Martin Luther, a major leader of the Protestant Reformation, sought to reject much of the doctrine and authority of the Catholic Church, yet many of his theological and political ideas extremely reflect the Catholic luminary St. Augustine. Although major differences exist between Augustine and Luther in some areas, particularly those relating to the authority of kings and nobles over peasants and slaves, most of Luther's arguments can be linked to Augustine's in one way or another. Some areas in which the two men agree greatly include their thoughts on the existence of false Christians (i.e. sinners who masquerade under the title of Christians), and their claims that wars bring unnecessary misery into life. Although each author discusses these issues in different ways and for different reasons, including different aspects and examples of the idea, the premises for each author's arguments about these ideas are similar. Some arguments written by Luther that are somewhat, though not entirely, similar to Augustine's ideas include Luther's claims that true Christians do not need temporal law but thrive in it, and Luther's insistence that that man must abide by both temporal and celestial authority in order to live. survive human life and achieve salvation in eternal life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of the greatest parallels between Augustine's beliefs and Luther's writings is Luther's echo of Augustine's statement that "there are false Christians within the Church" (I:35). Luther agrees with this point and further embellishes this theme by adding, "The world and its masses will always be non-Christians, even if they are all baptized and Christians in name. Christians are few and far between" (Hillerbrand, 48). The two authors differ, however, in the methods used to solve the problem of Christian impostors. Augustine recognizes man's inability to always discriminate the true from the impostors and believes that those sinners who cunningly label themselves as Christians will be separated from the true Christians only on the day of judgment (I:35). Luther sees the difficulty of determining true Christians as one of the reasons for the necessity of both human and divine law. Interestingly, neither author cites Scripture to support their claims that false Christians exist; this suggests that both Augustine and Luther came to these conclusions through their life experiences rather than through their interpretations of Scripture. Another topic on which Augustine and Luther definitely agree is the need to avoid war, however both authors treat this topic in different ways. . Augustine states that "peace is the instinctive goal of all creatures, and it is also the ultimate goal of war" and that "there is no man who does not desire peace" (XIX,12). However, Augustine distinguishes between apparent peace and real peace when he states that "the peace of the unjust, compared to the peace of the just, is not even worthy of the name of peace". Augustine Christianizes his claims about temporal peace when he concludes that "God created all things with supreme wisdom and ordered them with perfect justice" (XIX:13) and that man can achieve peace by following God's orders as he "loves the your neighbor" (XIX:14). Augustine's statements on peace are congruent with both the actions and writings of Luther, most specifically in his friendly Admonition to Peace regarding the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants. First, howstated in Mackenson's introduction, this writing is Luther's "peace appeal" (Hillerbrand 67) that "if any misfortune or disaster should arise from this matter, it may not be imputed to me because of my silence" (Hillerbrand , 68). In his plea for peace to the princes and lords, Luther uses both the tactics of impending hell and gentle persuasion to persuade the nobles to make peace with the peasants. He reminds the nobility of the passage from the Psalms "He pours scorn on princes" (Hillerbrand 69) and advises them "You will lose nothing in kindness; and even if you should lose something, it will hereafter come back to you tenfold." in peace, while in conflict you may, perhaps, lose both life and property” (Hillerbrand, 71). In To the Peasants Luther significantly narrows Augustine's idea that peace is man's natural goal, arguing that peace is a uniquely Christian goal. This is demonstrated by Luther's statement that if neither the peasants nor the nobility allow themselves to be educated and live in peace, neither side is Christian (Hillerbrand, 78). Augustine's and Luther's interpretations of temporal law vary slightly from each other, with Augustine's beliefs reflected in the Corinthian passage "The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law" (XIII,5 ) and in that of Luther in the passage of the first book of Timothy «The law was not given to the righteous but to the lawless" (Hillerbrand, 46). Augustine maintains that the law itself is a temptation, that the very restriction of a The action is a reason why some do it. In this way, some who do not normally commit sins may be induced to commit them because of a stronger temptation, or as Augustine writes "when the love of justice is not strong enough to conquer sinful desire with the delight it provides" (XIII:5). In his writings Luther avoids the question of whether the law can be held in bad regard by the wicked; wicked to violate them, because Luther believes that the laws are not made for true Christians anyway. He writes “If all the world were composed of true Christians, that is, true believers, there would be no need or benefit from the prince, the king, the sword, or the law” (Hillerbrand 46). There is a similar contrast between Augustine and Luther's interpretations of man's obedience to temporal law. Augustine clearly states that «when man lives "according to the model of man" and not "according to the model of God", he is like the devil" (XIV,4). Augustine clarifies that, even if man comes from God, who is all good, he can live falsely, such as not living according to God, since "the lie consists in not living as he was created" (XIV, 4), distinguishing however the two life options (living under a celestial government or a temporal one) concedes that the celestial one is the best, but also adds that the temporal government is necessary: ​​«Both must be allowed to remain; the one to produce justice, the other to bring external peace and prevent evil deeds. Neither is sufficient in the world without the other” (Hillerbrand, 48). In this way Luther takes Augustine's condemnation of the temporal lifestyle to another level; while Luther admits that it would be better if the Christians of the world could live in peace without laws, like sheep, he admits that since the wolves or non-Christians of the world would quickly devour them (Hillerbrand, 48), Augustine does not make this distinction, perhaps to because of his beliefs such as "When hunger killed...". it freed [Christians] from the evils of this life, just as illness frees men from the sufferings of the body" (I,11). A substantial difference between the theological and political thought of Augustine and Luther is the unique interpretation that each author makes of authority.