And my professor said the he hated Jewish people and said that he believed if you wife isn't pleasing you sexually, you should go outside the marriage for satisfaction. Is this true? I was just surprised because I never knew this, its kind of unsettling....
Mr. Bizkit,
There is no denying that Luther said unkind things about Jewish people. While there is no excusing what he said, his statements must be put in their historical context, to wit:
1) Luther wasn't the only person saying bad things about the Jews; it was pretty much common practice.
2) Luther's comments about the Jews are not the worst comments made about them. Erasmus of Rotterdam (the noted Humanist scholar, and Luther's verbal sparring partner in the debate over the freedom of the will) said far worse things about them.
3) Luther did not dislike Jewish people insofar as they were people; he had many friends and colleagues who had been born into the Jewish faith, but had converted to Christianity. For Luther, it's not a racial or ethnic thing, it's a religious thing, and only a religious thing.
4) Luther was quite old when he wrote the things he wrote. It is pretty evident from his other writings (along with these) that his mental faculties had lapsed a great deal.
Having said all of that, from our modern sensibilities, Luther still ought not have said what he said. His statements are detestable.
As for looking outside of marriage for sexual satisfaction, this is a canard which is repeated over and over again. It's based on a statement which is taken out of context, and which must be deliberately misread in order for people to make it say what it quite clearly does not say.
Luther is known for penchant for overstating a case in order to make his point. The greatest example of this was his statement to his friend Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon was a timid man, who worried a lot. Today we would probably prescribe him some SSRIs. He worried constantly that he had sinned too much, or that he had committed so great a sin that God wouldn't forgive him. Luther said to him, "When you sin, SIN BOLDLY, and then go boldly to the cross and confess it." This statement, more than any other, is taken out of context for Luther --- usually by Southern Baptists.
It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to see that Luther is NOT - in fact - encouraging Philip to sin, but that he is reminding him that there is no power greater than God's grace demonstrated in the cross of Christ. To fear that God can't or won't forgive is to insult God.
As for studying Luther in a psychology class... Well, there is ample evidence that Luther was probably what we call today a 'Manic depressive.' If the instructor is going that route, just bear in mind that there is no correlation between manic depression and insanity or psychosis. Perfectly sane and brilliant people can suffer from this disorder.
Cheers,
Kepler
