“Wie einen feinen jungen Baum …”: nature, the fallen man, and social order in Martin Luther’s works on education (1524–1530)

Abstract

ABSTRACTMartin Luther’s reflections on education and schooling are summarised in two short texts (Wittenberg, 1524 and 1530) addressed respectively to the municipal authorities and to parents. Nevertheless, the subject of education permeates his whole work, emerging in several other treatises and commentaries. His passionate eloquence refers often to nature as a repertoire of metaphors and a conceptual tool. In this paper, we will attempt a close reading of some key passages, focusing on the two thematic axes of “human nature” and “natural and social order”. According to Luther, “human nature” is the fallen nature of the sinful man, but also a nature full of potentialities unchained by the grace of Christ. Its development through education aims primarily at setting the man in his “natural order”, i.e., the “social order”. From that moment on, Bildung has the special duty to discover and make possible one’s own Beruf, which makes the man able to accomplish his function in society and adhere to God’s design. Education, therefore, is both the caring action that develops the sprout in a “beautiful tree” and a necessary act of violence, replicating the complexity and ambiguity of the laws of nature.