62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A haunting read filled with devils and God at war, July 28, 2000
Heiko Oberman's book is not a typical Luther biography. Many books write from preconceived views, casting Luther in a glorious light as the hero of the Reformation or as a villain, with cruel and anti-Semitic views. Oberman takes a decidedly different view: he casts Luther with medieval-era light, bringing the reader closer to Luther's real thoughts than, perhaps, any other recent Luther biographer.
This book haunts the reader, for the reader is put into Luther's world of God, angels, devils--with powerless men among these powerful forces. In truth, this book is so dense and devil-filled that an uninitiatiated reader with Luther may want to read a more sanitized version first, such as Kittelson's Luther the Reformer.
Oberman starts his masterpiece with a foundation of religion and medieval politics and bringing to life Luther's early years. From there all chronological flow ceases and Oberman's book becomes a more like the Bible book of Revelation: the story line is thematic not necessarily sequential. For Luther, devils were real beings with which to contend not unreal figments of imagination. One needs simply to read Luther's evening-prayer conclusion before the amen in his Small Catechism: "Let Your holy angel be with me, that the devil may have no power over me" to know this to be true On earth, the real battle--nay, war--takes place between good and evil. Oberman shows Luther's realization that if God were lazily hanging out in heaven, then the devil would not need such a vociferous presence on earth. However, since the Righteous One comes to us on earth, so, too, does the devil. Oberman points out that Luther had this epiphany if the most putrid of places--a stinking outhouse, a place where "man's powerlessness is joined by ignominy."
Any biography cannot cover Luther without covering the theologian. Oberman here does a balanced, objective view. At first, this reviewer thought that Oberman was an atheist, so much did he remove personal views from his objectivity. The author covered the three "Solas," which is English translate to "grace alone, faith alone, and scripture alone," which the average Lutheran can parrot without really understanding their meanings. However, Oberman does a short shrift on a fourth intertwined thread of Reformation discovery: "gratia universalis" (universal grace) and objective justification: that God wills all to be saved and, in fact, saved all people by His (Christ, the second Person in the Trinity) death at Golgotha--but only those with faith, a gift of God, receive the benefits of Christ's universal sacrifice.
In a world filled with devils, Oberman did not, however, succumb to poor historical scholarship or National-Enquirer-like storytelling for the sake of a good story. A case in point is the story of Luther throwing the inkwell at Satan when the Evil One paid Herr Luther a visit. Such a story originated over 100 years after Luther's death and no contemporary writings, of which this reviewer knows, of Luther during his Wartburg exile give any hint of Luther physically seeing a devil.
Yes, this book takes work, and at times is dark and, well, medieval. But any serious student of Luther must read this book. The other texts are good, but only this one put the reader into the same era as Luther in thought, feeling, beliefs, and understanding. To understand a man, one must understand him in his time and context. Oberman does this brilliantly!
"Though demon hordes may swarm the land All lusting to devour us, We are not fearful, firm we stand: They cannot overpow'r us. This world's dark prince can rage, In grim attack engage; His harm can never last-- God's sentence now is passed, Whose slightest word can crush him!"
Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," verse 3, Reviewer's own translation
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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An admirable biography of an admirable man, March 28, 2003
Fluidly written, and most importantly true to its subject, Oberman's masterpiece portrays Luther as the man he really was - the man between God and the Devil. To not get the meaning of that phrase is to not get what Luther was about or who he was. In this powerful biography Oberman makes it impossible to make such a mistake. Oberman depicts the turmoil, the angst and the persecution that surrounded Luther both physically and spiritually. He describes his stubborn, fiery character to stand for the Gospel in the context of overwhelming peril. He beautifully describes this blessed man who saw the verse, "the just shall live by faith," as the gateway to paradise and the maxim, "Simul Peccator et Iustus" [simultaneously sinner and just] as the heart of the Christian faith. There are lots of biographies out there, but both the author and the subject of this work stand out. For me, it was not just some book to learn more about the historical events of the reformation, but in the course of reading Oberman's description of Luther's simple words, "Simul Peccator et Iustus" I found transforming grace. It can do the same for you.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent survey and interpretation of Luther's life, July 25, 2001
This was a nice, easy to follow survey of Luther's life. It covers his early years when his father worked in the factory and when he was being groomed and prepared to be a lwayer. It talks about the day he walked home during a fierce thunderstorm where he was so frightened, that he promised St Anne that he would become a monk. In fact, the entire book depicts Luther as constantly in a spiritual battle with the devil, and Obermann does a good and convincing job of highlighting Luther's battles with emperors, synods, colleagues and enemies. Near the end of the book, there is even a chapter on Luther's health problems, which included severe heart stress and kidney stones.
The end of the book also contains a year by year chronological survey of some of the key moments of Luther's life, icluding his appearance before the Synod of Dort and the year he was hiding out at Wartburg Castle. A fascinating survey of a fascinating reformer.
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