Martin Luther

Martin Luther did do much for the church, but it seems that his secular reforms are forgotten. He was the man who convinced the princes of Germany to make schooling a public and mandatory thing. He is the reason that today we go to school for 15 years of our lives. Some even more if we decide to go onto college. Luther didn't technically want to split with the Catholic Church, as a matter of fact, when he hung the 95 thesis on the church door he believed he was doing a great service to the Church and had actually dedicated it to the Pope, thinking that if he read them or found out about it, that the Pope would agree with him completely. Another thing to remember is that he was the founder of Doctrinal Protestantism, he believed that it was important to have a system of beliefs which is confirmed by the bible, instead of leaving it up to individual interpretation. He was also the first one to write a common language Bible, instead of it being in Latin. (granted that meant it was in High... Read more

I was confirmed in a Lutheran church, so I've sampled his writings and find them fascinating, you might say. As a hack historian I find the religious warfare that his schism led to equally fascinating. I wonder if he would have done things in a more measured way if he knew the road ahead sometimes. The Catholic church slowly reformed a bit too, after all.

Not influencial enough

It's hard to find any other individual man who screwed up Europe more than Luther. It's hard to say what Europe (plus the entire Western Hemisphere as well) would be like today if Luther had never nailed the 95 Theses to that church door.

A most important religious figure as the leader of the Reformation but I think he was later overshadowed by Calvin. On the other hand, without Luther, probably there would have been no Calvin. What is interesting about Protestantism, except for a few exceptions, the countries that became Protestant were Teutonic or Germanic or under those influences: England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Bohemia and the Netherlands. The exceptions of non-German Protestants were the French Huguenots and other small groups in French Switzerland, and the Protestants of Eastern Hungary and Transylvania. History is fascinating. A squabble between German monks and Italian prelates over fund raising led to the Reformation. The Germanic leaders quickly climbed on board as they could seize church lands. It is a historical fact that in no country did the Reformation triumph by popular demand. The kings, nobility and ruling oligarchies imposed it on the popu... Read more

The man inspired, spurred, and encouraged the greatest schism Christian religion has ever known, and his influence is still felt strongly today.

What u mean not a great influence? R u Lance Armstrong.....half nuts????

He put his life on the line to tell The Truth about God and ended up being excommunicated for it.

This guy had a lot of guts, so much so that he risked his life to proclaim that all this time, people have been believing the wrong thing. Many others before him had the same ideas but didn't go very far, but this guy, was in the right place at the right time.. the printing press was invented and he was able to send his ideas to people all over and make them think more about the Catholic religion, who was at that time the world power. The funny thing I have found is Catholics still try to undermine this guy! Definitely influential, if that's still happening ;)

Faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love. Sorry, protestants, but Christ's message is not focused on faith. Ironic that you guys study the Bible so much but still get things so wrong. I'd say Jews understand God's message better than protestants do, and they haven't even accepted Jesus (yet)!!!

He brought the true salvation message to light, however, today, many so called protestants still believe in a works gospel.

express all your knowledge on the topic and write things that are right and not too much. make sure your information is accurate

Probably one of the all-time underrated most infuential people. . .basically invented all forms of Protestantism. . .brilliant mind and visionary who still held deep theological beliefs yet celebrated the individual in a tight-fisted and unenlightened world. . .deserves much credit for the rise of the intellectual individual that rejects ancient dogma. . .no, he's not perfect, but his contributions outweigh his warts. . .

Hard to imagine ANYONE who has been more influential on history in the last five hundred years. Without Luther, and this greatest of all religious schisms, there would have been no need for English-speaking colonists to come to North America, for one thing: the Western Hemisphere might well be one monolithic Spanish-speaking empire and almost certainly not a democracy, since many of the philosophical trends that came together in the Enlightenment (such as the idea of democracy) were seeded by the Reformation in one way or another. Luther was a coarse man, angry and hateful some of the time (read his diatribes on Jews for an example), but his impact on world history was profound.

Not a great influence

He was very influential because he founded a religion and endured adversities for it all while holding himself with dignity. While I may not like religion or choose not to partake in it, I respect Martin Luther for his determination.

Impact is no longer profound.