Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Viking (2017), Edition: 1st Edition, 496 pages
Description
On All Hallow's Eve in 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther posted a document he hoped would spark an academic debate, but that instead ignited a conflagration that would forever destroy the world he knew. Five hundred years after Luther's Ninety-five Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future. Luther's monumental faith and courage gave birth to the ideals of liberty, equality, and individualism that today lie at the heart of western life.
User reviews
LibraryThing member WCHagen
A review cannot express an adequate appreciation for the craftsmanship that went into the production of this book. It is more than a biography, more than a history of the Reformation and more than a critique of Lutheranism or the Papacy. Metaxas has presented a highly readable glimpse into Martin
Several historical trends were converging when Luther was reaching the pinnacle of his intellectual and theological life. The moral decay of the Papacy, accentuated by its corrupt selling of indulgences, was becoming more publicly acknowledged. There was a rising tide of nationalism throughout the fragile “Holy Roman Empire” especially in Germanic areas. The invention of the printing press led to the blossoming of that industry with a hunger for more and more material to print and sell. With the strength of his personality, his intellectual prowess and ability to communicate his ideas to the common people, Martin Luther acted as a catalyst to bring those trends together. The reformation of the church might have saved Christianity and the idea of church and state separation changed the political landscape of Europe.
The author claims no academically attained theological knowledge yet is able to make theological sense out of arcane and, sometimes, convoluted reasoning by both Luther and his adversaries. Reading the tone of some passages, suggests that Metaxas is not in total agreement with either Luther’s position or his manner of pugilistic presentation. Thankfully, he does not expand on those areas and over-inflate dogma. Without nuance, he expresses displeasure and bewilderment with Luther’s late in life, anti-Semitic writings.
One mark of good writing is the ability of the author to provoke the reader to delve deeper by following leads. In telling Luther’s story, the seeds forming the bases of other denominational positions are sown. A further exploration of such issues as faith versus works and free will versus predestination beg to be pursued.
The book is a keeper. The best I have read in many years.
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Luther’s life to reveal his personality, his habits, his foibles and his strong faith. He leaves almost nothing for granted and, other than an obvious shared value system, takes no dogmatic stance regarding Luther’s theology. It is told with wry humor but leaves the reader with a realization that world history was changed because of actions taken and leadership shown, both directly and indirectly, by Luther’s example.Several historical trends were converging when Luther was reaching the pinnacle of his intellectual and theological life. The moral decay of the Papacy, accentuated by its corrupt selling of indulgences, was becoming more publicly acknowledged. There was a rising tide of nationalism throughout the fragile “Holy Roman Empire” especially in Germanic areas. The invention of the printing press led to the blossoming of that industry with a hunger for more and more material to print and sell. With the strength of his personality, his intellectual prowess and ability to communicate his ideas to the common people, Martin Luther acted as a catalyst to bring those trends together. The reformation of the church might have saved Christianity and the idea of church and state separation changed the political landscape of Europe.
The author claims no academically attained theological knowledge yet is able to make theological sense out of arcane and, sometimes, convoluted reasoning by both Luther and his adversaries. Reading the tone of some passages, suggests that Metaxas is not in total agreement with either Luther’s position or his manner of pugilistic presentation. Thankfully, he does not expand on those areas and over-inflate dogma. Without nuance, he expresses displeasure and bewilderment with Luther’s late in life, anti-Semitic writings.
One mark of good writing is the ability of the author to provoke the reader to delve deeper by following leads. In telling Luther’s story, the seeds forming the bases of other denominational positions are sown. A further exploration of such issues as faith versus works and free will versus predestination beg to be pursued.
The book is a keeper. The best I have read in many years.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Renzomalo
Excellent read. Informative and enlightening.
LibraryThing member salem.colorado
The book, Martin Luther : The Man Who Rediscoverd God and Changed the World, by Eric Metaxas, is another well-documented biography used by Dwight Johnson in writing his play. “In the book, Eric also uncovered several interesting facts about Martin Luther that refute previous beliefs about Luther.
The book is full of fascinating facts about Martin Luther and how he influenced our modern world in sometimes surprising ways. For instance, in 1934, a pastor from Georgia stopped in Berlin for a Baptist conference on his way home from the Holy Land. While in Germany he became so impressed with the story of Martin Luther that he changed his name from Michael to Martin Luther – and that of his son. Thus, Michael King, Jr. became Martin Luther King, Jr.
The book shows that the way Christianity is practiced, how individuals perceive themselves in relation to the church and with God were all radically changed and unalterably by Martin Luther in ways we don’t always grasp and that we take for granted.
Much has been written about this towering figure of Christianity and Western Civilization, but this book brings to light new facts — some discovered as recently as 2008 from archaeological digs done at Martin Luther’s childhood home. The book covers his life and times and his work as well as his influence on our modern world.” It is found on our library shelves under the number B/LUT.
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For example, it was recently discovered that Martin Luther was not poor.The book is full of fascinating facts about Martin Luther and how he influenced our modern world in sometimes surprising ways. For instance, in 1934, a pastor from Georgia stopped in Berlin for a Baptist conference on his way home from the Holy Land. While in Germany he became so impressed with the story of Martin Luther that he changed his name from Michael to Martin Luther – and that of his son. Thus, Michael King, Jr. became Martin Luther King, Jr.
The book shows that the way Christianity is practiced, how individuals perceive themselves in relation to the church and with God were all radically changed and unalterably by Martin Luther in ways we don’t always grasp and that we take for granted.
Much has been written about this towering figure of Christianity and Western Civilization, but this book brings to light new facts — some discovered as recently as 2008 from archaeological digs done at Martin Luther’s childhood home. The book covers his life and times and his work as well as his influence on our modern world.” It is found on our library shelves under the number B/LUT.
Show Less
LibraryThing member robeik
Yet another biography on Martin Luther, and yet it may be some time before their output reaches that of the written works of Luther. Okay, perhaps that is taking it too far, but it is without doubt that they will never get close to the influence that Martin Luther had on Germany, on Europe, on the
This book by Eric Mataxas makes that clear. Whilst not exactly a hagiography of Luther, there is no doubt that the author is a fan of Luther, and agrees with his theology (along with many people throughout the ages). However, he does not remain uncritical. The writing style is interesting, using some modern references e.g. to Twitter to relate to what was happening 500 years ago. And it's almost as if Luther's tendency to being direct, blunt, even rude, allowed Metaxas to write in a somewhat -although far less free- style. A bit over the top at times, getting a bit close to being a cheer-squad than an objective biographer- but that's okay because it works.
A couple of topics that I am not really informed on enough to comment on with authority.
- A couple of times Metaxas refers to Table Talk books. I understand that these are collections of notes from his students as they sat around the dinner table chatting, or perhaps just listening to Luther. Luther, I understand, was very hospitable even to the annoyance or inconvenience to his family. This matter is not covered at all in this book.
- Metaxas does express dismay and a complete lack of comprehension as to why Luther for a short period in latter years is extremely critical of the Jews. He points out that this is out of character with early writings, and to a lesser extent those in his last years of life. Metaxas does not try to explain it away, or apologise for it, not provide any insight offered by others. I have heard/read two things: (i) That is critique is of the Jewish faith not of the 'race'. (ii) That his words were driven by his concern that the Jews were standing in the way of the return of Christ; that he was impatient that they were not turning to Christ as some interpretation of Scripture make out should occur first.
Whatever the explanation, it's sad that what he wrote was used by the Nazis, in part, to justify their actions.
In summary, a wonderful and enjoyable book to read.
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Church, and on world history. This book by Eric Mataxas makes that clear. Whilst not exactly a hagiography of Luther, there is no doubt that the author is a fan of Luther, and agrees with his theology (along with many people throughout the ages). However, he does not remain uncritical. The writing style is interesting, using some modern references e.g. to Twitter to relate to what was happening 500 years ago. And it's almost as if Luther's tendency to being direct, blunt, even rude, allowed Metaxas to write in a somewhat -although far less free- style. A bit over the top at times, getting a bit close to being a cheer-squad than an objective biographer- but that's okay because it works.
A couple of topics that I am not really informed on enough to comment on with authority.
- A couple of times Metaxas refers to Table Talk books. I understand that these are collections of notes from his students as they sat around the dinner table chatting, or perhaps just listening to Luther. Luther, I understand, was very hospitable even to the annoyance or inconvenience to his family. This matter is not covered at all in this book.
- Metaxas does express dismay and a complete lack of comprehension as to why Luther for a short period in latter years is extremely critical of the Jews. He points out that this is out of character with early writings, and to a lesser extent those in his last years of life. Metaxas does not try to explain it away, or apologise for it, not provide any insight offered by others. I have heard/read two things: (i) That is critique is of the Jewish faith not of the 'race'. (ii) That his words were driven by his concern that the Jews were standing in the way of the return of Christ; that he was impatient that they were not turning to Christ as some interpretation of Scripture make out should occur first.
Whatever the explanation, it's sad that what he wrote was used by the Nazis, in part, to justify their actions.
In summary, a wonderful and enjoyable book to read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jasoncomely
While I wish there was more written about Martin Luther the musician and composer (it's why I picked up the book in the first place) this is a powerful read. Metaxas is quite the wordsmith. Look forward to reading more from him.
LibraryThing member scottjpearson
Martin Luther's life is controversial any way you cut it. Fundamentalists (with whom Metaxas is sympathetic) like to claim Luther as one of their own because of his insistence on Scriptural primacy. (They like to call it Scriptural authority, but such concepts were not present within Luther's
Liberals like to claim him because he broke free from institutional chains to usher in the freedom which founded to modern world. Unfortunately, liberals have to grapple with the later Luther who was a grouchy anti-Semite. (His earlier writings actually leaned pro-Jew.)
Twentieth-century Nazis claimed Luther because of this anti-Semitism. Hitler used Luther in the name of a German nationalism to communicate lies of Aryan supremacy.
In truth, Luther is none of these. Martin Luther is a late-medieval monk who rebelled against Roman authority. This book tells his story well. His rebellion led to the founding of Western freedom. As Metaxas chronicles, his 95 Theses directly brought about the modern world. Where other Christian reformers - such as John Huss - failed, Luther succeeded, due in no small part to the technological advancement of Gutenberg's printing press. Protestantism's success laid a foundation for the American Revolution, which laid a foundation for the spread of democracy around the world. All from nailing a document to a wall for scholarly debate.
Unfortunately, Luther's (and Protestantism's) legacy is still mixed. The church universal is split to pieces because of Luther's inability to agree with other Reformers' views on the Lord's Supper at Augsburg. Luther believed that Christ was present bodily in the communion elements while others viewed it as a spiritual or even allegorical presence. No united front against the Roman church came about in Luther's life, and such continues to this day.
Luther is one of those towering people in history that everyone should know a little something about. This book, though thick, can enlighten readers about this controversial yet impactful humble monk.
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writings.)Liberals like to claim him because he broke free from institutional chains to usher in the freedom which founded to modern world. Unfortunately, liberals have to grapple with the later Luther who was a grouchy anti-Semite. (His earlier writings actually leaned pro-Jew.)
Twentieth-century Nazis claimed Luther because of this anti-Semitism. Hitler used Luther in the name of a German nationalism to communicate lies of Aryan supremacy.
In truth, Luther is none of these. Martin Luther is a late-medieval monk who rebelled against Roman authority. This book tells his story well. His rebellion led to the founding of Western freedom. As Metaxas chronicles, his 95 Theses directly brought about the modern world. Where other Christian reformers - such as John Huss - failed, Luther succeeded, due in no small part to the technological advancement of Gutenberg's printing press. Protestantism's success laid a foundation for the American Revolution, which laid a foundation for the spread of democracy around the world. All from nailing a document to a wall for scholarly debate.
Unfortunately, Luther's (and Protestantism's) legacy is still mixed. The church universal is split to pieces because of Luther's inability to agree with other Reformers' views on the Lord's Supper at Augsburg. Luther believed that Christ was present bodily in the communion elements while others viewed it as a spiritual or even allegorical presence. No united front against the Roman church came about in Luther's life, and such continues to this day.
Luther is one of those towering people in history that everyone should know a little something about. This book, though thick, can enlighten readers about this controversial yet impactful humble monk.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kencf0618
Luther was indisputably one of the heavy-hitters of history. He blew apart Western Christendom with the printing press, the right man at the right time, and in some aspects a "great bad man" à la Cromwell. A good, solid, and very engaging biography.
LibraryThing member Jared_Runck
My fascination with Martin Luther extends back to my days in seminary in Dr. John Riggs’ Church History class. It was 2003, the year that Eric Till’s “Luther,” starring Joseph Fiennes had first hit theaters, just about the time that we began to cover the Reformation Era. In class one day,
It is no secret, as Dr. Riggs emphasized, that Luther is one historical figure that truly defines the phrase “larger-than-life.” The enormity of his influence, not just on Christian theology but on the whole of Western society, is still felt and has yet to be fully articulated. Coupled with the rise of the Renaissance, Luther’s Reformation stands as the historical birth of the “modern world.”
Given this long-standing fascination, it may come as a surprise that Metaxas’ quincentennial biography of Martin Luther is the first I have read in full, but I would say one would be hard-pressed to find a better contemporary introduction to this startling figure. Metaxas is a simply superb storyteller who has a real gift for compressing a lengthy and convoluted history into a readable narrative. All the key figures make their appropriate appearances but I never felt like I was swimming in a “sea of names and dates,” as can happen so often with biographies of important personages. He achieves a kind of economy here that serves beginner readers well.
Having said that, I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that Metaxas’ work will join the ranks of classic Luther biographies (e.g., Roland Bainton’s “Here I Stand”). It never feels like Metaxas really has all that much new to say about Luther or that he is addressing any of the crucial debates surrounding Luther in any sort of sustained manner. He is definitely writing in the spirit of a “summary overview.” (Perhaps here Metaxas’ training and experience as a journalist has overtaken his theological sensibilities.)
This may be most evident in Metaxas’ dealing with Luther’s egregiously anti-Semitic “On the Jews & Their Lies” (1543). The treatment here is decidedly (annoyingly) brief, presenting it as the single sour footnote to an otherwise glorious life. Perhaps that is true, but it still sounds a touch dismissive, especially given the wicked use to which those words were put by 20th-century Nazi ideology. Granted, explaining the roots and effects of that work are probably worthy of a book or two in their own right, so Metaxas may have been right to gloss the issue.
One of the things that I found most helpful in Metaxas’ work is how he grounds his reading of Luther’s life in his experiences (in early and later life) of Anfechtungen, those experiences of deep existential despair. Andrew Pettegree calls it simply “depression,” and though that may the closest contemporary equivalent, Metaxas demonstrates that it is a very inadequate understanding. For Luther, these bouts of melancholy were direct attacks of demonic forces, even of Satan himself (Metaxas goes to great lengths to show the seriousness with which Luther took the idea of “spiritual warfare”).
This strikes me as the right interpretive move because it is only when one understands the depths of Luther’s despair/guilt/shame that one can truly understand the release he found in the discovery of justification by faith alone. And it also goes some way to explain the ever-growing harshness of his attacks against the Roman Catholic Church and those wings of the Reformation that seemed to him to smack of a return to salvation-by-works.
As the subtitle of the book indicates, Metaxas here is after much more than a biography of a great theologian; he wants to present Luther as the “catalyst” of Modernity, the one who introduced such taken-for-granted ideas as the priority of conscience, the value of reasoned argument as the only reliable path to truth, and the value of pluralistic society. What Luther unleashed was so much more than just a correction of a corrupted Church…it was a veritable Copernican revolution of our worldview. For good AND ill, the work of Martin Luther transformed the Western worldview.
I suppose this may strike some of the more devout readers as a kind of “secular” reading of Luther, but it is difficult to argue with the case Metaxas makes for these claims. It seems that perhaps there might be a subtle subtext here of a case for the role of private faith in the public domain. Or, at least, an irrefutable illustration of how such “private” concerns as religious beliefs cannot help but impact an individual’s “public” roles.
Being more dilettante than connoisseur in Luther studies, I would dare not give the final word on the value of Metaxas’ contribution compared to other past giants in the field. I would only say that Metaxas has provided a work that has ENCOURAGED my fascination with Martin Luther, inspiring me to read further. Perhaps, in the end, that is the best recommendation any biography could receive.
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one student asked Dr. Riggs if he planned to go watch the new movie. He vehemently swore he would not nor would he EVER see any movie about Luther’s life unless they allowed actor John Goodman to play the role! By all the accounts we have of Luther’s appearance and personality, Riggs pointed out, he was a large man (nearly 300 pounds), blond-haired and blue-eyed, with a big voice and a razor-sharp wit. He felt that Fiennes’ Luther represented just another unfortunate “Hollywoodization” of historical fact. Later on in the course, we were assigned to read a (hilarious) sampling of Luther’s sermons, and I could not help but hear them in Goodman’s deep, gravelly voice.It is no secret, as Dr. Riggs emphasized, that Luther is one historical figure that truly defines the phrase “larger-than-life.” The enormity of his influence, not just on Christian theology but on the whole of Western society, is still felt and has yet to be fully articulated. Coupled with the rise of the Renaissance, Luther’s Reformation stands as the historical birth of the “modern world.”
Given this long-standing fascination, it may come as a surprise that Metaxas’ quincentennial biography of Martin Luther is the first I have read in full, but I would say one would be hard-pressed to find a better contemporary introduction to this startling figure. Metaxas is a simply superb storyteller who has a real gift for compressing a lengthy and convoluted history into a readable narrative. All the key figures make their appropriate appearances but I never felt like I was swimming in a “sea of names and dates,” as can happen so often with biographies of important personages. He achieves a kind of economy here that serves beginner readers well.
Having said that, I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that Metaxas’ work will join the ranks of classic Luther biographies (e.g., Roland Bainton’s “Here I Stand”). It never feels like Metaxas really has all that much new to say about Luther or that he is addressing any of the crucial debates surrounding Luther in any sort of sustained manner. He is definitely writing in the spirit of a “summary overview.” (Perhaps here Metaxas’ training and experience as a journalist has overtaken his theological sensibilities.)
This may be most evident in Metaxas’ dealing with Luther’s egregiously anti-Semitic “On the Jews & Their Lies” (1543). The treatment here is decidedly (annoyingly) brief, presenting it as the single sour footnote to an otherwise glorious life. Perhaps that is true, but it still sounds a touch dismissive, especially given the wicked use to which those words were put by 20th-century Nazi ideology. Granted, explaining the roots and effects of that work are probably worthy of a book or two in their own right, so Metaxas may have been right to gloss the issue.
One of the things that I found most helpful in Metaxas’ work is how he grounds his reading of Luther’s life in his experiences (in early and later life) of Anfechtungen, those experiences of deep existential despair. Andrew Pettegree calls it simply “depression,” and though that may the closest contemporary equivalent, Metaxas demonstrates that it is a very inadequate understanding. For Luther, these bouts of melancholy were direct attacks of demonic forces, even of Satan himself (Metaxas goes to great lengths to show the seriousness with which Luther took the idea of “spiritual warfare”).
This strikes me as the right interpretive move because it is only when one understands the depths of Luther’s despair/guilt/shame that one can truly understand the release he found in the discovery of justification by faith alone. And it also goes some way to explain the ever-growing harshness of his attacks against the Roman Catholic Church and those wings of the Reformation that seemed to him to smack of a return to salvation-by-works.
As the subtitle of the book indicates, Metaxas here is after much more than a biography of a great theologian; he wants to present Luther as the “catalyst” of Modernity, the one who introduced such taken-for-granted ideas as the priority of conscience, the value of reasoned argument as the only reliable path to truth, and the value of pluralistic society. What Luther unleashed was so much more than just a correction of a corrupted Church…it was a veritable Copernican revolution of our worldview. For good AND ill, the work of Martin Luther transformed the Western worldview.
I suppose this may strike some of the more devout readers as a kind of “secular” reading of Luther, but it is difficult to argue with the case Metaxas makes for these claims. It seems that perhaps there might be a subtle subtext here of a case for the role of private faith in the public domain. Or, at least, an irrefutable illustration of how such “private” concerns as religious beliefs cannot help but impact an individual’s “public” roles.
Being more dilettante than connoisseur in Luther studies, I would dare not give the final word on the value of Metaxas’ contribution compared to other past giants in the field. I would only say that Metaxas has provided a work that has ENCOURAGED my fascination with Martin Luther, inspiring me to read further. Perhaps, in the end, that is the best recommendation any biography could receive.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tuckerresearch
This is an erudite and knowledgable book about Luther, but not a dry, scholar's tome. It has verve. Being the first book by Metaxas I've read (my father has read Bonhoeffer and praised it highly), I was struck by his conversational, referential style, especially the modern references and dad-jokish
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puns. I learned to appreciate them and like it. Metaxas covers the life and times of Martin Luther quite well, giving background material where needed, demolishing hoary myths as they come, and providing long snippets of quotations where apropos (he quotes every one of the 95 Theses). The portrait painted of Luther is earthy and German, bull-headed when he thinks he's right, fearless when other men would have crumbled, and revolutionary in many aspects (not just theological, but nationalistically, politically, and philosophically too). Since I've never read a book-length biography of Luther before, I found this intriguing. Well-told and encompassing, but not boring or hard-to-follow. Metaxas relies on printed translations of Luther's works, but mostly he draws on a welter of secondary sources, some old, but most modern. All-in-all, a good biography of an important figure for the modern, not unintelligent lay reader. Content footnotes, sparse endnoting of references, short bibliography, index. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
496 p.; 9.51 inches
ISBN
110198001X / 9781101980019