Christian Duty in the Reformation Era: Luther, Erasmus, Las Casas & Foxe
This paper examines how four influential sixteenth-century thinkers—Martin Luther, John Foxe, Erasmus, and Bartolomé de Las Casas—conceived of proper Christian belief and the duties Christians owed to one another. Set against the backdrop of the Reformation's sweeping social, political, and religious upheaval, the paper contrasts the Scripture-centered, anti-institutional stances of Luther and Foxe with the more Church-aligned, humanist, and charitable orientations of Erasmus and Las Casas. Together, their writings illuminate the deep fragmentation of European Christendom and the diverse ways in which religious thinkers sought to define faith, righteousness, and moral responsibility in an era of profound transformation.
- Introduction: Religion and Society in 16th-Century Europe: Overview of religion's role in Reformation-era upheaval
- Luther: Scripture, Righteousness, and Personal Faith: Luther's rejection of Church authority and biblical interpretation
- Foxe and Protestant Martyrdom: Foxe's Protestant zeal and martyrdom narratives
- Erasmus: Humanism, Peace, and Christian Charity: Erasmus's humanist call for peace over war
- Las Casas: Christian Duty and the Defense of Native Americans: Las Casas condemning Spanish cruelty toward indigenous peoples
- Conclusion: Fragmentation of Christendom: Synthesis of views and Christendom's collapse
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper organizes four distinct thinkers into two contrasting camps — Scripture-centered rebels and Church-aligned reformers — creating a clear comparative framework that aids reader comprehension.
- Direct quotations from primary sources (Luther, Foxe, Erasmus, Las Casas) anchor each analytical claim in textual evidence rather than general assertion.
- The conclusion synthesizes the individual analyses into a broader historical argument about the fragmentation of European Christendom, giving the paper intellectual scope beyond mere summary.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective comparative analysis across primary sources. Rather than treating each thinker in isolation, the author consistently measures each figure's position against a shared question — what does Christian duty require? — which allows similarities and differences to emerge naturally from the evidence. Footnoted citations to specific page numbers show awareness of scholarly documentation conventions.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a broad contextual introduction establishing the interplay of religion, politics, and society in sixteenth-century Europe. It then moves through four thinkers in two paired groupings: Luther and Foxe (Protestant, anti-institutional) followed by Erasmus and Las Casas (traditional, Church-aligned). A concluding paragraph draws the threads together with a reflective historical observation about Christendom's collapse. The structure is linear and methodical, well suited to an undergraduate comparative essay.
Introduction: Religion and Society in 16th-Century Europe
By the sixteenth century, Europe was in the midst of a great upheaval that was as social and political — and even economic — as it was religious. Religion was woven into the fabric of society to such an extent that it informed each of the other sectors; but those sectors in turn also had an impact on the new concepts and strains of religious thought that were being explored. This paper discusses examples of these thoughts from four prominent men of the era — Erasmus, Luther, Las Casas, and Foxe — and shows how their writings are evidence of a new era of re-examination of self, society, and God. This re-examination had one foot in the rise of humanism, one foot in the traditional teachings of the Church, and another foot in outright rebellion against that same religious authority.
Proper Christian belief and the duties that Christians owed to one another were characterized by many at the time in very different ways. The Protestant Movement had ushered into Europe an entirely new way of thinking about God, self, and society, relying heavily on personal interpretation of the Word of God in order to effect new systems of religious thought. Luther, for example, developed an approach to Christianity that differed radically from what the Church taught — as did John Foxe: each viewed the Church and its representatives as tyrannical and essentially un-Christian. Las Casas and Erasmus held more closely to the traditional concepts promulgated under official Church doctrine, though each had a unique orientation. Erasmus was inclined toward humanism and felt that greater mutual understanding among people would make them less inclined to revile one another; Las Casas was moved by the plight of the Native Americans and felt compelled to defend them from acts of cruelty committed by his fellow Spaniards.
Luther: Scripture, Righteousness, and Personal Faith
For Luther, the concept of being a proper Christian was based on his own personal interpretation of the Bible. Having rejected the teaching authority of the Church, he asserted himself as the guiding authority for his fellow readers. In his preface to the New Testament, he states that "many unfounded [wilde] interpretations and prefaces have scattered the thought of Christians to a point where no one any longer knows what is gospel or law, New Testament or Old."1 While this generalization hints at exaggeration — surely many in the sixteenth century could distinguish the New from the Old Testament — Luther implies that he alone has the power to guide his audience to the correct understanding of the Word of God that the people of sixteenth-century Europe so urgently needed.
Luther saw righteousness as springing from one's connection to Christ, for Christ is the ultimate source of righteousness, and any righteousness a person achieves is only to be understood as an effect of Christ's grace flowing through that person.2 The self could not be viewed as good in itself; rather, it depended entirely upon God's grace. A person united to God could do good works in society and ultimately become zealous — but only after growing in maturity and grace. Luther justifies his appreciation for zealots by noting that the Scriptures praise zeal, that Christ Himself was zealous in driving out the money changers, and that Paul adopted the tone of a zealot in his letter to the Corinthians.3 In other words, Luther drew support for his beliefs from his own reading of the Bible and distanced himself from any traditional or institutional teaching, having already rejected the Roman Catholic Church when he left his Order.
Foxe and Protestant Martyrdom
John Foxe took a similar perspective when he conceptualized proper Christian beliefs and the responsibilities that Christians owed to others. Foxe likewise rejected the teaching authority of the Church and believed that true saints were those who witnessed to the Protestant faith. He "inflamed Protestant fervor against the pope and the Church of Rome by attaching partisan comments to his narratives."4 For Foxe, one's duty as a Protestant was to hold firm in the faith even in the face of persecution — which is why he wrote The Book of Martyrs, with stories such as those of Driver and Gouch. Driver in particular echoes Luther's sentiment that faith should be based solely on Scripture and that the concept of the Blessed Sacrament as taught by the Church must therefore be rejected (apparently in spite of Mark 14:22–24 or Luke 22:14–20). Foxe records Driver as saying, "Pardon me…for in all my life I never heard nor read of any such sacrament in all the scripture."5 Clearly, Foxe and his book of martyrs were inclined to follow Luther's teaching that all authority except a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible be rejected. In doing so, one would be fulfilling one's utmost duty to society, self, and God.
Conclusion: Fragmentation of Christendom
In conclusion, Las Casas and Erasmus — who promoted the Church's traditions and teachings — were alarmed by the vengeful and warlike attitudes of their fellow men. They wanted more charity, more patience, and more kindness from their fellow Catholics towards others, following the example that Christ Himself set in His dealings with humanity. Luther and Foxe, however, were far more hard-line in their rhetoric, pointing instead toward Christ's forceful expulsion of the money changers, Paul's insistence upon discipline, and the Protestant insistence upon a personal and strict reading of the Scriptures as the sole basis of faith, in opposition to the Church's teachings. The latter two took an oppositional stance toward the Church, while the former two took a pleading stance with it, imploring its members to fulfill their Christian duty and practice charity toward others.
In a world that was literally tearing itself apart over questions of land, doctrine, politics, finance, empire, and society, these various interpretations of Christian duty reveal the extent to which fragmentation had occurred within the collective European mind. Once known as Christendom, it was now being reduced to ashes in a fit of self-destruction.
Bibliography
Erasmus. "War is Sweet for those who have not tried it."
Foxe, John. The Book of Martyrs.
Las Casas, Bartolomeo de. "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies."
Luther, Martin. "Prefaces to the New Testament," in Word and Sacrament.
Luther, Martin. "Two Kinds of Righteousness," in Career of the Reformer.
Notes
1 Martin Luther, "Prefaces to the New Testament," in Word and Sacrament, p. 357.
2 Martin Luther, "Two Kinds of Righteousness," in Career of the Reformer, p. 301.
3 Martin Luther, "Two Kinds of Righteousness," in Career of the Reformer, p. 306.
4 John Foxe, The Book of Martyrs, introduction, p. 135.
5 John Foxe, The Book of Martyrs, introduction, p. 137.
6 Erasmus, "War is Sweet for those who have not tried it," p. 319.
7 Bartolomeo de las Casas, "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies," p. 108.
8 Bartolomeo de las Casas, "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies," p. 110.
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