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The Theology of Martin Luther

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I have long admired Martin Luther and his history in the Reformation. I became deeply interested in Luther's theology when I began to grasp "his" Theology of the Cross vs. The Theology of Glory. My own spiritual journey took a deeper more meaningful road when Luther's theology pointed me back to Christ as my all-sufficient savior. This book is well written and easy to follow. I have read many theology books that lose you along the way, but this is concise and very understandable. Often times the book goes deep and I put it down to ponder and meditate on Christ as Luther so clearly communicates his fullness and glory. For me this book / Luther's theology has returned my focus on Christ as the originator and completer of my faith.

This is a comprehensive and systematic survey of the theology of Martin Luther. While Luther himself never wrote a systematic theology text, he did, nonetheless, write enough material for a researcher to gather and assimilate such a text. This is the very thing Paul Althaus accomplished in this text.

Althaus is considered by many to be a foremost authority in Reformation studies. This text certainly bears that out. Althaus presents the main theological questions of Luther in precise and clear fashion. Moreover, Althaus provides plenty of direct quotes from Luther's works to support the theological views presented. I believe that Althaus intended to remain true to Luther's original thought without attempting to add his own opinion's which might otherwise alter what Luther meant in each topic.

This work is richly footnoted with Luther's original works, and other's who have commented on Luther's works. The text itself is divided into two parts-part one is the 'Knowledge of God' and part two is 'God's Work.'-yet each of these parts has subchapters dealing with topics such as the general and proper knowledge of God, the theology of the cross, faith, reason, the Holy Scriptures, law and gospel, the Trinity, and much, much more.

This would be a great text for anyone who collects and reads systematic theology texts, who wants a greater understand of what Luther espoused and taught, anyone studying the Reformation, and for anyone who is studying theology. It is well written and accessible to the lay person and scholar alike. I highly recommend this book!

I don't have this book in English. I have it only in Chinese. In some ways, the meanings of the words comes out even clearer in Chinese. But that's that.

Where I come from, Christian bookshops hardly carry much books by Luther or even on Lutheran theology. Actually, bookshops around here hardly carry any good theology books with substance. People here lap up the latest marshmallow-devotional and/or pop-psychology-self-help garbage but not good theology. Again, that's that.

Now on to the book itself:

Althaus have always been recognised as providing us with the standard textbook on Luther's Theology. In some ways, many (myself included) prefer reading Althaus' Luther than Luther's Luther! What I mean is this - Luther's writings covered such a large spectrum of differing theological perspectives and here, Althaus synthesizes his writings under appropriate subject headings to let the readers see how Luther's mind works. But instead of merely giving the readers his own views on those same subjects, Althaus includes thousands of quotations direct from Luther's writings and sermons (thus allowing Luther himself to speak to the reader - albeit in a more systematic manner!).

Highly recommended primer on Luther. Read this first. Then seek out the actual works of Luther.

I bought this book in the mid-1970's and have read it or parts of it many times. I keep coming back to it again and again, for Luther's theology of the cross is simply Paul's "the word of the cross" (1 Cor. 1:18-23; etc.). I am convinced that few, if any, have understood Paul's gospel of God, in all its depth, better than Martin Luther. Luther, unlike Paul, had the time to write much in terms of explaining the gospel and its corrollary, faith in Christ. Althaus was a gifted theologian, and he understood Luther more than most Lutheran theologians have understood him. Thus, in this work, Althaus, using his own words and also a great amount of quotations (or paraphrases) from Luther himself (many of which cannot be found in the limited works in English by Luther) reveal the depth of Luther's understanding of the law in contrast to the gospel, and of Christology, etc., and what it really means to live by faith in Jesus Christ. The truth in these chapters is the truth of God in utter contrast to the so-called "new perpsective on Paul" which erroneously tones down the law to mere boundary markers (e.g., circumcision, but this is self-justification, making the law seem keep-able); and wrongly separates faith in Christ from faith in Christ for justification (as our righteousness) before God. Luther's theology reveals the error of such teaching; whereas in Paul (and in all of Scripture) it is one, undivided law. Throughout the book, Althaus uses a wealth of quotes from Luther himself, and is very discerning in the ones he uses: i.e., he uses some of the very best. He aimed to get Luther's thinking across to all readers, not just theologians. He accomplished his goal. Luther, later in life, admitted that he wrote too much; and that much of it should not be published. I agree, mainly because his best writings, like the mature Luther's Lectures on Galatians in 1535, have simply become ignored due to the massiveness of his writings (and to the primacy in Lutheranism of the Lutheran Confessions). Along with the 1535 Galatians (Luther's Works, Volumes 26 and 27), I would most strongly recommend this book by Paul Althaus -- The Theology of Martin Luther. The more we are taught by the Scriptures (by the Spirit through the Scriptures), i.e., the more Christ is formed in us, the more we realize that the flesh is radically self-trusting, and that such self-trust is idolatry. I have been a Christian for 40 years, and it never ceases to amaze me that most Christians have not known or discovered the teacher that God has given the church in Martin Luther -- not only to recover the gospel, but also to teach the church. In this regard I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK ENOUGH; especially chapters 3 (on The Theology of the Cross), 7 (on Faith) and 18 (on Righteousness in Faith). In summary, Althaus has done the Christian church an inestimable service in writing both "The Theology of Martin Luther" and also "The Ethics of Martin Luther," for in these books a person can get an overall, systematic, and yet an in-depth understanding of Luther's gospel-centered (God in Christ-centered)theology, without having to read or purchase his voluminous works in German (WA) or the (limited) American edition (LW). These two books, in my opinion, far surpass most other books on Christian theology and life, because they have such depth of understanding by a God-gifted teacher on the true interpretation of Holy Scripture. And don't forget to read the footnotes, in which Luther is quoted so often.

This book was extremely helpful in researching several papers for my religion course titled the History of Christian Thought. It is very thorough and easy to understand.

Paul Althaus who was an outspoken supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party. In 1933 Althaus spoke of Hitler's rise as "a gift and miracle of God." An excellent book on this subject is "Theologians Under Hitler."