Martin Luther – Fundamentalist Reactionary or Enlightened Creator of the Modern World?
Speakers
Chair
500 years ago Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation when he nailed a sheet of paper to the door of a church in a small university town in Germany. That sheet and the incendiary ideas it contained flared up into religious persecution and war, eventually burning a huge hole through 16th century Christendom. And yet the man who sparked this revolution has somehow been lost in the glare of events. Who was Luther? What made him a brilliant writer as well as a foul mouthed polemicist? And what drove him to challenge the authority of the Church?
In an event hosted by BBC Radio Three’s arts and ideas programme, Free Thinking (@BBCFreeThinking) , Anne McElvoy explores the man and his passionate theology with Peter Stanford, the author of a new Luther biography, Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident and the historians, Ulinka Rublack, author of Reformation Europe and Diarmaid MacCulloch, whose most recent book is All Things Made New – Writings on the Reformation.
Diarmaid MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. His Thomas Cranmer (1996) won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize; Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700 (2004) won the Wolfson Prize and the British Academy Prize. A History of Christianity (2010), which was adapted into a six-part BBC television series, was awarded the Cundill and Hessel-Tiltman Prizes. His Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh were published in 2013 as Silence: A Christian History. His most recent television series, Sex and the Church, broadcast in 2015. He was knighted in 2012.
Ulinka Rublack is Professor of Early Modern European history at Cambridge University and a Fellow of St John's College. Her recent book The Astronomer & the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for His Mother was an Observer book of the year and has inspired an opera. Her other books include Reformation Europe. She is editor, most recently, of the Oxford Handbook of the Protestant Reformations and of Penguin's first graphic classic, Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death.
Peter Stanford is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. His previous investigations into the history, theology and cultural significance of religious ideas include The Devil – A Biography, Heaven – A Traveller’s Guide to the Undiscovered Country, The She-Pope and Judas: The Troubling History of the Renegade Apostle. A former editor of the Catholic Herald, he writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles, as well as The Observer and The Tablet. His biography of Lord Longford was made into the BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning film, Longford, and he has presented TV versions of his other books, including Channel 4’s Catholics and Sex. He is director of the Longford Trust for prison reform
Anne McElvoy (@annemcelvoy) is Senior Editor at The Economist, a presenter of BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking and BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze, and a London Evening Standard columnist.
Suggested Twitter hashtag for this event: #LSELitFest
This event forms part of the , taking place from Monday 20 - Saturday 25 February 2017, with the theme "Revolutions".
Podcast
A podcast of this event is available to download from Martin Luther – Fundamentalist Reactionary or Enlightened Creator of the Modern World?
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.
We aim to make all LSE events available as a podcast subject to receiving permission from the speaker/s to do this, and subject to no technical problems with the recording of the event. Podcasts are normally available 1-2 working days after the event.
of past events can be found online
You can get immediate notification on the availability of an event podcast by following LSE public lectures and events on
, which will also inform you about the posting of transcripts and videos, the announcement of new events and other important event updates. Event updates and other information about what's happening at LSE can be found on the LSE's
page.
This event has been certified for
purposes by the
. Self-Assessment Record forms will be made available for delegates wishing to record further learning and knowledge enhancement for Continuing Personal and Professional Development (CPD) purposes. For delegates who wish to obtain a CPD Certificate of Attendance, it is the responsibility of delegates to register their details with a LSE steward at the end of the event and as of 1 September 2014 a certificate will be sent within 28 days of the date of the event attended by the
. If a delegate fails to register their details at the event, it will not prove possible to issue a certificate. (For queries relating to CPD Certificates of attendance after a request please phone 0208 840 4383 or email
).
If you are planning to attend this event and would like details on how to get here and what time to arrive, as well as on accessibility and special requirements, please refer to
. LSE aims to ensure that people have equal access to these public events, but please contact the events organiser as far as possible in advance if you have any access requirements so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. If the event is ticketed, please ensure you get in touch in advance of the ticket release date.
Access Guides to all our venues can be viewed online
.
LSE has now introduced wireless for guests and visitors in association with 'The Cloud', also in use at many other locations across the UK. If you are on campus visiting for the day or attending a conference or event, you can connect your device to wireless. See more information and create an account at Join the Cloud.
Visitors from other participating institutions are encouraged to use
. If you are having trouble connecting to eduroam, please contact your home institution for assistance.
The Cloud is only intended for guest and visitor access to wifi. Existing LSE staff and students are encouraged to use
instead.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Join the LSE Events mailing list
