Someone please help me get one of these!

Playmobil has created a tiny Martin Luther figure to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (which does not occur until 2017). The happy little Luther even comes with a quill and German language Bible. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately, the first edition had a limited run of 34,000, and sold out in 72 hours. On top of that, Toyland reports that it was “only available for the German and Nuremberg tourist boards, as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.”

Here’s the promo video:

Being a religious history buff, I’m not joking when I say that I really want one. Being a skeptical historian, I would display this figurine as a friendly reminder of the dueling lineages of Luther.

The Protestant Reformation was a crucial point in history, and empowered scholars with the freedom to reexamine the two books of God’s scripture (the Bible and the natural world). Also, there is no doubt that it had a strong influence on the Enlightenment.

That being said, Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, of his sincere admiration of Luther, and those of the Nazi faith often praised Luther to be one of their forefathers. A Nazi Education Minister even declared: “The time is past when one may not say the names of Hitler and Luther in the same breath. They belong together; they are of the same old stamp.”

You see, in 1543, Martin Luther, the great Reformer, wrote a little treatise entitled, Von den Jüden und iren Lügen (On Jews and Their Lies). It had 13 parts, and in it, Luther is expressing his outrage that the Jewish people still refused to accept the divinity of Jesus Christ. Luther’s solutions were simple, and here are some excerpts of what he wrote should be done to the Jews:

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians… Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies… Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them… Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: “what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord.” Those villains ignore that… Fifth, I advise that safe­-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home… Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess… Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}…

Perhaps I can add this Luther figure with my Back to The Future Lego set. I could fly him forward in time and see what it was like when his words were given flesh.

“Heil Luther!”

Brother Richard

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