Martin Luther’s (“Catholic”) Mariology In A Nutshell

1. He vigorously defended the use of the title Theotokos [“Mother of God”]

2. He believed in Mary’s perpetual virginity (including in partu: that is, — without getting graphic about it — a virgin during birth: Jesus miraculously passing through her body to be delivered).

3. He held to a form of Immaculate Conception: thinking Mary was freed from original sin: but at the conception of Christ, not her own.

4. He (and early Lutheran confessions) held that a person could believe in her Assumption without being a heretic.

5. He thought a great measure of Marian devotion was fine (Rosary, etc.) provided it was in the right spirit (Christ-centered).

6. He regarded Mary as the greatest woman and creature, and venerated her not unlike Catholics do.

7. He (and the Lutheran confessions) contended that saints in heaven pray for us, but (after 1521) he rejected the invocation of saints.

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Martin Luther’s Mariology (Particularly the Immaculate Conception) [4-24-03; major revision: 4-7-08]

Mary’s Assumption & Historic Protestantism [6-30-08]

Mary Mother of God: Protestant Founders Agree (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Bullinger) [10-10-08]

Luther & Mary’s Immaculate Conception: Lutheran Scholars’ Opinions [9-30-10]

Luther & the Immaculate Conception: More Non-Catholic Historians & Scholars [9-30-10]

Luther & the “Immaculate Purification” of Mary [10-2-10]

Martin Luther’s Belief in the Invocation and Intercession of Mary and the Saints, as Late as 1521 [10-4-11]

Luther & Mary’s Virginity During Childbirth (The Miraculous Birth of Jesus [“in Partu”] Without Pain) [10-12-11; additions on 9-19-15]

Martin Luther’s Belief in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary (+ Reformed Apologist James Swan’s Belittling Contempt of Luther) [9-23-14]

Luther & Veneration of Mary: James Swan’s Revisionism (His Anti-Catholic Nonsense with Regard to Martin Luther’s Mariology & Also My Related Research) [4-22-16]

Martin Luther’s “Immaculate Purification” View of Mary [National Catholic Register, 12-31-16]

Martin Luther vs. Nestorius Regarding “Mother of God” [3-28-18]

Martin Luther’s Exceptionally “Catholic” Devotion to Mary [National Catholic Register, 4-16-19]

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(originally 4-12-18 on Facebook, links added on 5-8-19)

Photo credit: Portrait of Martin Luther (detail), 1564, by workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

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Martin Luther’s (“Catholic”) Mariology in a Nutshell