Martin Luther Quotes on Mind
Martin Luther had a complex and divided view of the human mind, and the quotes gathered here display its tensions. Luther was deeply suspicious of reason and speculation when set against faith and lived experience: a true theologian, he insisted, is born by living, dying, and being damned, not by thinking, reading, or speculating. He was equally wary of the inner self, confessing, in a remark marked here as attributed, that he feared his own heart more than the pope and all his cardinals. Yet Luther did not simply condemn reason; he allowed that human reason, once enlightened by faith, does not strive against it but furthers and advances it. Drawn largely from his Table Talk and theological writings, these passages present the mind as untrustworthy on its own but serviceable when transformed by faith.
Quotes
-
Attributed to Martin Luther:
“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals.”
-
“Christ ought to be preached with this goal in mind — that we might be moved to faith in him so that he is not just a distant historical figure but actually Christ for you and me.”
The Freedom of a Christian(1520) | p. 69 -
“A theologian is born by living, nay dying and being damned, not by thinking, reading, or speculating.”
Table Talk(1569) | 352 -
“We must calm the mind of the common man, and tell him to abstain from the words and even the passions which lead to insurrection.”
A Sincere Admonition to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion(1522) | p. 62 -
“so it is with human reason, which strives not against faith, when enlightened, but rather furthers and advances it.”
Table Talk(1569) | On Justification CCXCIV -
“God has formed the soul and body of the Virgin Mary full of the Holy Spirit, so that she is without all sins, for she has conceived and borne the Lord Jesus.”
D. Martin Luthers Werke , Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 61 vols., (Weimar: Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nochfolger, 1883-1983), 52:39 [hereinafter: WA] 1544