Today everyone preaches something but no one believes in anything

Martin Luther shattered the notion of universal or objective truth. ‘I’ was placed at the centre of the cosmos, undermining all hierarchy, writes Gerard Howlin

WITTENBERG is not a major tourist attraction, but it is where modernity began. Five hundred years ago, on October 31, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the parish church, still extant. He shattered the notion of universal or objective truth. ‘I’ was placed at the centre of the cosmos. Though dependent on princely power, the change in thought he unleashed ultimately undermined all hierarchy. As over-enthusiastic peasants discovered on their way to the slaughter in the Peasants Revolt, he was no Jacobin. But there could have been no French Revolution without him.

Lutheranism today is everywhere and nowhere. Nowhere, in that the state-sponsored churches he inspired are withered. Everywhere, in that the individualism he enabled is the last objective reality. Luther said we could all be our own priest. Now we are our own gods.