Martin Luther: PBS Empire Series

Starring: West, Timothy and Neeson, Liam

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: DVD
• Release Date: January 1
• Rating: Unrated (Not Rated)
• Publisher: Vision Video
• Director: Harrison, Cassian
• Starring: West, Timothy, Neeson, Liam
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: NTSC; Color; Widescreen; Subtitled
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

“Rome was a spiritual place full of unspiritual people”

The PBS Empires series reaches a Season 2 crescendo in Martin Luther, a balanced review of one of the most complex, controversial and contradictory figures in Western civilization’s second millennium. The Great Reformer by all accounts never set out to rock Christendom both theologically and politically, but his overwhelming presence did just that. Both Luther’s intellectual and psychological makeup are presented here. He was certainly a genius—a superb writer, professor, pastor, theologian, linguist and musician. He appeared to suffer (in today’s terminology) from manic depression -- Anfechtung to Luther. That may explain the spectrum of emotions he could muster up –- from empathy and tenderness in explaining God’s mercies to violent polemics when relentlessly denouncing his opponents. In this account, the turning points in Luther’s life -- a near-death incident that converted him from law student to Augustinian monk and a pilgrimage to Rome, “a spiritual place full of unspiritual people”-- provide context for the momentous decisions he made. “The Church,” notes narrator Liam Neeson, “was rich beyond counting, mightier than kings, but also corrupt and tyrannical.” Martin Luther deserved a sixteenth century “profile in courage” award. In an age when Church and State were intertwined in a “one size fits all” version of Christianity, the penalty for dissent was gruesome. Heretics were normally roasted alive “without the shedding of blood”. Against the advice of his colleagues, Luther testified before the Diet at Worms [Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire] in 1521. In attendance were the temporal and spiritual powers of all Europe. There he would not recant his allegedly heretical ideas. It is likely that without the intervention of Prince Frederick of Saxony, Luther would have been handed over to the Roman Inquisition and executed. How many today would so openly dissent within the shadow of death? Fortunately, this rendering of the Luther story does not get sidetracked into a long dichotomy of Catholic vs. Protestant theology. The crown jewel he contributed to modern Christianity – the primacy of God’s relentless grace upon humanity – is no longer controversial within the Christian faith. The story that should always survive him would be that boundless love of the Almighty for individuals, not Luther’s biography. It is therefore ironic that a denomination and theological principles are named for him – “Lutheran” – when in fact such hero-worship was strictly against his wishes.