"The flying Luther..." Freed by God’s love to change the world!
The young Martin Luther was freed by God’s love to change the world and inspired many generations until the 21st century and beyond!
Luther as a young leader’ bronze sculpture is on display at the LWF headquarters, Geneva. It was carved by German artist Knud Knudsen (1916-1998), a Berlin sculptor and painter who in 1934 studied law and economics and attended classes in nude and figure drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts under K. Stumpff. Until 1939 he created expressionistic portraits and sculptures. Herewith Knud Knudsen comments on his work:
“From time to time all religions, especially in their churches, need people who can renew them. I have always regarding the Augustinian monk Dr. Martin Luther as a symbol of reform, not of protest. Instead of the usual symbolical sculpture of a corpulent, smug, Christian supporting the alliance between the Church and the territorial princes, - “a throne and altar Christian”, with upturned eyes, I wanted to portray a Roman Catholic monk, slim, energetic, striding ahead, going in among the masses to look for the language used by ordinary folk. That kind of élan, I reflected, could sweep even doubters along with it and give clear meaning to a church’s missions”.
On the occasion of the Luther 500 Years, in 1983 Bishop Kibira, then LWF President reported to the LWF Executive Committee of that year that “it was impossible here to summarize and evaluate all that has been achieved on so many different levels as we have celebrated and penetrated deeper into the significance of this great man Martin Luther. For sure he has also been criticized, but he has not left anybody indifferent. He was a spiritual genius who indeed changed both world history and our own personal lives. Martin Luther is “500 years young” and it is our task to carry the message of Jesus’ free mercy as Martin Luther has clarified it to this generation.”
President Kibira added that he had mediated on the stormy life of this rebel Martin Luther who asked the basic questions about God with such intensity.
“I have asked myself if we present-day Lutherans have not tamed him too much and cut off his wings. How is it possible that this challenger, prophet and revolutionary who dared to stand up so boldly against both the secular and religious authorities of his time and cried from the bottom of his heart till he was absolutely sure of his salvation, how is it possible that many churches which are proudly carrying his name have become only mirror of societies, looked upon as lukewarm, middle of the way Christians, even conservative, afraid of taking a courageous and challenging stand in both spiritual and political questions? Is this an exaggeration? I certainly feel that the stirring life story of Martin Luther could inspire a new generation of Lutherans to wake up to a much deeper involvement both in the existential question of what personal salvation really means and in the socio-political questions of peace and justice which are the burning issues of this generation.”
LWF Series “Young Reformers in the history of the LWF Communion”
This story was researched and provided by Beatrice Bengtsson, LWF Archives