Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Scholarship
Review: Biography is a tough art to master. To make the subject(s) come alive requires not only precise knowledge of the events that shaped their life, but also of the interior forces that inspired or forced them to act as they did. In other words, the true biographer must be an erudite historian and perceptive psychologist at the same time.

Richard Marius proved himself to be both with his impressive biography about one of Europe's most troubled and controversial characters, Martin Luther. Noble reformer or destructive revolutionist? Luther's impact on Christendom and Western Civilization will no doubt be debated for some time to come, but Marius' comprehensive work helps gauge this impact and offers new insights into the man who helped bring about--for better and for worse---the 'modern world.'

Many reviews have dealt with the suspected 'Catholic' bias in the book. Such criticism is misguided. If anything, Marius' tone is one of learned skepticism in matters of faith. Marius takes a humanist approach in where Luther's faith is examined with old-fashioned enlightenment-style reason. Marius critically picks apart the spiritual milestones of Luther's life: the early brush with death, the monastc years and the deep resentment of 'exterior' authority, to create a fascinating psychology of a man possessed by his own mission. A mission to do God's will. And for Luther that meant liberating the gospel from the rigid and authoritarian structures of the Church. Marius shines light on how this 'subjective revolution' helped liberate Western consciousness from the shackles of monolithic interpretation. One Church, one Book, one Right Answer. Luther shattered this medieval icon to bits. An with it, the sense of order and meaning that the Christian Church had given Europe for hundreds of years. Marius' argues that Luther's flaw was two-fold: one, he failed to create a better order from the rubble of the one he helped destroy and two, that after having fought for freedom of conscience, Luther could never tolerate those whose spiritual principles differed from his own. Luther became just as tyrannical as the 'demonic' Papacy against which he rebelled. Marius' thesis wryly points out that the freed slave is often no better than his master.

If Marius's work contains a bias then, it is that of an overly- cautius humanist. Like his hinted-at mentor, Erasmus, Marius regards Luther as a self-obsessed, self-proclaimed prophet who did incalcuable damage to the long-tested and hard-won values that lay at the base of civilization. Marius argues that had Erasmus' plan of gradual a reform taken hold instead of Luther's fiery and defiant words, then many banes of modern Europe, nationalism and anti-Semitism for example, would have never exploded with such force as they later did. Clearly debatable. Systems, like people, are loathe to change without prodding. Sometimes sharp and painful breaks with tradition are the only ways to move forward. Also, to tar and feather one man as the nest of so many evils is to simplify things too much.

Despite the arguability of his thesis, Marius gives his readers a lot to chew on. And it is all done in a lucid, earnest and readable style. For those laymen and women wanting to learn more about one of the most turbulent periods and turbulent actors of the European stage, they would do well to pick up Richard Marius' 'Martin Luther: A Christian Between God and Death.'

Rating:
Summary: An excellent work on Martin Luther
Review: Marius has performed an incredible task in bringing Martin Luther, and his times, to life for us in this new book.

I found the author's knowledge of Luther; Luther's writings and temperament; the history of the sixteenth century and the theological issues at stake during the Reformation, to be superb. I was especially impressed by the author's knowledge of the theological issues, and his insights regarding them.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first got the book, but I soon discovered that I had found not only an excellent biography of Luther, but simply a very well written book. The material is very interesting, and Marius presents it in a very readable, and captivating style. The chapters are only as numerous, and as long, as necessary (which makes the reading easier). It was an enjoyable read from begining to end, and I doubt that a better biography of Luther has ever been written.

I hate that I finished it, and I am sure that I will read it again.

Did Luther truly follow his own standard of sola scriptura? Was Luther one of the first Higher Critics of the Bible? Did he really say: 'Here I stand, I can do no other' at the Diet of Worms? Were the ninety-five theses really posted on the church door at Wittenburg?

Read the book and find out!

Rating:
Summary: Not bad -- not unbiased, but not bad!
Review: Marius' obvious biases are evident from the outset of this book. Snide references to the delusion and superstition of people who took their faith seriously are only the start. Over and over again, Marius makes his disdain for anyone who believes in the supernatural quite clear. How then can we expect an unbiased biography of such an influential Christian reformer as Martin Luther?

To be sure, many of Marius' criticisms have merit. The Church at the time had been reduced to anti-intellectual superstition (from the masses of believers) and self-servince opportunism(from the majority of the clergy). And I agree that many at this time period who claimed to be believers were simply offering lip service so that they were not branded atheists by the Church. THIS, however, is what Luther sought to change. By combating the corruption of the Roman church, Luther was trying to bring the people of Germany into a more meaningful, less superstitious faith. That he did not succeed should not totally condemn his efforts.

Having said this, I find that I did enjoy the book. I am a conservative religious historian, but I enjoy reading books that challenge my own ideas, and often find I can learn a lot from people I disagree with. I have learned a lot about Luther's life from this book, and Marius has inspired me to look further into the life of this great Reformer. I recommend this book with one caution -- do NOT make this the only book you read about Martin Luther.

Rating:
Summary: Dawn of a New Era
Review: This work caught my attention from a phrase in the introduction concerning the issue of violence in the Reformation, French and Russian Revolutions. It seemed to echo the grumbling slant of Schama's 'Citizens', perhaps a conservative gesture of revisionism. Is Luther in the same category as Lenin? The history of the sixteenth century through the Thirty Years War will speak for itself perhaps. But,there is little further in this vein in the book, but the provocation makes for a most interesting perspective on Luther, whatever one's possible disagreements on the way. The opening pitch is about right for a critical review of the subject, and the portrait of the period and the man is gripping. We speak of the 'Reformation', but the author's take highlights the obvious, that this was the first modern revolution, albeit a conservatizing one, with the fascinating figure of Muntzer brought into the account. Luther is an ambiguous hero of--yes--modernity, and seems completely understandable given the grim world against which he rebelled, a sort of terminal zone of religious confusion, ignorance, and papal politics. We can and must 'moralize' about what might have been (did Luther provoke much of the violence of the Thirty Years War?), but history in motion seems to be like that, and the transition was not a question of nice people. A great figure is not beyond judgement.
The book omits none of the darker sides of Luther, his antisemitism, his compromise with the princes, his democratic impulses manque.
One comes away from a useful snapshot still askance at the author's eccentric but fertile starting point.