August 11: One-Day Ligonier Conference in Wittenberg

Today we went to the one-day Ligonier Conference in Wittenberg.

This is a picture of all the speakers. The conference was very good. My favorite message was given by Dr Godfrey. He spoke on Luther and the Psalms, and his message was packed with wonderful things.

My dad and I skipped dinner, grabbed a loaf of bread, and went for a walk on our dinner break.

We walked outside the city to the nearby Elbe River. 

From this picture if you look closely you can get a pretty good feel for the layout of Wittenberg. Start from the left. You can't miss the Castle Church where Luther posted the 95 Theses. But Luther didn't preach very often there, and when he did, he preached in Latin, not German, because this was this was the University of Wittenberg, and so it was used for school functions or else very formal events like Prince Fredericks funeral which Luther preached here. 

Now look in the middle of the picture and you can't miss the twin towers. This is the town church where Luther preached regularly to the people of Wittenberg. In the task of preaching sermons which were delivered in this church, Luther worked out much of the theology of the Reformation. 

Now look to the far right of the picture. This building is not as prominent as the previous two, but I'll still say you can't miss it. This was the Augustinian monastery where Luther lived as a monk for many years. However, as the Reformation took hold in Wittenberg, the monks started getting married and leaving the monastery. Because of this,  Luther soon found himself living almost alone in the monastery. When Luther married, Prince Frederick gave him and Katy the monastery is a wedding gift. They became the new owners, and the monastery became the Luther home. The building is huge. It's like a large hotel, and throughout the Luther's married life, it was always filled with boarders and guests. The Luther home is extremely prominent in the view of the city from this direction. Basically the castle church anchors one corner of the city, and the Luther home anchors the other corner. Because of this, during Luther's lifetime the city leaders re-fortified the ramparts of the city wall around his home. In so doing, they had to demolish the tower in which Luther as a monk experienced his "Reformation breakthrough" while studying "the righteousness of God" from Romans 1:17. 

In the evening we did the final session of the Ligonier Conference in a new location. The Castle Church!  The place where Luther posted his 95 Theses. After we sang "A Might Fortress Is Our God," Al Moehler preached.