This article presents Martin Luther's conception of education in the 16th century Protestant Reform, revealing associations between history, religion, and politics. In a century marked by countless quests and changes, Luther offers criticisms in favor of a Reform of the Church, and also makes proposals for a reform of the school education of his time, hitherto characterized by the exclusive formation of religious and ecclesiastic men. He proposes in two of his texts a Christian schooling that shows a new organization with respect to curricula, methods, teachers, and forms of funding and maintenance of schools. He also reflects upon the usefulness of such education, and suggests that: it should be open to everyone; be created and maintained by public authorities and not by the Church; that it should be mandatory, for which task he appeals to parents and authorities. Even if some of these features may not have Luther as their precursor, there is no escape recognizing that he has, together with Philipp Melanchton and the transformations occurred during his time, contributed decisively to the extension of the right to education, particularly notable in his proposal for the creation of elementary schools, apart form the reorganization of secondary school and the university, emphasizing the role of the State as responsible for school education.
Martin Luther; Protestant Reform; Right to Education; State and Education