Luther Rated by History
Browsing at the bookstore I picked up a book entitled 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the men and Women Who Shaped the Millenium. At first I looked to see where Jesus was listed, but he wasn't listed. Doh! It's a book about this last century. I guess the authors overlooked that Jesus did rise from the dead and has controlled world events from his heavenly throne.
So I took a serious look at the list. And who should pop up at number three than Martin Luther himself! He was outranked by #1 Johannes Gutenberg and #2 Christopher Columbus. The top five were rounded out by #4 Galileo Galilei and #5 William Shakespeare. (The top ranking for an American is George Washington at #22, followed by #23 Wilbur Wright, #24 Orville Wright, and #28 Thomas Alva Edison.) Not bad company.
But why was Luther rated number three by Agnes Hooper Gottlieb, Henry Gottlieb, Not bad company.
But why was Luther rated number three by Agnes Hooper Gottlieb, Henry Gottlieb, Barbara Bowers, and Brent Bowers? Well, the authors developed a "BioGraph system" to rate the 1,000 greatest people of the last 1,000 years. The BioGraph has five "key" elements: the subject's lasting influence and impact (maximum 10,000 points), the subject's impact and influence upon contemporaries (maximum 4000 points), contribution to wisdom and beauty (maximum 5000 points), charisma (maximum 2000 points), and singularity of contribution (maximum 3000 points). Thus a person could garner up to 24,000 points. Gutenberg received 21,768 points; Luther gained 21,753. (The authors concede Gutenberg would have had a greater margin over Columbus is he only had a smidgeon of charisma; he received 210 out of a possible 2000 for charisma.)
Each of the 1,000 has a write-up by the authors. And what was written about Dr. Martin Luther?
3. MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546)
"the monk who divided Christendom"
On October 31, 1517, Saxon monk Martin Luther tacked his Ninety-five Theses to the door of Wittenberg's castle church, and the world was never the same. His denunciation of priestly hucksters' "get-out-of-sin-free" indulgences started a revolt that ended Western Christendom's twelve hundred years of ideological unity, touched off a century and a half of religious warfare, and stimulated nationalism and capitalism. Reformer Desiderius Erasmus (97) tried to get Luther to tone down the attacks on the pope, but Luther was pigheaded. Using the new printing technology to whip up a following, Luther belittled the sacraments, argued for state power over religion, and championed heresies we now consider commonplace. Decades later Catholic emperor Charles V (61) said his worst mistake was not hanging Luther. If he had, maybe Charles would be number 3 on our list.
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