“I’m rich” said Luther. “My God has given me a nun and has added three children. I don’t worry about any debts, for when my Katy has paid them there will be more.”
Martin Luther made this comment at the family table in April, 1532. It was faithfully recorded by his friend and colleague Johann Schlaginhaufen and eventually published by Johannes Mathesius as Table Talk #1457.
There are thousands of similar off the cuff comments and observations made in the characteristic robust and witty style of the Wittenberg Reformer. They reflect relaxed setting, intimate atmosphere, and informal, often touching conversations with family and friends.
Table Talk (Tischreden) makes it clear, that the Reformation was so much more than just a new theological teaching or reformation of the Church. It was a radical shift in the very structure of society. For instance, we can observe the emergence of an intimate family founded in love, respect and mutual care.
That nun which Martin spoke about was his wife Katharina von Bora. He lovingly called her “my Katy”. She escaped a monastery and eventually married “Her Doctor”. Together they ended up having six children brought into this mutually respectful, sometime bantering, but always loving relationship. She admired the somehow impractical, idealistic and folksy Doctor of theology, while he deeply respected her motherly instincts and admired her economic prowess (she took care of a household of about forty members!). But Katy was not just an effective “hausfrau”. Even while nursing babies she actively participated in the political, cultural and theological discussions which were led at least partly in Latin.
Thus this marriage and family of a former nun and a former monk was so much more than just another family, it was an integral part of the thorough reformation and realignment of medieval times and emergence of early modern culture. If we celebrate Reformation Sunday, we must not forget Katy Luther.
Reformation history
is HERSTORY too!
Come this Sunday to celebrate Reformation, one of its heroines, and its changing cultural paradigms.
Martin Luther made this comment at the family table in April, 1532. It was faithfully recorded by his friend and colleague Johann Schlaginhaufen and eventually published by Johannes Mathesius as Table Talk #1457.
There are thousands of similar off the cuff comments and observations made in the characteristic robust and witty style of the Wittenberg Reformer. They reflect relaxed setting, intimate atmosphere, and informal, often touching conversations with family and friends.
Table Talk (Tischreden) makes it clear, that the Reformation was so much more than just a new theological teaching or reformation of the Church. It was a radical shift in the very structure of society. For instance, we can observe the emergence of an intimate family founded in love, respect and mutual care.
That nun which Martin spoke about was his wife Katharina von Bora. He lovingly called her “my Katy”. She escaped a monastery and eventually married “Her Doctor”. Together they ended up having six children brought into this mutually respectful, sometime bantering, but always loving relationship. She admired the somehow impractical, idealistic and folksy Doctor of theology, while he deeply respected her motherly instincts and admired her economic prowess (she took care of a household of about forty members!). But Katy was not just an effective “hausfrau”. Even while nursing babies she actively participated in the political, cultural and theological discussions which were led at least partly in Latin.
Thus this marriage and family of a former nun and a former monk was so much more than just another family, it was an integral part of the thorough reformation and realignment of medieval times and emergence of early modern culture. If we celebrate Reformation Sunday, we must not forget Katy Luther.
Reformation history
is HERSTORY too!
Come this Sunday to celebrate Reformation, one of its heroines, and its changing cultural paradigms.
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