First sentence from the introduction: Luther was a problem. Certainly for the pope and the emperor, but often he was also a problem for his fellow reformers. Prone to outbursts of rage and coarse language, Luther was frequently stubborn and undiplomatic, even with allies.
First sentence from chapter one: God, the Devil, and death were everyday topics in the world into which Martin Luther was born. As a child, Luther learned that God was a Judge more righteous than merciful. The Devil was out to snatch your soul and turn women into witches. Death was not the end of life, Luther was taught, but instead it was the moment you appear before God and enter purgatory. With these dour lessons firmly in his head, is it any surprise that years later Luther would say that every mention of God was “as a clap of thunder in [his] heart”? The god that Martin Luther was told to believe in as a child was a god who signaled his righteousness chiefly through punishment.
Premise/plot: Herman Selderhuis has written a spiritual biography of Martin Luther. He balances writing about Martin Luther's life with letting Martin Luther tell his own story by sharing quotes from his books, letters, sermons, pamphlets, etc. Even if you've read half a dozen books on Martin Luther in the past, I'd invite you to read this newly published biography. Selderhuis' narrative style is compelling.
My thoughts: I loved this book. I have read a handful of books on Martin Luther. Perhaps I should amend that to read, I've struggled my way through a handful of books on Martin Luther. I've almost always found them dull, intimidating, repetitive, or simplistic. Perhaps that isn't fair. Perhaps a fairer description would be not quite ideal in terms of reader appeal or approachability.
I loved Selderhuis' biography because it was packed with information, with detail, but the presentation was such that everything fit together and created a big picture context. It included plenty of information--some of it new to me--in a fascinating narrative. Nothing was dumbed down or made to be concise. The book was not yet another basic outline of his life. There's a passage in Ezekiel that I think applies here.
Ezekiel 37:1-10 reads,
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army."Other biographers have given readers the dry bones of Martin Luther. But it is Selderhuis' biography that has given Martin Luther flesh and skin in my opinion.
I loved LEARNING. There were so many things I did NOT know about Luther even though I've read up on him.
For example, did you know that Martin Luther once promised his wife fifty guilders if she would read the Bible cover to cover during the period of early October to Easter? (She was SUPER busy being a mom and wife) Selderhuis writes, "Apparently, Käthe accepted this arrangement because on October 28, Luther mentioned to a friend, “She is taking this seriously, because she has already reached Deuteronomy.”
I was aware of Martin Luther's many stomach ailments. But I was NOT aware of the ringing in his ears. I found out I have something else in common with him!
OR did you know that on his deathbed Martin Luther kept quoting Psalm 31:6?
Favorite Selderhuis quotes:
- The Middle Ages may not have been as dark as they have often been portrayed, but from a spiritual perspective, the world in which young Martin Luther grew up was more like a haunted house than a playground.
- Whoever reads the Bible must be very careful not to wander, Luther insisted. One can expand on the Scriptures, but this should never be directed by feeling. Instead, one must allow the Bible to lead back to the source, that is, to the cross of Christ.
- Luther did not have an agenda, and he did not have a system of theology. He had a thesis: that God gives grace and does not require merit. The consequences of that thesis were so enormous that they ultimately led to a different Europe.
- In a sense, October 31, 1517, could be called the birthday of a new world, a world in which life looked different in every context for those who followed Luther’s lead. A society that was based on the conviction that people have to restore their relationship with God changed radically when a new foundational conviction emerged: that God in Christ accomplished everything.
- The Psalms for him were the key to a life with God. Those who want to obey the first commandment can do that best, Luther believed, by reading through the Psalms, to learn them and to pray them.
- Despite the constant medical issues, Luther was able to accomplish much work. In 1521, he was sick for seven months but still published thirty treatises, wrote a hundred letters, and preached seventy times. In 1530, he was sick for ten months but produced thirty treatises, one hundred seventy letters, and sixty sermons. In 1536, he was ill for eight months and produced ten treatises, ninety letters, and fifty sermons. In 1545, again sick for ten months, he nevertheless produced thirteen treatises, eighty letters, and thirty-five sermons.
Favorite Luther quotes:
- This letter [Romans] is the most important chapter in the New Testament and is the purist gospel. It would be worth a Christian’s effort not only to memorize this letter word for word but also to work with it on a daily basis like daily bread for the soul. One can never read or reflect on it too often or too thoroughly. The more frequently you engage yourself with this letter, the more valuable and appetizing it becomes.
- We are doing our best to translate the Prophets into German. God, what a huge and tiring task this is to force the Hebrew writers to speak German. They do not want to abandon their Hebrew singularity to follow the barbarian German.
- From a book you will never learn to pray well. You can read in it and receive instruction how and in what way you should pray. And you can let it motivate you to pray, but the prayer should come from the heart, without all the words that have already been written, and you should use words that your heart desires
- “The letter to the Galatians is my little letter, and I am married to it. It is my Käthe von Bora.”
- Every preacher must be so sure and should be so convinced that he has and that he preaches the Word of God that he would be willing to die for it, specifically because preaching concerns life.”
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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