Last month I attended an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art presenting the artifacts and paintings regarding Martin Luther. As the world prepares to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of the birth of the Reformation on Oct 31, the MIA is stewarding and allowing the public to see artifacts of that time as Reformation sites in Germany are being refurbished.
Here are a couple things I saw:
The pulpit above is from the St. Andrews church in Eisleben, Germany, where on Feburary 15,1546 Luther preached his last sermon. During concluded his message by saying
"This and much more might be said concerning this Gospel, but I am too weak and we shall let it go at that."
Three days later, Luther died.
The book above is Luther's copy of the Saint Jerome Bible with his notes and comments written in the margins. Saint Jerome is best known for writing the Bible into Latin, which pretty much limited the church to translate to other people. Luther later translated the Bible into German, which make it much easy to access the Scriptures.
The open chest above is an actual community chest during Luther's time. Basically it was a form of common welfare. Folks put resources (generally money) into the chest. Needy folks need to notify two folks with keys to the locks on the chest to access it. Welfare was certainly much simpler these days.
So overall it was a very interesting visit. I learned much about Luther's life and society of his time. Quite fascinating I have to say.
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