Thursday, April 16, 2009

Here He Stood

488 years ago, April 17-18, Martin Luther stood trial at the Diet [formal assembly] of Worms [a small town on the river Rhine in present-day Germany). (It's properly pronounced, I believe, something like "DEE-et of Voerms," not "DIE-et of Wirms.")

On the 17th Luther was asked whether certain writings were his and if he would revoke them as heretical. He asked for time to compose his answer--he prayed for long hours and consulted with friends, and returned the next day to give his famous answer.

You can see some extracts from his response--or watch below the scene from the 2003 movie, Luther: