Window 8 – The Reformers

WINDOW 8
The Reformers

Iconography: Text—Romans 1:16, 17. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. . .in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith;” as it is written: “He who through faith is righteous shall live,” written in English, Latin and the last phrase in German. Luther is seen translating the scriptures; the window also features music in church and worship and includes John Hus, John Calvin and modern day reformers, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Pope John XXIII and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Artist’s Description: This window illustrates the reformers who, in their time in history, called the church to return to its mission and purpose and to regain a proper understanding of the Gospel. Martin Luther is shown nailing the theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Illustrated around him are the Bible translated in 1534, the treatise, “The Freedom of the Christian Man” in 1521 and music notes from the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.” At the bottom left is illustrated the martyrdom of John Hus depicting the legend where it is recorded he said to the crowd, “You can kill me because I am Hus (meaning a goose) but a swan (meaning Luther) is coming and you cannot destroy him.”

Other figures are John Calvin preaching (in his hand is the Book of the Institutes) and on the right window, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a modern martyr killed by the Nazis), Pope John XXIII (a Roman Catholic reformer) and Martin Luther King, Jr., an American black reformer/martyr instrumental in bringing about civil rights in the United States for blacks and other minorities in the 1960s.