“I think it is just too much to claim Luther led directly to Hitler, but they were both anti-semitic, nationalists, etc.”
I’m curious to learn what nation Martin Luther was a “nationalist” of, considering Germany wasn’t unified until 1860.
You wrote:
“I’m curious to learn what nation Martin Luther was a “nationalist” of, considering Germany wasn’t unified until 1860.”
Well, you’ve made two errors.
1) You meant 1870, not 1860.
2) Germany did exist, but as a series of principalities within the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V (Carlos I of Spain) was the Holy Roman Emperor. Long before his time it was expected that the H.R.E. would become King of Germany before becoming H.R.E. Frederick II, for instance, became King of Germany in 1196, but did not become H.R.E. until 1209. In Luther’s youth, dukes ruled the German states, so there was no united Germany, but Luther still wrote of Germania. Roland Bainton, the famous Protestant biographer of Luther, backs this up entirely: http://books.google.com/books?id=IwyGxoDKk1wC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=luther+german+nationalism&source=web&ots=xVJU6H49Zc&sig=_u48l8SMnwP-xz6PPRfBoJe1TtQ&hl=en#PPA130,M1
Germany.
He wrote that he wanted to make Moses sound so German that people would forget he was a Jew.