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Thomas Müntzer Quotes

Thomas Müntzer was a German preacher and radical theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer was foremost amongst those reformers who took issue with Luther's compromises with feudal authority. He became a leader of the German peasant and plebeian uprising of 1525 commonly known as the German Peasants' War. He was captured after the Battle of Frankenhausen, and was tortured and executed.

Few other figures of the German Reformation raised as much controversy as Müntzer, which continues to this day. A complex and unique figure in history, he is now regarded as a significant player in the early years of the German Reformation and also in the history of European revolutionaries. Almost all modern studies of Müntzer stress the necessity of understanding his revolutionary actions as a consequence of his theology: Müntzer believed that the end of the world was imminent and that it was the task of the true believers to aid God in ushering in a new era of history. Within the history of the Reformation, his contribution, especially in liturgy and biblical exegesis, was of substance, but remains undervalued.



Wikipedia  

✵ 1489 – 27. May 1525
Thomas Müntzer photo
Thomas Müntzer: 8   quotes 1   like

Famous Thomas Müntzer Quotes

“The people will be free and God alone will be their Lord.”

Thomas Müntzer

Letter to the Princes as cited in The German Peasants' War and Anabaptist Community of Goods, p. 109 https://books.google.com/books?id=MeFSqubf6VAC&pg=PA107

“The stinking puddle from which usury, thievery and robbery arises is our lords and princes. They make all creatures their property— the fish in the water, the bird in the air, the plant in the earth must all be theirs. Then they proclaim God's commandments among the poor and say, "You shall not steal." They oppress everyone, the poor peasant, the craftsman are skinned and scraped.”

Thomas Müntzer

Letter to the Princes, as cited in Transforming Faith Communities: A Comparative Study of Radical Christianity, p. 173 http://books.google.com/books?id=6FRJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA173


(de) Sieh zu, die Grundsuppe des Wuchers, der Dieberei und Räuberei sein unser Herrn und Fürsten, nehmen alle Kreaturen zum Eigentum: die Fisch im Wasser, die Vögel in der Luft, das Gewächs auf Erden muß alles ihr sein (Jes. 5). Darüber lassen sie dann Gottes Gebot ausgehen unter die Armen und sprechen: »Gott hat geboten: Du sollst nicht stehlen.

“The league at Allstedt wanted to establish this principle, Omnia sunt communia, ‘All property should be held in common’ and should be distributed to each according to his needs, as the occasion required. Any prince, count, or lord who did not want to do this, after first being warned about it, should be beheaded or hanged.”

Thomas Müntzer

in Revelation and Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Müntzer (1993), p. 200 http://books.google.com/books?id=xAKM85a4EekC&pg=PA200

“God speaks only in the suffering of creatures, a suffering that the hearts of the unbelievers do not have because they become more and more hardened.”

Thomas Müntzer

"A Protest about the Condition of the Bohemians," p. 5
Wu Ming Presents Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes

“Freely and boldly I declare that I have never heard a single donkey-cunt doctor of theology, in the smallest of his divisions and points, even whisper, to say nothing of speaking loudly, and points, even whisper, to say nothing of speaking loudly, about the order (established in God and all his creatures).”

Thomas Müntzer

"A Protest about the Condition of the Bohemians"
Wu Ming Presents Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes

“The clergy have never been able to discover, nor will they ever, the beneficial tribulations and useful abyss that the providential spirit meets as it empties itself.”

Thomas Müntzer

"A Protest about the Condition of the Bohemians"
Wu Ming Presents Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes

“Man must smash to bits his stolen, contrived Christian faith through powerful, enormous suffering of the heart, through an amazement that cannot be rejected. Through this, man becomes very small and despicable in his own eyes.”

Thomas Müntzer

"Special Exposure of False Faith" (1524)
Wu Ming Presents Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes

“The fear of God at the beginning of faith is an unbearable thing to human nature.”

Thomas Müntzer

"Exposure of False Faith" (1524), in Revelation and Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Müntzer (1993), p. 117
Exposure of False Faith (1524)
Original: (de) Es ist der Natur ein unleidlichs Werk, die Furcht Gottes zum Anfang des Glaubens zu machen.

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