A concise, critical study of Martin Luther and his impact on the modern world. The book covers Luther’s life, work as a reformer, theological development, and long-term influence. The book is extensively based on the writings of Martin Luther and draws connections between his life and teachings and the modern day world. Intended for use by students, the book assumes no initial familiarity with Luther and would be ideal for any interested person who wants to get to know Martin Luther; one of the key figures in European history.
"Of the Roman Catholic scholars of the Reformation who have contributed to our understanding of Martin Luther and his theology, Jared Wicks is among the very best. In this reprinted collection of essays a new generation of readers will glean fresh insights into the Wittenberg reformer, as Wicks places Luther within his proper late-medieval theological context and carefully teases out his unique contributions to understanding the church and justification (conversion). At the same time, Wicks situates Luther's theology within present conversations between Lutherans and Roman Catholics and proves again and again the important role that good, fair-minded historiography plays in aiding such dialogue. This collection will treat readers to, among other things, in-depth investigations of Luther's early theology of justification, of the connection between the sacraments and faith, and of the pastoral consequences for the simul iustus et peccator--all written in a winsome prose with careful attention to the original sources. It is a helpful addition to the library of anyone interested in understanding the now 500-year-old movement of reform within the church catholic and its implications for today." Timothy Wengert Emeritus, United Theological Seminary Philadelphia United Lutheran Seminary
This volume is a unique interpretation of what Martin Luther contributes to renewed appreciation of Biblical diversity. The Church in the West is struggling. One reason behind this is that the prevailing models for Theology have imposed logical and modern ways of thinking about faith that renders theology academic, and therefore largely irrelevant for daily life. By letting the first Reformer speak for himself in this book, Mark Ellingsen shows how Martin Luther’s theological approach can reform the Church’s theology today. The real Luther-not the one taught by his various systematic interpreters-presents Christian faith in its entirety, with all its rough edges, in such a way as to direct on how and when to employ those dimensions of the Biblical witness most appropriate for the situation in which we find ourselves.
David Pawson provides pointers for the reforms needed in the twenty-first century. He writes: "In countries where the church is in decline, what are we going to pray for and what are we going to do about this? I find that Christians fall into two camps: those who are waiting for God to do something and those who believe God is waiting for us to do things.... "Luther was not comfortable with the whole Bible; that was one of the roots of his inconsistency. The second failure, which came from that, was his failure to apply scripture to every part of the Christian life and the church life of his day. There were areas that he did not touch. I believe that God is calling us now ... to complete that Reformation and take the whole scripture and apply it to the whole Christian life, the whole of our preaching and the whole of our church structure."
Did Martin Luther wield his hammer on the Wittenberg church door on October 31, 1517? Did he even post the Ninety-five Theses at all? This collection of documents sheds light on the debate surrounding Luther's actions and the timing of his writing and his request for a disputation on the indulgence issue. The primary documents in this book include the theses, their companion sermon ("A Sermon on Indulgence and Grace", 1518), a chronoloical arrangement of letters pertinent to the theses, and selections from Luther's Table Talk that address the Ninety-five Theses. A final section contains Luther's recollections, which offer today's reader the reformer's own views of the Reformation and the Ninety-five Theses.
When Martin Luther published his 95 Theses in October 1517, he had no intention of starting a revolution. But very quickly his criticism of indulgences became a rejection of the papacy and the Catholic Church emphasizing the Bible as the sole authority for Christian faith, radicalizing a continent, fracturing the Holy Roman Empire, and dividing Western civilization in ways Luther—a deeply devout professor and spiritually-anxious Augustinian friar—could have never foreseen, nor would he have ever endorsed. From Germany to England, Luther’s ideas inspired spontaneous but sustained uprisings and insurrections against civic and religious leaders alike, pitted Catholics against Protestants, and because the Reformation movement extended far beyond the man who inspired it, Protestants against Protestants. The ensuing disruptions prompted responses that gave shape to the modern world, and the unintended and unanticipated consequences of the Reformation continue to influence the very communities, religions, and beliefs that surround us today. How Luther inadvertently fractured the Catholic Church and reconfigured Western civilization is at the heart of renowned historian Brad Gregory’s Rebel in the Ranks. While recasting the portrait of Luther as a deliberate revolutionary, Gregory describes the cultural, political, and intellectual trends that informed him and helped give rise to the Reformation, which led to conflicting interpretations of the Bible, as well as the rise of competing churches, political conflicts, and social upheavals across Europe. Over the next five hundred years, as Gregory’s account shows, these conflicts eventually contributed to further epochal changes—from the Enlightenment and self-determination to moral relativism, modern capitalism, and consumerism, and in a cruel twist to Luther’s legacy, the freedom of every man and woman to practice no religion at all. With the scholarship of a world-class historian and the keen eye of a biographer, Gregory offers readers an in-depth portrait of Martin Luther, a reluctant rebel in the ranks, and a detailed examination of the Reformation to explain how the events that transpired five centuries ago still resonate—and influence us—today.
This book explores specific aspects of Martin Luther’s ideas on education in general, and on religious education in particular, by comparing them to the views of other great sixteenth-century reformers: Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and Philip Melanchthon. By doing so, the author highlights both the originality of the German reformer’s perspective, and the major impact of the main religious movement at the dawn of modernity on the development of public education in Western Europe. Although Martin Luther was a religious reformer par excellence, and not an educational theorist, a number of pedagogically significant ideas and ideals can be identified in his extensive theological work, which may also qualify him as an education reformer. The Protestant Reformation changed the world, bringing to the fore the relation between faith and education, and made the latter a public responsibility by proving that the spiritual enlightenment of youth, regardless of gender and social origin, is indissolubly linked to instruction in general, and especially to a more thorough understanding of the classical languages, arts, history and mathematics.
