Customer Reviews

Martin Luther: Parts 1 and 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great source for accurate information on Martin Luther and his life. It is well documented and a very enjoyable watch. I HIGHLY, RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL INTERESTED IN LUTHER!!!

Great presentation of history and biblical struggles. The narration was enjoyable to listen to. I learned a lot of Martin Luther.

I enjoyed this. It was a very good overall film about many aspects of Martin Luther's life...from beginning to end...

Important historical tale of one of the great original stand-up to power guys in history. Luther "pulled the sheet off" of the Pope's indulgence scam and that had the Pope wanting Luther dead. Sadly, like many revolutionaries, Luther quickly sold out to power. Luther thought he needed the protection of earthly power from the Pope and he got that protection from Prince Frederick III. Frederick had had enough of the Pope looting his kingdom in Germany for indulgence money to use to pay for the Pope's trashy lifestyle in Rome. Of course, like any tyrant, Frederick wanted to keep the loot for himself. So, Luther's revolt against the Pope's indulgences was the perfect answer to stop the Pope's looting of Frederick's kingdom.

Luther got protection from Frederick to "preach the gospel" and in exchange Luther gave moral authority to not paying for indulgences and stopping the cash flow out of Frederick's pocket as well as supporting Frederick's tyranny against a peasant revolt. As you will see in the movie, the peasants logically thought that since Luther revolted against the tyranny of the Pope, they had a God given mandate to revolt against the tyranny of Frederick III. Luther, however, heartily supported the tyrant against the peasants and thousands of peasants died.

Luther's support of Frederick's tyranny began the Lutheran church's long standing support of tyrants so long as the tyrant lets the Lutheran church preach "the gospel". The Lutheran church's history of supporting tyrants include King George III of Great Britain in American Revolutionary days, Hitler and his Third Reich that murdered millions and USA's tyrants that have made wars against millions of peasant people in the USA and around the world. It would have added interesting historical continuity to the film to show how Luther's support of Frederick III laid the foundation for Lutheranism's sad historical record of never speaking up to and supporting tyrants. Based upon his support of Frederick III, Luther would have given Hitler at hearty, "Sieg Heil!

I am just learning more about Martin Luther and I found this video to most informative. Knowing some of the history that surrounded the people of that day did help to understand it. However, one can watch this with very little knowledge of the history of that day and be able to gather a great deal of insight into the life and times of Martin Luther. It was EXCELLENT !

This documentary is extremely tame and does not do what is promised. It starts well and I was actually interested in what they were saying about the church and his personal attitudes in reaction to it. But it focuses on very few of the Ninety-Five Theses, obviously sticking to the safe subjects, not talking about how he was talking about starting a war between the rich and the poor with statements like "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?" And statements that suggest tithing shouldn't be like a tax.

Those statements are the crux of the separation that created the Lutheran Church, and with a title like "Driven to Defiance" I would think the documentary was prepared to discuss them, and his preaching of violent anti-semitism, and his musical talent, and well, why Luther was so legendary that a church is named after him.

They didn't.

Maybe PBS really does stand for "Propaganda Broadcasting Service"...