"But since the devil's bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she's wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can help us, then? Not judges, not doctors, no king or emperor, because [reason] is the Devil's greatest whore."
Source: Martin Luther, 1483-1546.
Here are some more of Luther's (attributed) sayings regarding reason (from the same page):
"But since the devil's bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she's wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can help us, then? Not judges, not doctors, no king or emperor, because [reason] is the Devil's greatest whore."
Source: Martin Luther, 1483-1546."
I ran across this posting of yours while tracking down another item. CS Lewis would have taken Luther to task with this one. In his work, "Pilgrims Regress" he wrote of Reason as a Virgin, unsullied by bias, morality. She stated(she was given feminine character in the book) that she forces the seakers of knowledge to be totally honest with themselves when considering a course of thought or action.
No true decisions could simply be decided by reason alone, to make a decision and attribute it to reason WAS TO MAKE A WHORE OF HER(and she "could not sully" herself with the notion of decision). She did give advice to the protagonist to seek advice fro "her cousins Faith, Hope, and Joy", for he sought advice on matters she could not give answers to and that she knew of others who had found their answers "with them"!
Interestingly enough, the book of Provebs speaks of Wisdom,"having her 7 pillars", who goes out into the Byways saying who-ever is thirsty amd craves wisdom let them come..." Wisdom is mentioned in the feminine here as well.