Yesterday I finished reading Charles L. Mee's White Robe, Black Robe, a duel biography of Pope Leo X and Martin Luther from birth up until Leo's death in December 1521. It was a fascinating study, and well worth reading for anyone interested in either man, or understanding the causes of the Reformation. The beginnings of the Reformation are not only about Luther, who struggled for years and years with feelings of guilt over his perceived sins (though it is hard to think just what a man in a monastery could do that was so terrible), but it is also about Leo, the man who lead the Church at the time.
Leo ultimately failed in dealing with Luther, but he never knew it, and when he died in late 1521 Luther was far from his mind. The Diet of Worms was over, Luther was in hiding and in the pope's mind he had been effectively dealt with. Mee does an excellent job in playing up aspects of both men's cultures that prevented them from being able to understand each other. How could Luther ever discern the pope's motivations for his actions when Luther was politically naive, and every one of the pope's actions were political? How could Leo ever understand Luther when the pope himself didn't take theology seriously or think it important, preferring instead the joys of religious art and music, and Luther thought specific questions of faith to be of deadly importance? Why, for instance, would Leo be terribly concerned about an obscure German monk posting his writings in 1517 when earlier that year he had uncovered a plot against his life, led by none other than several prominent members of the College of Cardinals?
After reading this book, I feel that I have a better grasp on the causes of the Reformation, for Mee's work is excellent in dealing with the motivations of the two men, and in his treatment of Pope Leo he shows himself far more sympathetic than most historians have been, pointing out his strengths without ignoring his flaws.
Leo ultimately failed in dealing with Luther, but he never knew it, and when he died in late 1521 Luther was far from his mind. The Diet of Worms was over, Luther was in hiding and in the pope's mind he had been effectively dealt with. Mee does an excellent job in playing up aspects of both men's cultures that prevented them from being able to understand each other. How could Luther ever discern the pope's motivations for his actions when Luther was politically naive, and every one of the pope's actions were political? How could Leo ever understand Luther when the pope himself didn't take theology seriously or think it important, preferring instead the joys of religious art and music, and Luther thought specific questions of faith to be of deadly importance? Why, for instance, would Leo be terribly concerned about an obscure German monk posting his writings in 1517 when earlier that year he had uncovered a plot against his life, led by none other than several prominent members of the College of Cardinals?
After reading this book, I feel that I have a better grasp on the causes of the Reformation, for Mee's work is excellent in dealing with the motivations of the two men, and in his treatment of Pope Leo he shows himself far more sympathetic than most historians have been, pointing out his strengths without ignoring his flaws.
That sounds fascinating. I'm going to have to look that book up.
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