Grace on Tap

In this episode we finish our examination of Martin Luther’s preface (the long one and the short one) to the Large Catechism.

Grand Rabbits from Black Rock Brewery in Marquette, Michigan, is our featured beer. This cream ale is a delicious beer that sparkles with the waters of Lake Superior. Check out the About Us section of their website. Some good humor that grabbed Mike’s attention.

This podcast episode continues a new format for Grace on Tap. We provide a running commentary of the Large Catechism as we read it together. This episode nearly concludes our discussion of the preface.

You can download the version we are using and follow along with our commentary:

The Large Catechism was written by Martin Luther with material from sermons he preached as a part fo the catechism series he did in Wittenberg. The first edition was published in April of 1529. He wrote the longer preface to the 1530 edition while at the Coburg Castle waiting for new from the Diet of Augsburg.

SBC – Saugatuck Brewing Company has a brewery with food and 16 taps. They also have the Barrel Room which provides customers a close look into their Barrel Aging Program, along with 15 rotating taps of speciality and barrel aged beers.

This episode features the Singapore IPA. It is a well-balanced IPA with a little bitterness and powerful citrus burst.

This podcast episode begins a new format for Grace on Tap. In this episode and the next several we will provide a running commentary of the Large Catechism as we read it together.

You can download the version we are using and follow along with our commentary:

In this episode we get through the first 12 paragraphs of the preface.

The Large Catechism was written by Martin Luther with material from sermons he preached as a part fo the catechism series he did in Wittenberg. The first edition was published in April of 1529. He wrote the longer preface to the 1530 edition while at the Coburg Castle waiting for new from the Diet of Augsburg.

Brewery Vivant is a place of tradition and artistic approach to the Belgian and French style of beers. They use local sources for ingredients and run their business to be environmentally sustainable, with social equity, and economic viability. The brewery in Grand Rapids is in an 80+ year old renovated building. Between 1894-1980 it was operated as a funeral home. The chapel of the funeral home still possess the wood beams and light fixtures.

The beer we feature in this episode is the Bourbon Barrel Aged Quadrupel. +9% ABV – VARIES by year.

When Luther and the other Reformers visited the common peasants in Electoral Saxony, they were shocked and deeply dismayed. 

Their problems were numerable, running from administrative issues to serious theological gaps. Most concerning, the majority of the common people had no idea of the most basic principles of the faith. 

Luther’s visits to Electoral Saxony marked a turning point in the Reformation, leading to some of his most cherished teachings to this day.

Black River Oatmeal Stout from Paw Paw Brewing Co. in Paw Paw, Michigan. This is a small brewery established by two brothers-in-law, Ben Fleckenstein and Ryan Sylvester. Started in 2010 with the goal of putting people and community above everything else.

This is a very smooth stout with pleasing mild roast and rich bittersweet chocolate notes derived from a complex malt profile.

Thanks to Josh for the sound engineering and to Sarah Yagley – music and new graphics

Thanks to our listeners

Recognition of source materials

James Kittelson Luther the Reformer

Reformation 500 website

Luther’s Works 40

Wikipedia

Contact us at [email protected]: 

Let us know if you’d like to host a road trip.

or catch us on Facebook at graceontap podcast

Would appreciate any reviews you could post on iTunes. Helps to get the word out. 

After the death of Pope Adrian IV, the young kings of Spain, France and England seemed to be less interested in manipulating the election of the next pope. Perhaps because they realized that they could not predict the behavior of a pope. 

The disinterest of the kings allowed the cardinals to maneuver amongst themselves for the position of pope, leaving Leo X cousin, Giulio de Medici with a distinct advantage. 

The papal elections are a really good window into 16th century politics. 

When Leo X died in December 1521, the logical replacement was his cousin, Giulio. Giulio was Leo’s Vice-Chancellor (2nd in command of the church) since March, 1517, just a few months before Luther posted his 95 theses. Effectively, Giulio was Leo’s right-hand-man from the beginning of his pontificate in 1513. But he couldn’t be officially Leo’s Vice-Chancellor. He was the illegitimate son of Leo’s uncle, Giuliano de’ Medici. Since he was illegitimate, he was not allowed to hold high ranking positions within the church. Leo’s first acts as pope was to declare that his cousin’s birth was legitimate because his parents were “wed according to the word of the those present.”

Nobody knows if this was true, but it opened the door for Giulio to become a Cardinal. He was immediately recognized as an unusually skilled statesman. In January, 1514, Henry VIII named him the Cardinal protector of England. Cardinal protector was responsible for representing England in the Roman Curia, or as Henry VIII said, “for the defense of us and our realm in all matters of the Curia.”

Francis I of France also recognized Giulio’s unusual skills and appointed him to the Cardinal protector of France in 1516. Amazing since Henry and Francis hated each other. Having Giulio as the French Cardinal Protector didn’t work out well for Francis, though. When the personal rivalry between Francis and Emperor Charles V broke into war in northern Italy, Giulio Medici sided with Charles.

Giulio distrusted Francis because he was selecting French bishops who were more loyal to the king than to the church. Francis gained the ability to name bishops when he defeated the pope in the battle of Merignano in 1515. The agreement between Francis and the church was called the concordant of Bologna. 

Giulio’s betrayal of France left Francis furious. When Leo died in 1521, Francis made it clear that he would leave the church if Giulio was elected pope, leading to the election of Adrian. After Adrian died in Sept 1523, the Roman people were excited to have a new pope named. They were tired of Adrian and wanted to have a new leader who would better understand them. 

The conclave opened on Oct 1. 

When the Roman leadership started to complain shortly after the conclave opened, the cardinals played for time, telling the Roman leadership that the entire French party had not yet arrived. 

The French party finally settled on Cardinal Gianmaria del Monte. Cardinal Medici promised that he would give up 3 votes if Cardinal Monte could get 18 votes, which would have given Cardinal Monte 21 votes. It also would have given a green light to the Medici party to vote for Monte in the next round (scrutiny). 

Monte originally got 16 votes, but when the members of the French party saw that he was gaining traction, three of them changed their vote to get him to 19. Medici said that Monte would have had to have gotten 18 votes the first time around, so his offer was rescinded. This further infuriated the French party, so no progress was made for a few days. 

 To try to get things moving again, Medici suggested that the French party agree on one name. (Assume it was implied that he would support who ever they agreed on, if they could all agree.)

 The French party was broken up into two groups. 

 ◦ The juniors, who were willing to work together.

 ◦ The seniors, who were all trying to get themselves elected. 

Medici’s proposal caused even more internal strife between the junior members of the French party and the senior members. 

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There were two main groups battling for the papacy.

• The imperialists, who had about 16 votes and were supporters of Giulio Medici.
• The French, who had about 19 votes, and were only committed to having somebody other than Medici. 

Up until now, we’ve been highlighting the problems with the French as being between the juniors, who were willing to work together, and the seniors, who were trying to get themselves elected. This is a very simplified view of the French politics. It’s a little difficult to figure out what exactly was happening in the French party, but we’re going to have to give it a try to untangle what happens next. 

First, Alberto Pio, an ambassador of the king of France, showed up in late October. He was a friend of Medici. He tried to convince the French party that Medici would be as good for France as anybody. Although he wasn’t immediately successful, he softened them up a little. 

On November 11, the Roman magistrates threatened to reduce the food for the cardinals to just bread and water.  At this point, Cardinal Farnese, made his move. He approached the Duke of Sessa, to make a deal. The Duke of Sessa was a Spanish noble who was closely aligned with the emperor. 

Cardinal Farnese offered to give the Duke substantial amount of money and a cardinalate for the duke’s brother if the duke would support giving the imperial votes to Farnese. This seems like it worked, because shortly afterward, one of the leaders of the French party, Cardinal Colonna, proposed Farnese as the next pope.

We are starting to see the French block breaking up. Several cardinals objected to Farnese on moral grounds. He was well known to have mistresses and children. Sort of a throwback to the pre-reformation popes. 

There were a couple of versions of what happened next in the literature. Both have to do with Colonna, one of the leaders of the French party. 

•  One version says that Colonna, claimed he was frustrated that the French had turned against his candidate Farnese, so gave his support to Medici. 
•  Another source says that when the Farnese proposal fell apart, the majority of the French said they supported Cardinal Orsini. 

 The Colonna and Orsini families hated each other. So Colonna, who only controlled 4 votes, realized that he would be more appreciated in the Medici camp. He threw his four votes over to Medici. After the election, Colonna received a palace and the position of second in command (Vice-Chancellor) of the Vatican in return. 

Either way – on November 19, 1523, Giulio de’ Medici became Pope Clement VII

Clement inherited a mess from his cousin, Leo X, and things didn’t get any better under Adrian VI. 

Now we’re caught up with the popes.

For our next episode, we’ll get back to Luther. 

Thanks to our listeners.

Thanks to Josh

Recognition of source materials

 Britannica.com

 Wikipedia

Contact us

 ◦ [email protected]

 ◦ Let us know if you’d like to host a roadtrip.

The sudden death of Pope Leo X sparked one of the most openly political papal conclaves in history. Each of the three major political powers of the 16th century made clear who they wanted to replace Leo, and they didn’t want. The most competent man for the job, Leo’s cousin Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, was strongly opposed by King Francis I of France. King Henry VIII of England advocated for his right hand man, Cardinal Wolsey, and struck a deal with Emperor Charles V of Spain to support him. Wolsey came close to getting the required votes, but fell short because he couldn’t get the support of the French delegation who worried it would give too much power to the English. 

The issue was finally resolved when it was suggested to give the papacy to Adrian of Utrecht, a Dutch scholar who was liked and respected by all the kings.

When Pope Leo X died suddenly (and suspiciously!) in December of 1521, he left the papacy deeply in debt, to the point where his funeral needed to borrow candles from a previous funeral. 

The papal conclave that followed was one of the most openly political events in Roman Catholic history, with the papacy eventually being decided in favor of Adrian of Utrecht.

Although Adrian was almost completely unknown in Rome, he had been the tutor for Charles since Charles was seven-years-old.

For all of his political experience, Adrian wasn’t a very political person. Rather, he was a pious, thoughtful, intelligent, professor, which is what he remained as pope. 

Adrian’s piety wasn’t just a problem with the princes of the era. When Adrian arrived in Rome, he openly expressed his disdain for the ancient art from before the Christian era. The leadership of Rome was insulted, and became convinced he was truly a barbarian. 

 He didn’t make friends with the cardinals, either. When a new pope was installed in Rome, it was customary for him to grant petitions to powerful people to build relationships. Ascanio Colonna, a nephew of one of the Cardinals, came and asked for a pardon for a friend who had been convicted of homicide. Adrian refused, saying, “We cannot pardon without hearing both sides.” The Cardinals were heartbroken. 

Greenbush Brewing Co. is situated 12 miles across the Michigan border from Indiana, in Sawyer. While the proximity to Chicago makes for a convenient homeward-bound pit stop along I-94 – the excellent food, constantly rotating tap list, and friendly atmosphere are reason enough to make Greenbush a required ‘Michiana’ destination. 

Headbrewer Peter Hasbrouck is charged with concocting the bevy of brewery year-rounds, seasonals, and one-off beers that can be sampled in an increasing footprint throughout the Midwest.

Pete, thanks for meeting us on your day off. So, how does a fella such as yourself end up brewing here in Sawyer, Michigan?

I have a food background. I went to culinary school up in Grand Rapids. I made my way around in the food industry for a bit. I went to Oregon for a few months for an internship also. Then, I made my way around Grand Rapids and got a chance to work about town and eat everywhere. Part of ‘eating’ is drinking. When I was in Oregon, the sous chef I was working for was home brewing. In Oregon, everyone brews. I was like “Man you got to show me how to do that, I’ve always wanted to learn.” He showed me how to extract-brew and then I bought all of his equipment off of him and drove it back home. This was five or six years ago.

After, I took a culinary job just up the road in Sawyer. And three weeks after that, Greenbush opened [in 2011]. Naturally, I became a patron. It was really small back then. The bartenders were the brewers and the cellermen; they did everything. I brought in some ciders and meads and they thought they were really good. In the wintertime, when things slowed down, I asked if there was any way I could come in and just watch from the corner. They said if I wanted to come by and help, that I just to swing in here. So I started to come in every Monday at 6am. A little bit later they needed a brewer and they were like “You already know the job, so do you want it?”  – Yeah, sure!

As for day to day, I deal with raw material stuff all the way through to carbonation. Ryan Beach is basically my other half. He deals with everything from carbonation to packaging. Labels, kegs, 6-pack holders, talking to sales guys: that’s all him.

Broken Promises

Greenbush Brewing Company

IPA – American

In the land of hop contracts, you can’t always get what you want. Lucky for us, when brewing our Wheat IPA we found Zythos hops, which lend a serious citrus burst to this fine brew. 

 There were four main problems Adrian wanted to address

No Luther?? There’s no doubt Adrian thought Luther was a heretic. He was consulted by the theological faculty of Louvain before they condemned Luther’s writings. Adrian answered, “Not even a novice in theology could make such mistakes.” When Luther met with the emperor at Worms, Adrian wrote to Charles that it would be agreeable to God, and necessary for his reputation as the emperor, to condemn Luther as a heretic.

 Have to remember that Adrian was the Inquisitor-General in Spain. This was at the height of the infamous “Spanish Inquisition”. All the more curious why Luther didn’t make his short list of major issues. The answer can be found in a letter from Aleander to Adrian.

Aleander wrote: “The axe is laid at the root of the tree, unless we choose to return to wisdom. There is no need of issuing new laws and fulminating Bulls; we have the canons and institutes of the fathers, and if they are only observed, the evil may be arrested. Let the pope and the curia do away with their errors by which God and man are rightly offended… If the Germans see this done, there will be no further talk of Luther.”

 Adrian seemed to take Aleander’s advice. Unfortunately for Adrian, reforming the Curia wasn’t going to be easy. The way Leo had managed the papacy left a large group of bishops and cardinals dependent on the income from the abuses. 

So Adrian had a two prong approach to stopping Luther. First, reform the Curia. Second, follow his inquisitor instincts and come down hard on anybody who he thought was a heretic. 

When the reformation of the Curia didn’t work, Adrian began to push for something like a German version of the Spanish Inquisition. According to Adrian, Luther was even worse than the Turk. 

Mandell Creighton sums it up nicely in “A history of the papacy from the great schism to the sack of Rome”

 “He might have impressed the Romans with the power of holiness, and might have substituted for the worldly policy of his predecessors the ideal of the Christian bishop; but he shut himself up in the Vatican and led the retired life of a studious monk. Secure in his good intentions, absorbed in his plans for the future, he lacked that quick sympathy with actual human needs which alone can make abstract plans intelligible. He was content to make his purposes clear, without seeking how he could give them effective expression. He trusted logic and did not strive to awaken enthusiasm. He was more anxious to keep clear from doing evil than to do good. His attitude was negative rather than positive.”

  Most historians will say that Adrian’s inability to make political alliances was a major contributor to the fall of Rhodes and the rise of the Ottomans. 

 In early September of 1523, only a year and a half after he was installed as pope, it became clear that Adrian was very sick. On September 14, the Cardinals rushed to his bedside when they heard he was at his final hour. 

 They were not interested in carrying out his plans. They were not interested in the welfare of the church. They wanted to know where he hid all the money. He raised taxes, but lived very frugally. They were certain that he was a miser. He answered that he didn’t have anything but small savings. They refused to believe him and grilled him like a criminal. When Adrian died, the people of Rome were so happy, they put up a wreath on the door of the doctor who treated Adrian as he died. The wreath, “To the deliverer of his country” 

 Unfortunately, Adrian wasn’t the right man to pull away the attention of the masses from the interests of politics to the real issues. Adrian would be the last non-Italian to be elected pope until John Paul II’s election to the papacy in 1978.

Thanks to our listeners

Thanks to Josh

Recognition of source materials

 A history of the papacy by Mandell Creighton

 Modern Europe Vol 1, 1453 – 1530, by Thomas Dyer

 Wikipedia

 [email protected]

 Let us know if you’d like to host a roadtrip.

As the cardinals gathered in Rome in early 1522 to elect a new pope after the unexpected death of Pope Leo X in December 1521, they all recognized that the world had changed dramatically since Leo’s election in 1513.

Not only did Martin Luther challenge the authority of the church and the pope, the Turks were traveling up the Danube River, threatening the eastern regions of Europe, there were three new young kings making dangerous threats against each other and, most urgently, the church was deeply in debt.

The cardinals recognized they needed somebody learned enough to engage in the theological battles, but they also needed someone with experience in the politics of the day and able to calm the warrior princes. They were initially thrilled when they finally settled on Cardinal Adrian Boeyens, the scholar who was first selected to tutor Emperor Charles when he was young, then subsequently selected by the Emperor to manage Spain while the emperor was in Germany.

Within minutes of announcing the selection, the cardinals got their first indication that they had made a mistake when the people of Rome almost rioted after hearing the news.

We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about the rise and fall of Thomas Müntzer and the Peasants Revolt of 1524 and 1525. This episode goes back to December of 1521.

Luther started December of 1521 in the Wartburg castle, hiding from his enemies, and increasingly concerned about the rumors he had begun hearing about growing Reformation excesses back in Wittenberg.

Meanwhile, on December 1, 1521 in Rome, Luther’s primary opponent, Pope Leo X, died (supposedly of pneumonia) at age 46. Leo died suddenly, and wasn’t even given last rites, one day after he complained about the wine that had been handed to him. The pope’s cup-bearer was arrested the next morning, but was released by the pope’s cousin, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici before any inquiry could be made. The reason the cardinal gave for releasing the cup-bearer was, “lest some great prince should be found mixed up in the matter, and he should thus acquire an implacable enemy.”

The pope’s cousin was the lead candidate for the papacy. The respected 19th century historian, Thomas Dyer, believed the cardinal shut down the inquiry mostly because he didn’t want to lose votes for the papacy. (Sorta hard to campaign for votes from somebody who killed your cousin.)

There was a full agenda left by Leo.

The Turks were threatening Hungary; The young kings of France, England and Spain were ready and anxious for war; Lutheranism was a continually growing irritation.

Most urgently, the church was completely broke. Leo’s “table” alone cost about 100,000 ducats per year (around $15 M in 2018 dollars). Upon his death, Leo had debts of about 850,000 ducats (~$127 M), with no money in the papal treasury to pay.

Leo’s friends, who had loaned him all this money, took whatever wasn’t nailed down at the Vatican to try to recoup their losses. They were so broke, the Vatican couldn’t afford new candles for Leo’s funeral. They had to reuse the candles from the recent funeral of Cardinal Riario.

After the death of Leo, the Roman church engaged in one of the most open and politically motivated papal conclaves in all of history. There were three strong factions, trying to manipulate the voting for their own benefit. So the conclave was stuck in a deadlock.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Cardinal Medici suggested Adrian of Utrecht.

Who was Adrian? He was the tutor to the emperor from the time the emperor was 7 years old. As the emperor grew in power, he gave Adrian more important positions of authority. In 1515, Charles wanted to be the ruler of Spain, instead of his younger brother, Ferdinand. Adrian was sent to Spain to negotiate with Charles’ father. Adrian succeeded and Charles was made the ruler of Spain when his father died. Charles then appointed Adrian Bishop of Tortosa. The appointment was approved by Pope Leo X in Aug of 1518.

When Charles left Spain to become the emperor, he left Adrian in charge.

Almost immediately after Adrian was suggested, he was elected to be the next pope on January 9, 1522.

Schlenkerla has a quite extensive description of each of their beers and the processes used to brew them on their website—in English, no less. Just visit smokebeer.com.

Schlenkerla claims to smoke their own malt, so maybe Weyermann supplies Spezial, which is the other Bamberg brewery that makes Rauchbier.

There are also a couple of breweries in neighboring villages that make Rauchbier. Schlenkerla, which is the most smoky of the three, to be the most widely distributed.

Don’t be offended if you don’t like it.

When Adrian arrived outside the walls of Rome, on Aug 29, the cardinals greeted him with a speech about the kinds of reforms they hoped he would implement. Adrian answered that they must first stop sheltering evil-doers in their palaces, and allow the police free access to make arrests. The cardinals were stunned.

One of them didn’t get the memo, and came forward with a request for a pardon for someone convicted of murder. Adrian said, “We cannot pardon without hearing both sides.” The cardinals were devastated.

On August 31, almost nine months after his election, Adrian walked into Rome. He traveled by foot as a sign of his humility. When he arrived at the Roman gate, he took off his shoes and hose as a sign of respect for the city

This made a great impression on the general populace who immediately respected Adrian.

Things didn’t go as well with the higher classes.

He didn’t speak Italian. He had no understanding of Italian manners. Most significantly, he had no appreciation of art. When he saw some of the Roman art from the time of Christ, he turned in horror and cried out, “These are pagan idols!”

This was one of the few times Adrian was passionate about anything. Adrian was almost always relaxed, peaceful, quiet and easy going. The upper classes of Rome even hated this. Before Adrian, Leo was like a never-ending party. Before Leo, Julius was providing all sorts of excitement by continually starting wars with his enemies. They hated that Adrian was boring.

Adrian had arrived in Rome.

We’ll be covering the pontificate of Adrian in our next episode.

Recognition of source materials

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After the princes had brutally put down the peasants revolt of 1525, Luther was subjected to increasing pressure to explain his position of support for the princes.

In his book, “Against the murderous hordes”, Luther made some memorable comments that encouraged the killing of the peasantry. How could Luther possibly defend himself?

Several months after the end of the revolt, Luther answered his critics. Although his answer won’t satisfy everyone, it is an important and necessary clarification to his previous writing.

The Peasants War of 1525 was unbelievably brutal. To put down the rebellion, the princes killed an unbelievable number of people. The total number of dead was about 1 out of every 80 people. This included many who had nothing to do with the rebellion, including women and children. Of course, the princes didn’t do the killing directly. They hired mercenaries who were professional soldiers.

While the mercenaries were engaged in their bloodlust, there were reports that they would quote Luther from his book, “Against the Robbing and Murderous Hordes of Peasants”:

“A prince can win heaven with bloodshed better than other men with prayer.”

“It is plain that these peasants have deserved death many times over.”

“anyone who is killed fighting on the side of the rulers may be a true martyr”

These quotes were almost always taken out of context. Luther was terrified that the peasants would win, ushering in an era where only “might makes right”. As he pointed out in his writings, the leaders of the peasants, especially Thomas Müntzer, were twisting scripture to support a radical reordering of society. If the peasants were successful, he was concerned that scripture would continue to be used to justify one revolution after another. Still, Luther’s typically harsh language, which had served him so well against the pope, backfired in his writings on the peasants war.

In this episode we discuss Luther’s response to his critics and attempt to place the Peasants’ War into the context of the 15th century. Many of our listeners will be happy to hear that this is our last episode discussing the Peasants’ War.

BOSS TWEED from Old Nation Brewing Co. Double New England IPA

We have been introducing different breweries for every show, but once in a while a brewery is good enough to visit a few times. (Also this beer was donated by Kirk Siefker, one of our listeners.)

We already talked about Old Nation when we had their M43 beer. (Great beer!) Now we’re going to try this seasonal beer which was released back in the spring. Guessing it’s a summer beer that got pushed out of production by the demand for the M43. Glad to have one here at the end of the summer.

Did a little bit of research on beer. It’s Boss Tweed is part of a family of variations on the M43 style. In addition to M43 and Boss Tweed, they’ve also made one called Boxer and one called Green Stone. (We’ll have to move on from Old Nation, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for those other two for my non-podcast drinking.)

Several folks on line think Boss Tweed is better than M43.

Thanks to Kirk for the beer!

Thomas Müntzer’s traveled a circuitous route to becoming arguably the most radical of all the reformers of the 16thcentury. Starting out in Wittenberg as a student, he was thrown out of town after town, as the leadership learned who he was and what he was teaching.

Still, it would be a mistake to characterize Müntzer as unsuccessful. Wherever he went, he would find himself in high demand, with crowds gathering from miles around to hear him preach.

Everything came to a head between the fall of 1524 and the spring of 1525, as Müntzer’s teachings took hold, and the peasantry came to believe they were on the verge of new Christian order. In this new order, the peasants would be the leadership and the princes would be destroyed by God Himself.

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Cheboygan Brewing Co.

This episode is the conclusion of our look at the Peasants Revolt. We discuss how Thomas Müntzer came to an end and his revolution did not bring about the utopian eschatological end he expected.

Thank you to Josh Yagley, sound engineer, and all of our helpful resources that have helped make this episode possible.

Martin Luther had very little understanding of the realities of the revolution when he waded into commenting on the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants. He knew the princes were abusing the peasants, but he had only heard vague rumors of the atrocities of the peasantry.

That all changed when he took a trip to Thuringia to open a new Christian school. He was confronted by hecklers who openly mocked his calls for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. There’s also evidence that he heard more of first hand accounts of the peasants attacks on the princes.

When Luther returned to Wittenberg, he wrote a sharp rebuke of the peasantry with language so harsh that his friends pleaded with him to soften it. But Luther would not be swayed, releasing “Against the Robbing and Murderous Hordes of Peasants” in May of 1525, a book that Luther advocates have repeatedly had to explain and defend for the past 500 years.

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New England IPA

The First release in Old Nation’s “New Orthodox” IPA series, M-43 is designed to accentuate the deep and complex character from the combination of Calypso, Simcoe, Citra and Amarillo hops. Citrus and Tropical notes of Pineapple, Mango and Grapefruit come through in the huge, yet surprisingly delicate aroma. The flavor backs these aromas with a soft, pillowy mouthfeel. Hop bitterness is not particularly intense, which leads to a very drinkable, New England IPA even non-IPA fans love. The Haze is not from yeast, but rather from an interplay of lipids from the malted oat and oils and acids which naturally occur in the hand selected Dry hops. This beer is a perfect interplay between top grade malt and hops, MI water and brewing technique which cannot be faked.

AGAINST THE ROBBING AND MURDERING HORDES OF PEASANTS

Luther starts out pretty strong:

He then references Muntzer:

Luther then outlines “3 terrible sins”.

The second sin is abusing the property of the others.

The third sin is that the peasants have called themselves a “Christian Association”. Luther is especially upset that they are calling themselves Christian, even as they rebel.

Luther goes back to his original position to finish everything up. “If anyone thinks this too harsh, let him remember that rebellion is intolerable and that the destruction of the world is to be expected every hour.”

Well, there are plenty of people who think Luther was too harsh. Even modern “law and order” folks would have problems with Luther’s call against due process in the face of revolution, especially coupled with the use of the sword to kill. Our mind immediately goes to people like Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, where the civil authorities need to be constrained. Of course, Luther had never seen industrialized killing, like we have.

Thanks to Josh our sound engineer

We would appreciate any reviews you could post on iTunes. Helps to get the word out.