WI: Luther was burned at the stake?

After nailing the 95 theses, Luther is burned at the stake. What happens to Christianity and Europe? Would a reform movement still happen? Would there be any major reaction?
 
Protestant Christianity still happens, likely more violently then in OTL cause these Lutherian Christians would have a "War on True Christianity" mentality in which they as Protestants are obligated to fight Catholics because of Martin Lurthers martyrdom.
 
It wouldn't be end of Protestantism. Corruption and problems of Catholic Church were so serious that it is practical impossible kill any protestant movement. Next rise just would be more violent. And due lack of reforms on the church, it would face more opposition.
 
Really hard to say, tbh. Many believed that it was Luther's survival (rather than his words) that separated him from the likes of Hus et al.
 
If Jan Hus' fate is any indication, we might get a mighty rebellion in Germany, but not necessarily Reformed state churches from Brandenburg over Scandinavia to England.
 
Really hard to say, tbh. Many believed that it was Luther's survival (rather than his words) that separated him from the likes of Hus et al.

Considering that Lutheran theology had not even come close yet to becoming developed and solidified, the end of Martin Luther right after the Theses is the end of Lutheranism as such. There might be similar people who do similar things, but to say that "Protestantism is inevitable" and "the Church would still never reform," as many are saying, just begs the question. Nobody knows that it was inevitable. It's a classic case of attributing inevitability in hindsight to something that was actually, at the time, not even particularly probable.
 
I actually think the Lutheran movement will be much smaller, probably only localized to Germany, similar to the Waldensians. Some other reformer will take his mantle as instigator of the Reformation proper.
 
So he's just another Hus or Savonarola.
But there are other reformers around-Zwingli and Melanchton could take his role ITTL.

Yeah, he probably would not be burned until after the Diet of Worms (1521), and by that point the two you mentioned were already active in the Reform movement. It may progress differently, but is still probably going to be significant. We can note for example that Melanchthon was in fact the principal author of the Augsburg Confession OTL.
 
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I actually think the Lutheran movement will be much smaller, probably only localized to Germany, similar to the Waldensians. Some other reformer will take his mantle as instigator of the Reformation proper.

The "Reformation" is not a sort of singular event that would just happen anyway without the critical persons responsible for it, of whom Martin Luther was probably the most critical. Everything would have played out differently. The odds of it still happening in such a way that it could even have been called "the Reformation" are exceedingly slim. Maybe there would be a Calvin and maybe he would have the same influence as OTL. Maybe Melancthon would be involved. Maybe the sedition of the German princes. It's all up in the air.

The events given the common title of "the Reformation" are actually a series of individual decisions made by flesh and blood people. If we remove one of the central figures as the entire series of events OTL is just getting off the ground, all bets are off.
 
Congratulations, Rome, you made a martyr! That's what happens.

Once again, this seems to be putting the cart before the horse. His ideas and fame had not solidified yet. They wouldn't have made a "martyr" any more than Jan Hus or John Wycliffe. But Lollardism isn't considered to be an inevitable and seminal event that changed Europe forever, etc. etc. Nor Hussitism.
 
Hoping AH.com theology crew shows up for this-

were Lutheranism and Calvinism particularly distinct in terms of the depth and maturity of theology compared to prior movements such as the Hussites and the Lollards and the Waldensians and what have you?
 
Congratulations, Rome, you made a martyr! That's what happens.

Erm, why?

Luther is famous to us, not to Europe, or even Germany of the time.

Anyway, someone else tries to bring about reform in the Church. That person is co-opted by German princes and the Church counter-reforms similiar to OTL IMO. The underlying causes are still there, and unlikely to be addressed.
 
Hoping AH.com theology crew shows up for this-

were Lutheranism and Calvinism particularly distinct in terms of the depth and maturity of theology compared to prior movements such as the Hussites and the Lollards and the Waldensians and what have you?
The biggest difference was that the printing press was already there, so Lutheran ideas spread much more quickly.
Theologically, they were distinct from the previous movements - consider e.g. the Three or Five Solae, which weren`t there in the earlier reformation -, but not necessarily by depth and maturity in theology. One could say that Luther and Zwingli were really shallow in comparison to the theological discourse that preceded them, just think of Cusanus` complex, philosophically deep and politically relevant theology.
Lutheranism is pretty plain, and it is decidedly politically bland, in comparison to all the aforementioned movements. Maybe that was the key to its success: it was not such a socially dangerous tool to latch on to for the rebellious princes and the autonomy-seeking city states.
 
There seems to be a particularly grating idea floating about that the Reformation as we know it (or indeed, in general) is somehow inevitable.

Anyway, whether Luther burns in anywhere between 1517 or 1521 is irrelevant. Protestantism as we know it does not come to exist.
 
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