Martin Luther's life as a monk and what affect did the place have on him?

Answer 1

While Martin Luther was in school, he was caught in a thunderstorm and there was a lightening strike close to him, he cried out in terror and promised to become a monk if he was saved. Shortly thereafter he entered an strict Augustinian Friary.

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from the website Martin Luther Biography:However, in July 1505, Luther had a life-changing experience that set him on a new course. Caught in a horrific thunderstorm where he feared for his life, Luther cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of miners, "Save me, St. Anne, and I'll become a monk!" The storm subsided and he was saved. Most historians believe this was not a spontaneous act, but an idea already formulated in Luther's mind. The decision to become a monk was difficult and greatly disappointed his father, but he felt he must keep a promise. Luther was also driven by fears of hell and God's wrath, and felt that life in a monastery would help him find salvation.

Answer 2

At the link below (Augnet), you can read a brief synopsis of Martin Luther's life in the Augustinian Order. Suffice it to say that there has been an awful lot written about Martin Luther, and an awful lot of that is, I hesitate to use the word trash, but it seems to be that people are reading their own beliefs and/or just making stuff up. If you read Martin Luther's biography, please try to get one that contains as much of the man's own writing as you can, as many of them are worthless. A good example of this is "Martin Luther, the monk". Martin Luther was never a monk. In 1505 he entered the Augustinian Order at Erfurt and took his first vows there a year later. The Augustinians were and are, to this day, an Order of Friars - NOT monks. If you look at their website below, you will realize a couple things immediately, Well, right off the bat, how did he take first vows a year after he entered the Friary? And here is a quote from this website:

His minimal and rather inadequate formal training in theology involved various, and undoubtedly misleading, impressions about the theology of Thomas Aquinas.

The resulting discomfort of Luther with the scholastic theology of Aquinas, as well as his reliance on The Bible and Augustine (both very characteristic of the Augustinian school of theology) formed the intellectual foundation for the Protestant Reformation.

The things that one must keep in mind while studying Martin Luther is that, psychologically, he was never a healthy individual. His entire life he was "gloomy and irritable". He did not enter the Augustinian Order because of his religious fervor but because in a fit of panic he had made a vow that if he life was saved in a thunderstorm he would enter religion. He was still under the age of twenty-two, deeply depressed over the recent violent dead of a close friend, and in his own words he "despaired" of himself. He was "not so much drawn, as carried away" and none too sure of the step he was taking. Some of his friends, and his father objected strenuously to him entering religion.

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In all honesty, Luther had a sense of inferiority, which many believed had its origin in an over-strict upbringing. And then in the friary, he proceeded to try and "work his way into heaven." This is not now, was not then, and, in point of fact, never has been Catholic teaching, as a matter of fact it is heresy. The Erfurt friary was a house of strict observance with a lot of fasting and other disciplines - all of which only went to throw Luther further off the rails mentally. From all reports that we have, Luther made his religious profession on 1506 and a few weeks later was ordained a subdeacon, and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on 3 April 1507. All of which is impossible and makes no sense. There is just no way that anyone ever progressed through those stages that fast, even in Germany in the 16th century.

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You may also read about his education, which apparently involved "various theological errors and defects concerning papal authority." None of this makes sense at all, there is no way that this man was accepted into a religious order, made solemn vows, and was tonsured, ordained porter, lector, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, and priest all within two years.

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If you read his 95 Theses, you realize exactly how poor an education this man who supposed had a doctorate in theology, had. He seems nearly totally ignorant of the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, and even of St. Augustine - the founder of his order!

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None of this makes any sense, and I would put very little faith in most things that you read about his "life as a monk" (!) and the effects it had on him. In sum total I should say that his life as an Observant Augustinian Friar had the effect of deepening his gloom and his twisted view of saving himself. So the life that he was leading, his overactive imagination, and his poor theological background all contributed to his moment of inspiration (on the Friary privy {the toilet}, no less!) in which he left the Order without permission and began the protestant revolt. All in all, it is a sad case and a waste of what would appear to be an excellent mind.