THE REFORMATION AND THE MULLAHS

Martin Luther

As we approach the festivities of Halloween when 495 years ago Martin Luther pinned a letter to a church door, thereby causing quite an upheaval, it is as well to note that five years and a few days prior to that event, on the 19^th October 1512, Martin Luther was awarded his Doctor of Theology, and, on 21 October 1512, was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg, having been called to the position of Doctor in Bible. He spent the rest of his career in this position at the University of Wittenberg.

He had been ordained to the priesthood in 1507, and in 1508 began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg. He received a Bachelor's degree in Biblical studies on 9 March 1508, and another Bachelor's degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509.

This day also point up a little bit of irony:

In his inauguration speech on 20^th January 1949, President Truman stated the fourth objective of his foreign policy as follows:

"…we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve suffering of these people. The United States is pre-eminent among nations in the development of industrial and scientific techniques. The material resources which we can afford to use for assistance of other peoples are limited. But our imponderable resources in technical knowledge are constantly growing and are inexhaustible"

This was not a call for economic aid--on the order of the Marshall Plan--but for the US to share its "know-how" and help nations develop with technical assistance.

On the 19^th October 1950, Iran became the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program. This short from youtube gives a neat little historical background. How great was Iran? You'll love the narration.