Very well-written and engaging account of Luther's life and thought.

As my Friend Jack once said “no one should be allowed to talk positively or negatively about Luther unless they have read much Luther”. Bainton has done just that, and as a result he categorizes the complex and impactful life Martin Luther in an honest and helpful way. In an age when half the world defends the reformer’s every action as perfect and the other half condemns him holistically, the candor praise and critique Bainton provides is refreshing. This book paints a picture of a devout, complex, but often brash man, who was equally a product of his time and a revolutionary. The end result of the book is this: Luther is to be praised and remembered for his great strides in reforming the church, yet he was by his own admission a deeply flawed man who died claiming nothing but Christ’s covering for his own salvation.

Martin Luther may have been immortalised by the “Here I stand…” quote, but there is so much more to his life than that simple quote.

First, I must say, this is a full biography. Sometimes biographies can be so short that they merely fill you with the life of the person. These kind of biographies then do not give you to context of what everything is happening. This biography by Roland Bainton however does not have any of these weakness. At at whopping 400 pages, Bainton presents Luther in his context, society and culture.

Bainton allows the reader to go away with a deep understanding of the what was Luther was going through before, during and after the Reformation. At times, Bainton also injects his own evaluation on how Luther handled the various situations in Luther’s life. Within the book, there are also many picture of wood carvings displayed appropriately which really helps the readers to “go back in time”.

Bainton does not only fills the readers with the life of Luther, he fills the readers with knowledge of the cultural and religious context of Luther in his life. These were very well explain and even as a novice in such matters, I do not find myself confused about it. Bainton not only talks about why Luther called for the Reformation, he also talks about how the Reformation slowly happened, and what followed up from it.

What I gathered from reading the life of Luther is his focus on the importance of the Word. Which was a great reminder for myself as someone who lives after the Reformation, it is easy to take the Word of God for granted and then to neglect it. Next, I see how fearless Luther was to stand for what he thinks is right. That too was a timely reminder for me as a christian, that I should be firm to stand for what I know from the Word of God, is right.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a substantial biography to Luther, but for readers who wants a lighter introduction, I think The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther by Steven Lawson would be a better choice.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Excelente. Foge ao comum no que se refere à biografias e, por isso, é tão interessante.

I grew up in a good Lutheran household, so Luther has always been a figure that I'd had some degree of admiration towards. However, I admit I was somewhat nervous that this book might simply be a propaganda track on Luther's great accomplishments without much critical analysis.

Thankfully, as far as I can tell, Bainton took an evenhanded approach to Luther's life, and didn't shy away from pointing out Luther's hypocrisy or other faults. It's a short book, but one that I read over a long period of time. Bainton writes well, with occasional wit. This is a good starter for the person, like myself, that wants a primer on Luther without dedicating the time it might take to do a truly thorough exploraton of Luther's writings and Lutheranism in general.

I'm going to be honest, outside of one major issue, most of the issues I have with this book are from prior expectations since this is lauded as the best Luther biography by many Reformed people/preachers.

n  SUMMARYn

This was written 200 years ago by a master Reformation historian. It is a biography of Martin Luther's theology and only the main life events that directly shape these things.

This is important to me. While technically a biography, it is both very small in details and biased heavily (more than a good biography should be).

n  THE GOODn

First, the book is well-written. I felt many times like I was listening to a movie script. It reads a lot like one. Second, the narrator is really good. It was an enjoyable listen.

I wanted to hate this book overall but it's too engaging and well-written for me to give it too negative of a rating.

n  THE CHALLENGESn

First, this was a really short biography. It's mostly because there's not many details in the book that aren't about his theology. There's maybe a paragraph that tells us about his childhood. This is the book I would give someone if they wanted to know what Luther believed, but the book doesn't tell us who Luther was, which IMO is the point of a biography. There's little historical and regional context unless the theological belief required it.

Second, it was more biased than expected. Since it's a theological biography and the author was a Reformation scholar, there's constantly justification or excusing many of Luther's fault. Not to mention that his faults are barely mentioned. Maybe 5% of the book covers his faults or issues. The book is mostly early age Luther while old age Luther is mostly ignored.

n  CONCLUSIONn

For a better biography, I would recommend reading Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet. You can read my review of it here.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

Great!

This was a great book. It brought Martin Luther’s life.... to life. I have always loved reading about Luther but this really helped synthesize all of the history that I have read about him. The book was well written and I found it easy to read.

Luther's medieval life has had major influnces on our modern world, and he is both unfairly praised and maligned frequently, especially when his statements are taken out of context. This even-handed and readable biography was quite helpful in understanding the backdrop of the reformation and the man who became the father of Protestantism.

Very readable and accessible, this biography brings great depth and insight into a figure and story I knew the basics of, but not much more than that. It feels like Bainton maybe falls into the trap of over-defending/contextualizing Luther for the reader, but that's a minor quibble for this fantastically written work. Definitely a worth-while read.

I loved this book. Every person, Christian and non-Christian alike, should educate themselves about the world that they live in and read about the life of Martin Luther. Luther is inspiring, and though he was far from perfect, he transformed the world, attacked the phony wisdom of man, and brought the Scriptures back to their proper place. For Luther, the conscience had the primary place in religion - which is the place it has in the Bible - which is why he was able to unlock its great secret: that gift of righteousness from God, received through faith in Jesus Christ. We all would do well to consider deeply the life and teachings of Martin Luther. This world needs people who love truth and the courage to stand up for it.

Highly recommended!

A brilliant treatment of Luther that doesn't settle for simple caricature, but examines the complexities of this famous man from childhood to death.

What makes this biography stand out is Bainton's dependence on primary source material, as well as his consideration for *context*. We see Luther as a man of medieval, not modern, times. His years long struggle to find peace with God, and then open the door for others to walk through. We see the anxieties of Luther, who lived for years as an exile in his own country, willing to lay down his life, and yet feeling somewhat guilty that martyrdom passed him by due to the protection of his faithful princes. We walk with Luther through Augustinian and Pauline theology to mine for answers to the perplexities of defining and implementing a new way. We see Luther's incredible courage, as well as his lack of concern for earthly organization or balance of powers that was a stumbling block to him. We see Luther the young zealot, unexpectedly tamed in middle age by a wife and family that he never expected to see.

And over all, we see a man learning and living and teaching by faith alone, by grace alone, by Scripture alone. I give my highest recommendation for this biography.

This is treatment of Luther for scholars and adults. For children or layman, I prefer:

Torchlighters DVD: Martin Luther
30 min animation, plus a documentary and worksheets to engage children. Also highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Torchlighters-...

Martin Luther, Simonetta Carr, 2016
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read this for school but really enjoyed it! I didn't know that his life was really that exciting XD