ABSTRACT

The fourth element in this antihierarchical theology is that of calling. Here, Luther attacks the distinction between sacred and secular callings by asserting the God-given and approved validity of all Christian tasks, from that of the humble peasant crofter to the highest government or church official. No longer can the individual in the monastery or the cleric claim to be superior to the ordinary believer; no longer can the world be divided between those with sacred callings and those with secular tasks. In his address To the Christian Nobility Luther makes the following statement:

To call popes, bishops, priests, monks, and nuns, the religious class, but princes, lords, artizans, and farm-workers the secular class, is a specious device invented by certain time-servers; but no-one ought to be frightened by it, and for good reason. For all Christians whatsoever really and truly belong to the religious class, and there is no difference among them except in so far as they do different work.10