To put this into perspective, within a twenty-five mile radius of Toledo, Ohio, there are today at least two universities and one large community college, each with approximately 20,000 students. Few young people had the opportunity to attend a university in Luther's day. Of course, the education offered at these modern schools encompasses a wider range of subject matter than that offered at a medieval university. Jurisprudence (the study of law), however, occupies a place in both the medieval and the modern university. Martin did not enter upon the formal study of law until the summer semester commencing on May 19th, 1505.

In the fall of 1504, in preparation for the Master's Degree, Luther concentrated on music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Being a diligent student he would also become familiar with mathematics, metaphysics and ethics. By early 1505, after the required period of time had elapsed since receiving his Bachelor's Degree in the fall of 1502, Luther earned his Master's Degree. He ranked second in a class of seventeen. Although Martin had entered the university at the age of eighteen, several years older than the average, he completed these degrees in the minimum time permitted and received his Master's at the earliest allowable age. In this manner Martin found himself at the vortex of opportunity, at the right place and the right time, as envisioned by his father, Hans.

For centuries jurisprudence had been the road to success. Hans, through his mining enterprise, had improved his family's financial fortune sufficiently to help position his son to ascend to a position of power and influence. The Erfurt faculty of law had always enjoyed a good reputation. Hans bought his son the Corpus Juris Civilis, a huge and costly manual of law which systematized Roman law from the time of Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD). It was left to the student's discretion whether he began with the study of canon law (ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a religious council or authority and approved by the pope) or with civil law. Since he owned a copy of the Corpus Juris Civilis, it was quite possible that Luther began his study with civil law. One of the first tasks would include the memorization of the titles of the laws.

Luther's course of instruction, his family's aspirations, and his rapid progress all seemed to point in one direction. However, circumstances were not completely settled in his life. The jurists at Erfurt were known to have a low regard for theologians. Later Luther spoke of Henning Goede, a jurist at Erfurt and later at Wittenberg, as a man who understood nothing about the spiritual realm. He would express the opinion that jurisprudence was a discipline of evasion and did not deal with that which was indivisible or the ultimate. In the context of his withdrawal from politics and commerce Luther reported the dying words of two Erfurt lawyers, "O, that I had become a monk." The college of law was in close proximity to the cathedral and not far from Luther's dormitory (bursa). He would have been well aware of the deaths of these respected legal professionals. Their earthly ends may well have unsettled the plans for his future.

As 1504 drew to a close and 1505 dawned, Luther found himself looking squarely at the bright possibility of a privileged position coveted in medieval society. He'd risen there through the hard work and determination of his father and by his own voracious appetite for knowledge. But his soul was not yet at peace. This would become painfully apparent only after he entered the formal study of law in the summer of 1505.

Thomas E. Smuda is pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Deshler, Ohio.