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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Oct 18 2006 at 5:26am | IP Logged
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I'm looking for a resource or biography of Luther that explains him to children from a Catholic perspective? Is there such a thing, or do I need to write a brief bio on my own? lol
Thanks!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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marihalojen
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I've never seen one myself, but the Homeschool Estore has a free download this week on Luther, the maps and such might be just what you are looking for! (I haven't downloaded this and so have not reviewed the product, it just appeared in my inbox this morning!)
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The Mari Hal-O-Jen
SSR = Sailing, Snorkling, Reading
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Karen E.
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| Posted: Oct 18 2006 at 7:45am | IP Logged
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I'm stumped, offhand. I usually cover him in my own words.
I haven't used either of these yet, but you might look into:
A Catechism of Church History
and
Celebrating 2000 Years of Christian History
And, here's a short piece at Catholic Culture that might help you cover some facts.
Sorry I can't be of more help -- we haven't covered Luther in depth yet!
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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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JennGM
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| Posted: Oct 18 2006 at 7:51am | IP Logged
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This thread had some suggestions. But again, it's not strictly Catholic.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Oct 19 2006 at 6:47am | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone! I basically ended up writing a two page bio of him. I read several books on him this summer, so I have a pretty good handle on things. Reading his own writings is always a shocking, eye-opening experience!
I tried to emphasize for them that he was an abused child of an alcoholic father, ill-equipped spiritually and emotionally to accept God as a loving father. This is what caused his struggles in monastic life, which he abandoned to create his own false religion. I also emphasized the role he played in the Peasant Revolt, pitting one side against the other with his preaching and costing thousands of lives. I summed up with the fact that he had a passionate hatred of Christ's Church but the gates of hell cannot prevail against her, so here we are! I also used bible references to refute his theories about salvation, private interpretation of scripture, etc.
I'm just amazed that someone hasn't written a resource for middle schoolers that addresses the role he played from a Catholic perspective. I think it's so important to teach our children that. As a Protestant, many children are taught Martin Luther is second only to the Savior himself! I want my children to know the truth.
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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Karen E.
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| Posted: Oct 19 2006 at 7:11am | IP Logged
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JennyMaine wrote:
| Reading his own writings is always a shocking, eye-opening experience! |
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Isn't that the truth? When I first became a Christian, but didn't yet have a church, I started with the Lutheran church -- my husband was raised Lutheran, and I KNEW I'd never be Catholic  and I figured I had to start somewhere.
Anyway, it was definitely Luther's own writings that steered me away from it all. His Bondage of the Will seemed to me to be in direct conflict with Scripture.
JennyMaine wrote:
| I'm just amazed that someone hasn't written a resource for middle schoolers that addresses the role he played from a Catholic perspective. |
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Hmmmm ....
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Karen E.
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Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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lapazfarm
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Jenny
Care to share that 2 page bio? I'd love to have that resource!
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Theresa
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Oct 19 2006 at 4:16pm | IP Logged
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Here ya go. . .sorry it's so long!
-----------------------------------
Martin Luther was a German who led a revolt against Holy Mother Church in the 1500s (the sixteenth century). He was born in 1483 and died in 1546.
Martin’s father, Hans, was a miner. He was a stern and cruel man who had a horrible temper. He even committed murder. Hans beat Martin often, so badly that Martin ran away. His mother also beat him. Martin would later say that he became a monk not for love of God, but to escape his miserable life. Martin did not have a true calling to religious life. Because his father was so mean, Martin had a hard time obeying. Martin also thought that God was mean, forgetting that God is merciful. He could not accept God’s love and forgiveness in Confession. He hated submitting to those in authority over him. He was not a good monk. He broke his vows, left the Church, married, and started a new false religion.
Martin was an alcoholic and had a bad temper, just like his father. This would cause much trouble for him later. Many times Martin was very depressed. He tempted many people away from the True Church. Yet when people got to know him better, they saw he was not living his life the way God wanted. They began to return to the Catholic Church.
Martin claimed that Catholics did not read or know their Bible. This was a lie. Just like now, the Bible was read at every Mass. We hear readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament at each Mass, hearing the entire Bible over 3 years. The Bible had been printed in German by Catholic priests many years before Martin came along. Martin changed the Bible and wrote a new one, taking out the books and verses he did not like. The Bible, which came from the Catholic Church, says we may not do this. We may not guess at the meaning of the Bible or change what we don’t like. Because Martin did this, he became lost and confused. He confused many others, and led them into sin. He also encouraged the poor to murder and steal from the rich in Germany. There were many battles and deaths which were caused by his preaching and writing. Many joined his false church because he encouraged them to steal and commit other sins. This was easier than becoming holy, so it pleased ignorant people.
Martin hated the True Church and spent the rest of his life trying to destroy it. The Bible says the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, which Christ founded with Peter as the first Pope. Martin was unable to destroy the Church, and has been dead for almost 500 years. But many people still follow his beliefs today. If they knew more about who Martin Luther really was, they wouldn’t follow his false religion.
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Oct 19 2006 at 5:11pm | IP Logged
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I do not know much about Luther, so thank you so much, JennyMaine for putting this together, I'll print this out for when we go back to studying the reformation.
One thing that I did want to add: Luther apparently had some devotion to Mary. I was surprised to hear about this in Patrick Madrid and Marcus Grodi's CD "The Truth About Mary" from Catholicity, available here.
also see Mariology.com: The Protestant Reformers on Mary and more here
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stefoodie
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For those wanting more info, here are some more links I had kept in my folder for future discussion with dd:
The Annunciation
Martin Luther's Devotion to Mary
Legion of Mary
Dave Armstrong vs. James Swan
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stef
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Natalia
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Jenny,
I have asked about Reformation resources in this thread
reformation
Maybe you will find something useful for the future.
Natalia
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Oct 20 2006 at 5:41am | IP Logged
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Stef, TAN publishing has some wonderful books on Martin Luther, and those are what I read over the summer. Also, I read some basic histories of the Protestant revolt. Our parish library had several.
For us, this is all just a backdrop to studying the Pilgrims - I'm using the Amanda Bennett Thanksgiving unit study right now, and tweaking it. I want to be sure my kids have a good handle on who thought what. I think I'm going to have them make something like a venn diagram comparing and contrasting our faith with that of the colonists, etc.
To be sure, Martin Luther didn't throw out all his Catholic beliefs overnight. It was a way leading on to way kind of thing. And at the end of his life, he bemoaned how much more evil his people had become and how they wouldn't listen to anyone in authority anymore. He saw that holiness was declining in his new church. But the wheels were in motion and there was no turning back. I think if he could see how many different sects of Christianity there are now, he'd be horrified.
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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St. Ann
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I am wondering if the situation of the Church at the time should also be presented to the children??? Many members of the Church were blatantly sinning and exploiting the faithful, which weakened Her stand against Luther. In fact, Luther did have some legitimate criticisms, which in no way excuses him, but also explains a bit more of the social conditions surrounding Luther, not just his personal problems.
St. Francis was able to bring about a reformation of the Church...
Stephanie in Germany (the land of the Reformation)
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JennyMaine
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Stephanie, I think it's true that the Church is in need of constant reformation, because it is made up of fallen human beings. You said, "Many members of the Church were blatantly sinning and exploiting the faithful." Couldn't someone, somewhere say that about the Church at every moment of her history? Frankly, I think the current crisis in our Church is far worse than in Luther's day in Germany.
I guess if Luther's goal had been to reform the Church, I would teach those issues as background information. But after my study and research, I don't believe his goal was to reform the Church at all. I do believe his personal problems were the crux of the whole thing, and that's why I'm teaching that to my children. The man, in my opinion, was insane.
Jen, (who is only touching on this topic briefly with her children, as a quick stop before learning about the Pilgrims - common thread with Luther? - the false belief that anyone can start their own religion and believe whatever they want and the dangers of that belief.)
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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bfarmmom
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There was a post on my local homeschooling support group, (which is open to all faiths) about "celebrating" reformation day.  I am in the process of responding to this operson privately as there was some slight bashing of The Church in this post. It has happened before and I just can't take it anymore so I am going to respond with a spirit of love  . Does anyone know the number of different denominations over the entire world? I heard 30,000, is this correct? I wanted to bring this up to her but wanted it to be accurate.
Peace,
Kirsten
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Michaela
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bfarmmom wrote:
I heard 30,000, is this correct? I wanted to bring this up to her but wanted it to be accurate.
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I understand where you're coming from on this, Kirsten.
The Reformation Party sorta makes me sad. It's the celebrating the beginning of so much division -- the disunity that is now. There is many verses in the NT that point to unity. I did read on a site today that at a Lutheran Church that usually has the huge reformation party...they celebrated the seven year anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification instead of acting out Martin Luther nailing of the 95 Theses.. He said it was an important step to his church in healing the wounds of 500 years of separation. 
As for the 30,000 denominations, I have heard the same thing, however caution you about using that specific number in case the person wants you to back it up. One of my favorite sites to visit is www.catholic.com, and the apologists there often caution about using the number because someone inevitably wants that statement backed up with a link or point of reference. 
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stefoodie
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Hi Jennymaine, thanks for the recommendations! I've seen the TAN books but wasn't sure which one I should order (they're the ones by Hillaire Belloc, right?). Do you have one or two titles that you specifically recommend? Thank you!
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: Nov 05 2006 at 9:10am | IP Logged
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Those are the ones I read. Our public library also has an enormous set of Luther's writings. I read some of the things he'd written. Very interesting.
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: resource on Luther for Catholic kids?
