Martin Luther and Marriage

What would Martin Luther think of today's rates of divorce and cohabitation?

Getting married was a cop-out in early 16th-century Christianity.

Staying single and devoting oneself to the church was considered taking the high road to heaven. Those who did were conquering lust and therefore spiritually superior to those who caved to the flesh, fell in love, married and raised a family.

That began changing about 500 years ago when Christian reformers put family on a pedestal with game-changing teachings that sexuality and spirituality aren’t incompatible and that making a marriage work would do more to get you into heaven than staying holed up in a monastery. Historians trace that change to a monk named Martin Luther — who would later marry a former Catholic nun — and his famous “95 Theses” that according to tradition was nailed to a church door in Germany in October 1517. The theses complained about corruption in the church and launched a religious reformation that would forever change not just Christianity, but also social institutions like marriage.

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