Reformer's Life

Martin Luther: Visionary Reformerby scott h. hendrixyale, 368 pages, $35 Luther on the Christian Life: Cross and Freedom by carl r. trueman crossway, 224 pages, $17.99 F rom the European perspective, American history looks like a laboratory experiment on the impact of the Reformation. We see in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Trashing Luther

Theological hobbyists of a hyper-Catholic sort continue to misconstrue Luther’s “errors.” Oh, I hardly think he was error-free, but (having recently been one) I know Lutherans who pretty much think he was essentially infallible. But I also know Catholics (me having recently become one) who . . . . Continue Reading »

Luther Reading Challenge

In 2009, my colleague Theodor Dieter and I started teaching a two-week course every November on Luther’s theology, for Lutheran pastors from all over the world, in no less venerable a location than Wittenberg itself. We approached the first year with post-Christendom and post-colonial qualms. Did Luther have anything to say to people anymore? Was it pure anachronistic antiquarianism on our part still to love him? Did we have any business inflicting Luther on Africans struggling with malaria and tremendous political violence, or on Asians negotiating a level of religious plurality unimaginable to North Atlantic Christians like ourselves? Continue Reading »