Was Luther A Revolutionary Or Conservative Essay

"Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative." Evaluate this statement with respect to Luther's responses to the political and social questions of his day

While some people believe Martin Luther for the most part was a revolutionary, there are also some people to believe him to be a conservative. However you may think of him Luther can be characterized as a revolutionary by his 95 theses, his ability to stand up to the Diet of Worms, and the Confession of Augsburg, while on the flip side he can be characterized as a conservative by how he was against peasant revolts and social change, and his belief in Eucharist as part of the religion. These are all good reasons to believe that he was both a revolutionary, and conservative.
Luther is very well known for being one of the first people to think about how the church did things and say how he thought it was wrong. This is present in his 95 theses, which are letters written from Luther to Albert protesting the sale of indulgences. Luther wasn't afraid of saying how he thought the churches ideas were immoral, and not a way of salvation. Soon others followed and begin to realize all that was wrong with the church. He not only is not afraid to stand up to the church, but also the royalty who call him out to a meeting called the "Diet of Worms" to discuss his 95 theses and errors they found with them. Luther still unafraid, and requesting change to the church backed up his theses resulting in him being exiled. Again you find Luther standing up for what he believes is right. Luther can also be seen standing up for what he believes as right in his Confession of Augsburg. In the confession Luther brings up many new ideas such as that salvation should come through faith and good works, but faith alone, that religious authority rests solely in the bible, the church consists of everyone, and people praise god in their own special way. Each of these thoughts were new ways of thinking about religion to most people. This confession is a perfect example of what kind of revolutionary Luther was, but even though he was a revolutionary there are some reasons for people to think that he was also a conservative. Luther was very passionate about what he stood for and the change he thought needed to happen, but through all of this he still though of some of the old ideas as very good.
Two that he was especially fond for were the stability of the social realm, and Eucharist as part of the church. Luther's' ideas became popular very fast due to the ability of the printing press to print in mass production allowing Luther's ideas to travel through Europe at a very high speed. Though much of Luther's work was for the good it did have some bad side affects. In some cities the people fought/revolted for what they wanted using Luther as the theologian to back up their revolts thinking that Luther would be all for his ideas spreading, but to their dismay Luther was sound to the old-fashioned beliefs of little social change and no peasant revolts. Although Luther saw many flaws in the Roman Catholic way of worship, and seeking forgiveness, he did see a point to Eucharist (Holy Communion/Lord's Supper). He did see a relevance in performing the Lord's Supper as a reminder of the Last Supper that his lord Jesus Christ performed before he died on the cross. He thought of it slightly differently though, he saw it as after the consecration of the bread and wine the later undergo a spiritual change whereby Christ is really present but the bread and wine are not transformed like they are in the catholic
church.

All in all there is definitely a reality behind saying that Luther was both a revolutionary, and a conservative. He had revolutionary thoughts such as the 95 theses, reaction to the diet of worms, and his Confession of Augsburg, while he still had conservative ideas such as being against social change and peasant revolts, and his belief in Eucharist. As you can see Martin Luther did a lot to advance, and stabilize ideas and thoughts of the 15th, and 16th centuries.