Thursday, October 31, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 31st of October 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Oh, you know what day it is… the birthday of John Candy- seriously, he was born on the most ironic days to be called candy. Because, yes- if tomorrow is All Saints Day… also called “All Hallow’s Day,” today is All Hallow’s Eve… or, as it has come down to us, Halloween.

It’s a day of ghosts and goblins and superstitions of all kinds- the last day demons and their ilk get to do their business before we call on or remember the dearly departed today.

But before it became the holiday it is today, it was recognized by many as Reformation Day- after all, it is said that it was on All Saints Eve in the city Of Wittenberg the young monk Martin Luther walked up to the church door next to the castle and posted his 95 Theses setting off the Protestant Reformation.

Dear friends, I am not often on social media- I have a Twitter account I rarely use, and that’s it. This was encouraged this summer as I went to Wittenberg (with GTItours at GTitours.org sign up now to go with me next September!) I posted a picture of myself outside the doors of the Castle Church and wrote something like “I hear something happened here,” and I was inundated with the “well, actually” crowd that, in some cases, became vitriolic, and I had to block- good times.

And I get it; we can take fictional events and so blend them with historical events that we can’t tell the difference (and yes, I’m looking at your strange statue of Mel Gibson in Scotland where we should see William Wallace). And Luther is certainly the subject of any number of embellishments as both a hero and villain to so many.

I once suggested that the “Here I Stand” in his famous speech a few years later may have been a later addition. It ruffled a few feathers, but it’s probably the case- but it doesn’t change what happened, what was said AND it was a standard practice to ‘punch up’ historical speeches.

And as a man who has spent a good amount of time in Wittenberg, I will tell you that the local tour guide guild seems to have taken up the “Luther didn’t actually post his theses” story, and this is a popular enough view such that my timeline was inundated with strange bots and some, even stranger, people. Here’s the deal: 

He didn’t use a hammer and nails. Nails were expensive.

He wasn’t trying to break away from the church. He was a loyal son of the church who wanted to debate what he saw as errant views on repentance- his views were not unpopular.

He wasn’t necessarily being defiant. The doors of the Castle Church (yes, not the same as today because WWII destroyed a lot) were a kind of bulletin board- a place to post theses to then be disputed academically. Luther had done a similar thing one month prior- proposing 97 theses for debate. But it’s the 95 on this day that has become a touchpoint for the Protestant Reformation,

In an article from Time magazine in 2017, an author trying to get to the bottom of the story wrote: “The legend that has grown up around the story of Luther nailing his Theses to the church door follows a precedent of historical events that have been remembered differently from the way they actually happened”.  

Yes! A good historical word- and luckily, our intrepid reporter went to the Reformation Studies Institute at the University of St. Andrews to ask Luther scholar (and my former professor!) Andrew Pettegree, who helped straighten out the story- it wasn’t defiant or with a hammer, but these were posted for debate, and the result was the most momentous event of the early modern period.  

But still, some will say, “Did it really even happen with the door and all that?” After all, Luther doesn’t mention it (perhaps he didn’t feel the need to— they were pretty popular), and most importantly, we have a firsthand account- Philip Melanchthon wrote of the Theses… “these he publicly affixed to the church next to the castle in Wittenberg, on the eve of the Feast of All Saints in the year 1517.”

So…. Not nailed, but affixed. Burn. But the event that helped start the modern West and gave this institution its name- the 95 theses were “affixed” to the door in Wittenberg on this, the Eve of All Saints in 1517.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and Hebrews- but sans Melchizedek- from chapter 9

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 31st of October 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by man whose “Affixed it!” Novelty shirts just don’t…quite… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who swears with everyone else that Andrew Pettegree looks like a certain British comedian- but we keep it to ourselves.  I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.