Customer Reviews

Hammer of God

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Hammer of God" is set in Sweden, when the Swedish Lutheran Church was struggling for its identity. There were many who felt that the "rigid/dead orthodoxy" no longer served a purpose in people's lives. Naturally, nature abhors a vacuum. In place of orthodoxy came two schools of thought: rationalism (scientific thought) and pietism. This masterful volume follows three recent seminary graduates serving their first parishes. Obviously, their mentors are of the "dead orthodoxy" bent. The young pastors feel that the people should be more scientific or live more perfect lives. Needless to say, the new approaches do not work out. Touching is the old soldier, in the throes of senility, barking out fighting orders and using profanity. The young pastor soon realizes that it is by God's grace that we are saved, not in building a better life to become more perfect. This book was required reading at a small Lutheran seminary I attended in Mankato, MN (as was Walther's "The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel."). I will forever be indebted to the professor who required us to read this book. It was very enlightening and graphically displayed Christian faith in action in everyday life.

I am about through my third reading within less than ten years of this novel. Aside from themes mentioned by previous commentators, the recreation of rural Sweden should commend this book to some readers. THE HAMMER makes me want to learn more about Swedish history.

The translation reads very well, as if the book had been written in English.

I have thousands of books. If I had to dispose of all but 200 of them, I'm sure I would keep this one. I would like to get extra copies to give away.

THE HAMMER OF GOD [Original: STENGRUNDEN (1941)] has been rightly called "the best Law/Gospel narrative ever written" (The Rev. David Mulder, Director of Leadership Development for the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod). At the tender age of 36, and as an associate pastor in rural Småland, Sweden, Bo Harlad Giertz wrote a book which battles those forces which would seek to destroy historical Confessional Lutheranism then and now. Through the stories of three young pastors from different time-periods, he "earnestly contend[s] for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (p. 321, see Jude 3). As such, Giertz fights heterodoxy through three novellas and in three foms: neology (p. 40), New Evangelicalism/Pietism (pp. 147-148), and Liberalism (pp. 267-268). With Henric Schartau's (1757-1825) doctrine of the Order of Grace as the foundation (see the first novella, pp. 3-131 [especially pp. 116-117], as well as pp. 202ff., p. 267, p. 295, p. 334, etc.) and Augsburg Confession IV & V as the backbone, Giertz shows what it is to be a "rätt präst" ("true/right pastor"): one who is a believer himself, preaches the Gospel in its purity, and administers the sacraments according to the Lord's Word (Augsburg Confession VII). A "true pastor," standing firm in the time-tested Holy Word & Holy Liturgy of the Church (p. 201, pp. 210-211, p. 332), is equipped to care for souls by rightly dividing Law and Gospel (p. 124). To be such a pastor is the prayer of Pastor Torvik in the third novella (p. 335; an autobiographical character?) and should indeed be the prayer of every pastor. The theology of the book is summarized in a fantastic & powerful sermon (pp. 313-320) that every pastor could fruitfully borrow for some Sunday morning Divine Service ("gudstjänst"). Also, every pastor (and lay person) should read this stunning work regularly, though it is rather strange that the last chapter ("I syndares ställe" ["In the Place of Sinners"]) was not translated.

Mainly due to his writings, such as THE HAMMER OF GOD, Giertz went on to become the Bishop of the Göteborg Diocese (1949-70). Both due to his age and position, this was a shock: bishops were commonly selelcted from among Cathedral Deans and University Chairmen of Theology. He also became the leader of the Confessional movement in Sweden ("Kyrklig Samling Kring Bibel o. Bekännelse" ["Churchly Gathering Around Bible and Confession"]) and served as vice president of the Lutheran World Federation (1957-63).

("The Fight" by John White is the best.) The previous reviews have explained the content, so I won't go into that... I just want to add a personal note; that in the last 30 years, since the age of fifteen, I've read The Hammer of God in my native Norwegian version at least five times, and every time it has made me cry. (And not many books are able to make 45-year-old men cry...) This is one of the top Christian books of all time, recommended for any and all Christians, regardless of background and denomination. Great as a gift, perfect as a Confirmation gift.

I was thrilled when I heard that a new edition of "The Hammer of God" was to be published -- one that included the ninth chapter that for some reason never made it into the original english edition. My copy of the new edition arrived several weeks ago, and I began it eagerly. I am extremely disappointed to find that such a wonderful novelistic depiction of the power of the Gospel has been diminished by multiple misprints and typos -- sometimes two on the same page. It got to the point where I began circling the mistakes I found with the intention of reporting them to the publisher. Giertz deserves much better than this! I hope that Augsburg releases a corrected edition of this volume.

5 stars for Giertz's book itself - but only 2 stars for the poor proof-reading job. (I realize that adds up to 3 & 1/2 stars, but who's counting!)

The Hammer of God was Bo Giertz first novel. In a time when many people have a blurred vision of God, Giertz clears the picture with a true distinction between Law and Gospel. Giertz uses three fictional narratives to illustrate the importance of not only proclaiming God's Word, but using it as God intended. Each story deals with a pastor's struggle to be a servant of the Word, and the pitfalls that can happen when God's Word is proclaimed incorrectly. Giertz's characters and situations are crisp and alive, and his writing is brisk and descriptive. I would highly recommend this book to any reader wanting to grow closer to his God.

God is at work through word and sacrament in this wonderful book of grace and forgiveness. Three young, Sweedish pastors are given "front-line" experience in the war against sin and imperfection, their own and the members around them. God shows His power through their supervising pastors and through His love in the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus.

This is a timeless book that will refresh any reader who is searching for meaning in life. I have red and re-read the book and am in the process of sending a copy to a friend.

God is good and patient in "The Hammer of God."

Bo Giertz' The Hammer of God should be read by anyone entering the pastorate. The book is divided into three novellas, each set in a different era in a particular area of Sweden. Each novella basically follows the same story: A nominally Christian pastor recently graduates from a modernist university and gets assigned, against his desires, to a country parish. He soon undergoes a kind of conversion experience as he is faced with the realities of parish life, especially with the existential questions of his parishoners, and finds that despite all his formal training, his faith is only nominal at best and he really doesn't know anything about God, until a simple parishoner witnesses the truth of the gospel to him. Newly converted and aware of his own sins, the preacher then begins to passionately preach the law of God bringing some revival to their churches, but as those revivals petter off, he is surprised to find that he is only half-converted, because he must also learn about the doctrine of justication by faith alone, which is the necessary complement to the law, and the heart of the gospel. At the same time, he discovers the richness of Lutheran orthodoxy over and against other modernist, pietistic and anabaptist movements happening around the parish.

Over all, I thought this was a really good book, and I would recommend it to anyone, even to those who are not Lutheran (I'm still a Baptist). Unfortunately, this particular edition is riddled with typos, more than I've seen in any book by a major publisher. So I can only give it 4 stars, rather than 5.

This book was commended by a good friend who is also I believe one of the few remaining orthodox pastors in his church body. The treatment it provides of issues such as "simul sanctus et peccator" (at the same time saint and sinner), the long-ignored Office of the Keys ("Whatever sins you bind on earth will be bound in heaven"), Christ Only, the individual's mode of "participation" in justification, and a host of other doctrinal issues was tremendously refreshing. The Hammer is relentless, and the Gospel is sweet. The orthodox views of Christ, of Scripture, of Salvation, of Sanctification, and of Christian life are all made new as the morning. I loved it!

This book is divided into three stories of approximately 100 pages each. Although the time changes, the stories all have the same theme: a young, beginning pastor wrestles with the fact that, although he tries to "live a good life that God would be proud of," he still sins. The characters struggle with this fact and end up realizing that EVERYBODY sins and that because Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, we needn't worry about our sinful nature because Jesus death is bigger than any sin.

I have to admit that Giertz does a much better job than I did in describing the above (essentially, a forgiven Christian cares that he sins but can't help it while an unforgiven sins and couldn't care less). In the course of the book, Giertz addresses infant baptism, the work of the Holy Spirit, liturgical worship vs. non-liturgical worship, conflict between Christians, and a historical vs. a literal interpretation of the Bible.

While he tackles heavy subjects, Giertz does it in an entertaining way through this novel. Not only is it a good read, but it'll get you thinking about deep religious issues. Recommended