1483-1546
Religious Reformer

Promise to God. Born into a prosperous peasant family in Saxony, Germany, Martin Luther received his early education in a school of the Brothers of the Common Life. His father wanted him to become a lawyer to continue the family's rise in status, and Luther earned a masters of arts degree from the University of Erfurt in 1505. During the summer before he began his law studies, he was caught outdoors during a violent thunderstorm. Terrified when lightning knocked him down, he vowed to become a monk if his life was spared. Despite his father's outrage, he entered a monastery and was ordained a priest in 1507. In 1512 he finished his master's degree in theology and was appointed professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony, where he stayed until his death.

Faith. Despite being a pious and obedient monk, Luther was...