Martin Luther’s Treatise On Usury: The Effect of Materialism on Spirituality

Payton Fergus The Hanover Historical Review Vol. 13, Summer 2018

In 1519, Martin Luther delivered a sermon entitled On Usury which was later translated and published in 1520. Four years later he published an expanded treatise in two parts, the first of which was On Commerce and the second of which was a reprint of his expanded 1520 version of On Usury, which thus enjoyed a wide circulation. Here Luther discusses materialism and its effects on one’s spirituality and usury; or the act of charging high interest on loans. Luther, as is well known, was deeply concerned with both the salvation and the earthly welfare of his parishioners. In his visit to Rome in 1511 as well as in Johann Tetzel’s prolific selling of indulgences in Germany in 1517, Luther had witnessed the impact of greed upon his fellow clergymen. Two years later, Martin Luther delivered this famous sermon on the spiritual perils of materialism.

In his treatise On Usury, Luther examines the spiritual misconduct of those in charge of transactions of temporal goods in a handful of scenarios.…