Reformation, Apocalyptism, and Revolution: the Complicated Exchange Between Martin Luther and the German Peasants and Implications for Modern Unrest

This article will describe the German Peasants’ War and the documents that preceded it. We will explore how the peasants were reading Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Thomas Müntzer, and other Reformers. The apocalyptic zeal of the Reformation motivated the peasants to promote sociopolitical changes based on biblical and Protestant tenets, and also to take up arms for the sake of enforcing these changes. Complicating this interaction is Luther’s curious and often caustic responses to the peasants despite their attempts to apply Reformation principles. This article will close by suggesting considerations for modern civil unrest and protest against governmental authorities.

The German Peasants’ War took place between 1524 and 1526, just a few years after Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses in 1517, an event commonly seen as the initiation of the German Protestant Reformation. The military activity of the Peasants’ War occurred in south and central German lands mainly during the first half of 1525. Thomas Brady calculates that “the rebel armies took part in at least 60 military engagements: 13 pitched battles, 19 skirmishes, 11 raids and ambushes, 6 sieges, 7 storms of walled places, and 4 bombardments.” 1 Historians identify a variety of intertwined and overlapping economic, religious, political and social reasons for the war. 2 Peter Blickle, however, believes that this war was more of a revolution than merely a series of local insurrections: “Formulated negatively, [the war’s] objective was to destroy feudal structures; formulated positively, it sought to expand communal competency (all the way to autonomy) and extend the