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Persona #49

Martin Luther

1483–1546
German monk, theologian, founder of the Lutheran Reformation

Justification by faith alone, the bound will, scripture as the church's sole final authority

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Martin Luther
Time · Extent Both
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature not engaged
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality not engaged
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality not engaged
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Passive
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method Confessional
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity not engaged

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Martin Luther

"Both" — God's eternity and created salvation-historical time. Deterministic because the will is bound and God's sovereignty is absolute (the central doctrine of De Servo Arbitrio against Erasmus).

Space

Martin Luther

Conventional late-medieval: substantival, finite, three-dimensional, local. Luther was unmoved by Copernicus's heliocentrism and remained within the Ptolemaic cosmos.

Matter

Martin Luther

Substantival, conserved. The doctrine of consubstantiation is a precise metaphysical claim about how Christ's body is really present in, with, and under the bread of the Eucharist.

Observer

Martin Luther

Single embodied person, plural among others. Passive agency in salvation — the central polemic against Erasmus is that the human will cannot of itself turn to God. Personal metaphysical agency: the God of Scripture, definitively self-revealed in Christ.

Energy

Martin Luther

Conventional medieval-Aristotelian.

Information

Martin Luther

Conserved at both scales. The Bible is the durable Word of God; the soul persists into eternity through resurrection.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Martin Luther

Luther's combination of radical liberation in matters of conscience with deep conservatism on political authority (the harsh "Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants" of 1525) was already noticed in his own day. His later writings on the Jews (1543) are a more troubling part of the same inheritance; modern Lutheran bodies have repudiated them.