Written by Bradley Bommarito<\/p>\n
Roanoke College celebrated the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation with a bang, reenacting Martin Luther\u2019s posting of his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted a celebration that included music and took place outdoors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It was a commemoration of what happened 500 years ago,\u201d said Dr. Joseph Blaha, associate professor of fine arts and director of bands at Roanoke College.<\/p>\n Dubbed \u201cThe Wittenberg Happening,\u201d musicians spread throughout campus began playing the melody to \u201cA Mighty Fortress,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>bombarding the old halls with brass as the clock struck noon,. After several plays of the melody, the musicians congregated in the Olin Hall courtyard and the ceremony began.<\/p>\n \u201cThe musicians gravitated toward a focal point which represented moving toward the light, or the truth,\u201d said Blaha.<\/p>\n Once the music ceased, an actor dressed as an Augustinian monk walked through the crowd to the side door of the Antrim Chapel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The actor posted a replica of Luther\u2019s 95 Theses to a facsimile of the Wittenberg Cathedral door and exited the area.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Luther allegedly posted his theses, he wanted people to read and notice it as soon as it was posted,\u201d said Blaha.<\/p>\n Reverend Chris Bowen, Roanoke\u2019s chaplain, delivered a short address about Martin Luther\u2019s life and legacy. Bowen\u2019s address explored the implications of Luther\u2019s actions and how they inspired a movement that changed the world forever.<\/p>\n \u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDr. Blaha invited me to discuss the life and legacy of Martin Luther.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I wanted to talk about what moved Luther to take the action he did,\u201d said Bowen, adding \u201cLuther saw a disconnect between the Church\u2019s teachings and actions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He was calling the Church to undergo reform.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bowen points out that Luther was not only an advocate for theological reform, he was also an ardent champion of the common people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Luther believed that access to higher education should be expanded to include those outside of the privileged and elite.<\/p>\n \u201cLuther argued that common citizens needed to be educated in order to create a healthy society.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We forget sometimes that Luther was a university professor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>As an academic, Luther was trying to expand access to higher education while also ensuring that the Church was the best manifestation of the teachings of the Bible,\u201d said Bowen.<\/p>\n Members of the audience were left with a question to ponder.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you ever found something that you\u2019re willing to stand up for?,\u201d asked Bowen, referring to the incredible risk that Luther took by going against the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the face of opposition from people who had much more power and authority than him, Luther refused to recant his theses and writings,\u201d said Bowen.<\/p>\n Bowen is certainly not the only person to make the event resoundingly successful.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Blaha notes the key organizational efforts of Ronda Philips, Olin Hall coordinator, and Kate Shortridge, Fine Arts department chair.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He is also grateful for Emma Duff\u2019s role as the actor that posted the \u201ctheses.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Finally, Blaha would especially like to thank the band members that participated in the event.<\/p>\n Part of a series of events commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the Wittenberg Happening event was just one of many celebrations that have been occurring over the last few months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Several lectures were delivered surrounding this anniversary, and the Roanoke College choir recently performed at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Religious leaders and academics such as Bowen and Blaha support such events because they encourage us to reflect on the past in order to understand the present.<\/p>\n \u201cLuther made us more intellectually responsible by promoting literacy among the masses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He was forward thinking by involving the common people in the interpretation of theology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Martin Luther was a flawed human being as we all are, but he used his intellect and reasoning to come up with something so profound that it turned the world upside down,\u201d said Blaha.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by Bradley Bommarito Roanoke College celebrated the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation with a bang, reenacting Martin Luther\u2019s posting of his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI wanted a celebration that included music and took place outdoors.\u00a0\u00a0It was a commemoration of what happened 500 years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}