Table Talk with Martin Luther

The Pope and the Theory

I invited Dr. Luther to my home in northern lower Michigan. I have lived here for thirty-four years and Luther had agreed to spend two weeks in discussions with me on his beliefs and the current teachings of the Catholic Church.

Retired from teaching for two years, I have developed interests in astronomy, writing, fruit and vegetable farming, and motorcycle riding.

After giving Dr. Luther a tour of my farm on a day, late in May, we went down to the lake and began our conversation.

“The cherry and apple blossoms are beautiful,” began Luther. “In Germany, where I grew up as a child . . . Eisenach today . . . you can see extensive mixed deciduous and coniferous woodlands growing on hilly terrain. Leelanau reminds me of my home town, with its pines and maples.”

“Yes, “ I replied. “As a matter of fact, to the northwest of Eisenach, about 200 km, is the town of Hahnenberg. It is known for its apple wine, so I guess the thirteen acres of apples on my farm is in keeping with my ancestral hometown. . . . although our farm market makes apple cider instead.”

“My father was a copper miner; however, the family of Luder, or Luther, was into dairy farming.. My father had to leave the family farm because the law at that time dictated that his youngest brother would inherit the farm.”

“Interesting,” I said. “You paint yourself as a poor peasant. On your mother’s side, your lineage was quite well-to-do. The Lindemanns were well-established, with doctors, lawyers, and civil magistrates as your cousins.”

“You know your history,” Luther said with a smile.

“I brought with me today a book I wrote on St. Jerome, the author of the Latin Vulgate. I thought we might begin our conversation with your view of the Bible, since you translated the New Testament . . . and the Old Testament, with help from friends like  Melanchthon . . . into what I gather is considered excellent German.”

“Yes,  St. Jerome . . . as you   know . . . after he had revised and corrected the Septuagint, translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin; His version was still used in our church. Truly, for one man, this was work enough!  Nulla enim privata persona tantum efficere potuisset.”¹

I caught the Latin of Luther. He had agreed to speak in English or Latin, since I had only studied German for a short time.

“During your life you wrote many things condemning the Pope and the papacy. You named the papacy the Antichrist. Yet, today, the pope is arguably the most well-known Christian leader in our world of over six billion people. He is the leader of a billion Catholics. Those that call themselves Lutheran number world-wide nearly 70 million members.”

At this point, I got out some information about the Lutheran World Federation.

“Did you know, that the Lutheran World Federation, a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition, was founded in 1947 in Sweden? It now has 138 member churches in 78 countries representing over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide.”

“If the papacy is the antichrist, why would an all-loving God allow the Catholic church to follow an institution that is, in your opinion, the devil itself? Why the vituperations against the Pope and the papacy?”

Luther seemed agitated to hear the statistics I quoted. He reflected for a moment, then proceeded to answer in the following. manner