, we are still faced with the same dilemmas, issues and consequences today.