Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German theologian whose protest against the sale of indulgences in 1517 began the Protestant Reformation. The son of a miner at Eisleben, he abandoned the law for the Augustinian order, became professor of biblical studies at Wittenberg, and arrived at the doctrine that a person is justified by faith alone. Excommunicated in 1521 and condemned at the Diet of Worms, he was protected by the Elector of Saxony and translated the Bible into German. His writings include The Freedom of a Christian, The Bondage of the Will, the catechisms, hymns and a commentary on Galatians. He married the former nun Katharina von Bora in 1525.