The Life of Martin Luther

Timeline Charts of the Western Church

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Luther's Early Years | Luther the Reformer | Luther the Church Leader | Luther's Later Years
Very few historical figures are as controversial as Martin Luther. His supporters call him a Protestant hero, a freedom fighter, a wise and insightful church leader. His detractors call him a heretic, an apostate, a profane luther

ecclesiastical terrorist. Still others call him a necessary evil or the unwitting catalyst that set aflame a volatile socialand ecclesiastical situation.
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Luther, himself, often called himself a simple monk or a simple Christian. He marveled that a straight-forward stand of conscience had turned him into one of the most-talked-about people of his time. Yet that simpleChristian and that simple stand of conscience started an ecclesiastical shock wave that changed the course of Western history.

The links below will take you to a detailed, four-part timeline that traces the events in the life of Martin Luther. It is, to my knowledge, the most detailed timeline of its kind on the Web. Links within each timeline will take you to all of Luther's writing available online and to miscellaneous background information on the places and people in Luther's life. If you have suggestions or comments, or if you know of sources I have missed, please let me know.
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Luther's Early Years (1483 - 1516) | Luther the Reformer (1517-1525)
Luther the Church Leader (1526-1537) | Luther's Later Years (1538-1546)

For more information
about Martin Luther and Reformation history take a look at the Reformation page
that I put together for the Open Directory Project.

For more information
about the Lutheran Reformation, the genealogy of American Lutheran churches,
and church history in general, check out my book, Timeline Charts of the Western Church

If you found these pages helpful
and would like to help defray some of the expense of keeping them up and running, here's how you can help (at no additional expense for yourself):

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