section_path: Early life and education/Education
section_name: Education
paragraph_text: Education
  
  Hans Luther, Martin's father, was ambitious for himself and his family. He was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended the Brethren of the Common Life, a school operated by a lay group, and Eisenach in 1498. The three schools focused on the so-called " trivium ": grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.
  
  In 1501, at age 17, Martin entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse. He was made to awaken at 4 a.m. for "a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises." He received his master's degree in 1505.
  
  In accordance with his father's wishes, Luther enrolled in law but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law was an uncertain profession. Luther instead sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel. He was deeply influenced by two tutors, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter, who taught him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers and to test everything himself by experience.
  
  Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying to Luther because it offered assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which Luther believed was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, Luther felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over Aristotle's emphasis on reason. For Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed, leading him to view scripture as increasingly important.
  
  On 2 July 1505, while Luther was returning to university on horseback following a trip home, a lightning bolt struck near him during a thunderstorm. He later told his father that he was terrified of death and divine judgment, and he cried out, "Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!" He came to view his cry for help as a vow that he could never break. He withdrew from the university, sold his books, and entered St. Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505. One friend blamed the decision on Luther's sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the move. Those who attended a farewell supper walked him to the door of the Black Cloister. "This day you see me, and then, not ever again," he said. His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther's education.