15. Luther's Return to Wittenberg
The upheaval in Wittenberg during March, 1522, caused Luther to return. The question whether Luther returned upon his own initiative or whether he thought at the same time that the Elector, while desiring his return, did not dare to voice his wish publicly because of political considerations, has been much discussed during the last decade. This was especially the case since Barge, in his lamentably one-sided, over-estimation of Carlstadt65 and the things he started at Wittenberg, called Luther an "administrator of the Justice Department," who, in agreement with his prince made null and void the promising beginning of the "fruehreformatorischen Gemeindechristentums." Already before Barge Kawerau65 had expressed the thought that Luther returned in accordance with the wish of the Elector, but von Bezold and, especially, K. Mueller65 refused to let it stand, not even as far as it alone was concerned, and much less as Barge had represented it. Nikolaus Mueller65 then pictured the entire Wittenberg movement in a work that distinguishes itself because of its detail and minuteness.
Several months after his return to Wittenberg Luther wrote his well-known and blunt answer to the charges made against him by Henry VIII of England — cf., Walther's monogravure on this subject.66
16. Luther's Endeavors to Build up Evangelical Congregations, 1523-1529
After his return the time had arrived to arrange an evangelical order of Divine Service, and to take into consideration the organization of congregations and entire regions that had severed connections with Rome. So
