[RobbyS]

Richard Marius, a recent Luther biographer, Harvard professor and no Catholic, said that as much as he liked and admired Martin, We have to consider the possibility that if he had suffered the fate of Hus that Europe might have been spared more than one hundred years of religious warfare.

[drstevej]

***Richard Marius, a recent Luther biographer, Harvard professor and no Catholic, said that as much as he liked and admired Martin, We have to consider the possibility that if he had suffered the fate of Hus that Europe might have been spared more than one hundred years of religious warfare. ***

Ludicrous. The operative word is "possibility." This is pure speculation. There were far more forces for reform than Luther. But you would relish the thought of Luther on a stake roasting like a bratwurst.

Luther did not initiate the Peasants Revolt under Thomas Munster for example (he encouraged the Princes to oppose it). Religious warfare didn't begin or end with the Lutheran Princes. Zwingliu donned armor and was killed in battle. No other reformer followed his lead.

Wars were a by-product of religious coercion and the fusion of state and church. HAdly inventions of Luther. Malachi Martin, no Protestant, traces the decisive shift to Constantine... not Luther.