Through the Year with Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German monk whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. Luther emphasized salvation based on faith in the merits of Jesus Christ alone and not on human efforts to earn God’s favor. At the heart of the gospel, in Luther’s estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith—the teaching that Christ’s own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God. Martin Luther dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by Catholic Church officials.

In this volume the reader will find fifty of Martin Luther’s most significant sermons, selected and organized with the lay reader in mind. His sermons reflect the heart of his thoughts on the Christian faith and his ideas for practical life in that faith. The reader will gain a deeper understanding of Luther’s thinking on topics important to today’s Christian as well as insight into Luther’s contribution to Christian practice and thought.

The Bondage of the Will

First published in 1525, Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will is acknowledged by theologians as one of the great masterpieces of the Reformation. It is Luther response to Desiderius Erasmus’ Diatribe on Free Will, written in his direct and unique style, combining deep spirituality with humor. Luther writes powerfully about man’s depravity and God’s sovereignty. The crucial issue for Luther concerned what ability free will has, and to what degree it is subject to God’s sovereignty. For Luther, this key issue of free will is directly connected to God’s plan of salvation. Is man able to save himself, or is his salvation entirely a work of divine grace? This work is vital to understanding the primary doctrines of the Reformation and will long remain among the great theological classics of Christian history.

Here I stand: A Life of Martin Luther

“I cannot.. I will not… recant! Here I stand.” This authoritative and inspiring story paints a vivid portrait of the crusader who spearheaded the Reformation. Considered one of the most readable biographies of Martin Luther, this volume is an illustrated look at the German religious reformer and his influence on Western civilization.

Martin Luther entered a monastery as a youth and as a man shattered the structure of the medieval church. Luther spoke out against the corrupt religious practices that then existed. His demand that the authority for doctrine and practice be Scriptures, rather than Popes or Councils, echoed around the world and ignited the Great Reformation. Accused of heresy and threatened with excommunication and death, Luther maintained his bold stand and refused to recant. In his crusade to eliminate religious abuses, he did more than any other man to establish the Protestant faith. With sound historical scholarship and penetrating insight, Roland Bainton examines Luther’s widespread influence. He re-creates the spiritual setting of the sixteenth century, showing Luther’s place within it and influence upon it. Richly illustrated with more than 100 woodcuts and engravings from Luther’s own time, Here I Stand dramatically brings to life Martin Luther, the great reformer.

Bainton published Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther in 1950. As of 2008, it is still in print. Kenneth Scott Latourette, in the chapter notes for “Luther and the Rise and Spread of Lutheranism” in his History of Christianity, lauds Bainton’s biography of Luther as “A superb combination of accurate scholarship based upon a thorough knowledge of the sources and secondary works with insight, vivid, readable literary style, and reproductions of contemporary illustrations. It also contains so valuable a bibliography as to render needless an extended one in this chapter.” In his chapter on Luther’s writings in Invitation to the Classics, Mark A. Noll singles out Bainton’s biography:

“Of the many superlative treatments, a half-century old study by Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, has justly won a reputation as a classic work on a classic subject.”