Martin Luther

culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions, and the course of Western civilization. Luther emphasized that a person is saved by the merciful kindness of God through the merits of Jesus Christ alone, received through trusting faith in Christ, not by human efforts to earn God's favor.[2] As he put it in his Small Catechism, "I believe that I can not by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith."[3]

Luther's hymns,[4] including his best-known "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage on June 13, 1525, to Katharina von Bora reintroduced the practice of clerical marriage within many Christian traditions (see Marriage and family below).

His contributions to Western civilization include his translation of the Bible, which provided a standard version of the German language and added several principles to the art of translation. His translation significantly influenced the English King James Bible (see Luther's Bible translation below). Due to the recently developed printing press, his writings were widely read, influencing many subsequent Protestant Reformers and thinkers, giving rise to diversifying Protestant traditions in Europe and elsewhere.[5] Today nearly seventy million Christians belong to Lutheran churches worldwide,[6] with some four hundred million Protestant Christians[7] tracing their history back to Luther's reforming work.

Luther is also known for his writings about the Jews, in which he proposed that Jews' homes be destroyed, their synagogues and schools burned, their money confiscated, and their rights and liberties curtailed.[8] These writings were given "full publ