Over the summer i spent hours watching the Elizabeth movies and Other Boleyn Girl.  I always meant to look up the truth beyond Hollywood, but never got around to it, so i was pleased to see that we sort of cover that time period.  

These sections were some of the most interesting i read.  It seemed hard to believe that some of the events took place were real.  It seemed like a adventure story, complete with hidden alliances and kidnappings in the middle of the night.  Also, its never quite fun until there's an execution!  

I was sort of pleased at first to see the success of the radicals, but understood the disappointment the levellers felt when there was no drastic change.  That was, until, i read the section on Oliver Cromwell entering the debate with Parliament, then simply calling in his army and having them disband Parliament.  The man obviously had guts.  Imagine being able to just walk into a meeting hall and disband an institution that had been in effect for years and years.  Wow. Would've been more impressive still if he'd managed to find a parlimentary system that actually worked.  

Well, My head is just spinning trying to keep up with all the back and forth political changes.  No wonder there was so much unrest.  

Wikipedia- Martin Luther

This article is a very detailed account of the life of Martin Luther.  There are extensive amounts of resources.

1. 11,900

2. I searched Martin Luther, and turned up an article of the same name

3. Martin Luther diplomat, Martin Luther Musician, Martin Luther Film (1953)

4. There seems to be a disagreement about whether or not the page should be re-written, as it hadn't been edited for two years.  

5. Over 500, the latest revision was on November 16th 2008

6.none

7. 127

8. It gives a link to a page with hundreds of reference material 

This seems like it would be extremely helpful to anyone hoping to learn about Martin Luther.  The article itself is very long, and if you managed to read it, and were still unsatisfied, there is over 100 resources listed with links that you could explore.  Anyone researching Martin Luther should start here.  

I found myself continuously drawing comparisons between Martin Luther's Freedom of Christianity and Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail.  Obviously very different circumstances, but both wrote rather eloquently about their beliefs.  It's just my minds inability to ignore the similar names i guess, but still, sort of interesting to think about.  

I guess i've just got classic political literature on my mind.  When reading about the Levellers there were several quotes that i felt could have come straight from Emma Goldman's Anarchy and Other essays.  Goldman, in her essays tries to set the record straight against slander of the anarchists, and the Levellers do to, and they had kind of similar beliefs about the social system.  Obviously there are distinct differences in their teachings but this was once again a comparison i couldn't help but draw several times throughout reading the statement of the Levellers.  

The Schleitheim Confession was difficult for my to read for many reasons.  First and foremost i feel that my views on religion are made fairly obvious by my previous blog posts, and also the language itself can be hard to process, but it was mostly just the rules that people force themselves to follow, and the authority that some are vountarily given, that confuses me.  We see over and over again rules made by the church and the wars fought over religion, but it seems that no one realized that maybe they should just remove their religion from their politics.  still today, it plays such a big part.  

early modern europe

I was excited to start reading about the transition from medieval country, to socially and economically modern countries.  In the introduction, it states that there were major changes in education and science, as well as religion, but it seems that i may have missed the parts that did not only cover religion, if someone could point out to me where i missed those sections, it would be greatly appreciated.

The reformation- as i am urged in the reading to touch on this subject, I'd have to agree that perhaps the creation of new church was because of the failure of the catholic church.  it would be nearly impossible to create a religion that meets the needs of every single one of its members, which is probably why so many desired to branch off.  

I feel silly saying that had no idea what martin Luther was responsible for, it's interesting to find out that such a familiar name was actually the foundation for an entire religion.  The same would go for John Calvin, i had never even begun to think of how many people it took to spread religion.  And also, how religions can be so similar, but very simple little variations justify war.