Lichtgedanken 02

S C HW E R P U N K T 12 Did he or didn’t he? Martin Luther published his famous 95 Theses in Wit- tenberg on 31 October 1517 in which he denounced the Church’s abuse of sel- ling indulgences and which became the starting-point of the Reformation. Whether – as is frequently maintai- ned – he nailed his Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Schlosskirche or not, is still a matter of debate in acade- mia. However, the trail left by Luther and other reformers throughout Eu- rope is beyond doubt. Luther himself Time of upheaval — time of awakening Without Luther, no » Hohe Schule « , without the Reformation, no University of Jena. One can only speculate as to what would have become of this little town of farmers and winegrowers without its university. One thing is clear, namely that without the great upheavals of the Reformation which found committed supporters in the dynasty of the Ernestines, the town would look very different today. How the Reformation came to Jena, how ideas and dogmas spread, but also how testimonies and cultural assets from the time of the Reformation can be preserved and used for scientific purposes in the future – these are topics of current research at the FSU. BY UTE SCHÖNFELDER and many of his pioneering ideas and deeds are rooted in Thuringia: he stu- died in Erfurt and joined the local Au- gustinian monastery, and he transla- ted the Bible in Wartburg Castle near Eisenach. And Luther was also a guest in Jena. He resided in the town several times between 1522 and 1537. He preached at the Church of St. Michael’s and deba- ted with the reformer and his former doctoral supervisor, Andreas Boden- stein, known as Karlstadt. Photo above: View onto the interior courtyard of Collegium Jenense. The »Hohe Schule« was founded by the Elector Johann Friedrich I. in the former Dominican monastery in 1548, and ten years later it was declared a university.