The role of politics in the establishment of Lutheranism in Germany and Scandinavia

Politics and Lutheranism

The Reformation was as much a political phenomenon as it was a religious phenomenon. Although the Reformation was guided by common basic beliefs in the individual's capacity for salvation, it proceeded according to the political exigencies required in each country or principality it entered. The Reformation was highly flexible and succeeded for a number of reasons. First, there was no influential, well-heeled organization guiding Lutheranism as there was in Roman Catholicism. Second, Protestantism was less international and more local than Roman Catholicism, which was conducive for the development of local political power. Finally, Lutheran doctrines emphasized a more anti-authoritarian way of thinking which was to precede the Enlightenment.

Lutheranism in Germany

Lutheranism succeeded in Germany largely because of the region's political fragmentation, which offered no centralized authority to negotiate a peaceful sharing of power with the Catholic Church. (Gilbert) The centralized governments in Spain, France, and even Great Britain were able to negotiate mutually beneficial relationships with the Pope, providing them with Papal credibility and tax revenue in return for official recognition of the Church. (Giblert) Germany's various Princes were unwilling to concede political power to the Reich, which allowed the Catholic Church to dominate each principality individually.

Luther supported the German nobility not only against the Catholic Church, but against the discontented peasantry. Luther's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms taught that God ruled in two ways, in the Earthly realm through law and secular government and in the spiritual realm through the Gospel. (Bainton 136) Thus, rebellion against the authority of the secular government, even though this secular government was different in each principality, was rebellion against the will of God. With this understanding, the German nobility crushed the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525. (Bainton 149) Martin Luther also appealed to the parochial tendencies of the German principalities by emphasizing the internationalist nature of the Catholic Church. (Gilbert)

Although Luther's conservatism appealed to the nobility in the more rural areas of Germany, his emphasis on individuality made him popular among the middle classes in the urban areas of Germany. The educated city dwellers would project their civic discontent against the established order through the Lutheran rebellion against the Catholic Church. (Wylie 29) These supporters would be crucial for the dissemination of Lutheran ideas throughout Europe.

The Reformation in Scandinavia

Martin Luther made an impression on political leaders as well as religious leaders outside of Germany, who brought Luther's gospel back to their home countries. The Petri brothers, after studying in Germany, took the ideas of the Reformation back to Sweden. (Hooker) There, the Petris converted king Gustav Vasa to Lutheranism, who supported Lutheran leaders in order to weaken the power of the Papacy in Sweden. (Gilbert) Soon after, King Gustav exiled the Papcy's archbishop in Sweden and took possession of all church properties. (Gilbert) King Gustav had obtained his political goals and even declined to alter official church doctrine in the Sweden at first. (Gilbert) In Denmark, the Lutheran Prince Christian III overcame Catholic opposition in 1536 and became King Christian III in 1536, taking Denmark from a state which merely tolerated Lutheranism to a state which implemented the Reformation itself. (Lockhart 78)

In Scandinavia, the Protestant Reformation was even more successful than it was in Germany. Like Germany, Sweden and Denmark had an entrenched feudal nobility which saw immediate political gain in adopting Lutheranism: the confiscation of papal property and the tax revenues that accrued from that property. This property was a great help to any budding hegemon in chaotic Scandianavia. Scandinavia was fragmented, though not to the same degree as Germany, and its relatively small kingdoms were constantly being intimidated by the Papacy. However, Scandinavia's distance from Rome meant that papal power was inevitably more tenuous in the region, and easier to sever.