This book is more than fifty years old but still accessible and full of insight into Martin Luther’s life and times. Early on, it is evident Bainton admires Luther very much – maybe a bit too much to take an honest and well-rounded approach to Luther, the man, in toto. My first significant exposure to Martin Luther was in Will Durant’s volume, “The Reformation”, (From his magnum opus, “The Story of Civilization”) a comprehensive look into the religious and secular conflicts that occurred during Luther’s time as well as before and after. From about 1376, when John Wycliffe – The so-called ‘Morningstar of the Reformation’ – posited his 18 theses urging the church to renounce temporal dominion: Rigid control of doctrinal issues, as dictated by the Pope and his bishops, over the populace to the point of absurdity. Wycliffe went on to translate the Vulgate Bible into English. All this was happening even as the Roman Catholic Church had two popes; one in Rome and one (antipope) in Avignon (The Western Schism, 1378-1418). As in Luther’s time, Wycliffe’s complaints led to a peasant’s revolt which Wycliffe strongly opposed. This all happened more than 130 years before Luther posted his 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg. Wycliffe died before he could be tried and convicted but the Roman church fathers were not happy with his work; he and his body of work were eventually condemned by the church, post-mortem. While Wycliffe was a scholar, Luther was just a smart and stubborn monk. Beginning about 1402 – nearly 20 years after Wycliffe’s death, John Hus, a Czech clergyman, began to denounce church abuses and hubris. Unlike Wycliffe, Hus was tried, convicted and burned at the stake in 1415. His followers continued the fight by way of the Hussite wars and by the time Martin Luther came onto the scene, more than one hundred years later, up to 90% of the Czech populace were already de facto Protestants. October 31, 1517 is a popular starting point for many protestant Christians as the beginning of the Reformation. Wycliffe was, arguably, the first serious threat to Roman Catholic supremacy in Europe; although the Cathars began to break away from Catholic rule in the 12th century. The Roman Catholic Church annihilated the Cathars. Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of men, women and children were slaughtered by French troops at the direction of the Vatican. The Cathars weren’t really Protestants, per se, they were more of a breakaway church tending to a more Manichean-style dualist sect.
Bainton does a fair job of describing Luther and his trials but he leaves a lot out – or he downplays Luther’s negatives. To be completely honest, Martin Luther hated the Jews. He despised them with such fervor that, in 1543, he wrote a book, “The Jews and Their Lies”, excoriating ALL Jews and strongly suggesting they all be deported from greater Germany and that their homes and properties be burned or otherwise destroyed – not a very forgiving kind of sentiment: “They should be shown no mercy or kindness, afforded no legal protection, and these ‘poisonous envenomed worms’ should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time. He also seems to advocate their murder, writing ‘[w]e are at fault in not slaying them’.
A key Renaissance figure, Desiderius Erasmus (a Dutch Humanist), was an on-again, off-again admirer of Luther but the two of them argued – primarily by way of correspondence – incessantly. Their arguments led Luther to come to despise Reason. His diatribes against Reason are shocking to 21st century thinkers: “Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason”. In another statement, Luther is unintentionally ironic: “This fool [Copernicus] wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth”. So, Martin Luther, the great reformer, was also a foremost denier of science – not atypical of churchmen in his time. His blind adherence to literal interpretation of scripture completely clouded his innate ability to cogitate and evaluate secular ideas and theories. He was an unflinchingly hidebound theologian. Only John Calvin, who murdered more than two dozen people during his reign in Geneva, was more brutally rigid.
Most of the bios of Martin Luther (the ones I have read) seem to skip over Luther’s powerful prejudices and adherence to faith to the exclusion of anything and everything else. I think this is intentional; most of these books are written by theologians or Christian authors for Christian audiences. Yes, Luther stuck his neck out – he truly expected he would be killed by the Roman church (they didn’t do the actual killing, they farmed it out to the local authorities). He changed our world, no doubt. Any damage done by his hatred of Jews or science very likely had little impact on his world. Whether his writings impacted Nazi Germany, as Julius Streicher claimed, is arguable. And yet he was what he was. I think it’s only fair that Luther and Calvin be shown for what they are, warts and all. I don’t think it will have a deleterious effect on the faith of the Christian masses or seminarians.
I rated this book 3 of 5 possible stars. The takeaways were: Too much focus on doctrinal issues and arguments and not enough focus on Luther, the man, as a loving husband and father as well as a bigoted and intolerant cleric. I am reminded of a song by “The Who”, “Won’t get fooled again”. The lyric goes like this:
“Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss”

After reading The Unquenchable Flame, I had to re-read this biography of Luther. This is regarded as the classic biography on the life of Martin Luther and it certainly holds up to this standard. I appreciate Bainton's effort to be honest about Luther's strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses only help us see better the greatness of the God Luther served instead of glorifying the man. On the other hand stands Luthers prodigious life work which among other things includes a translation of the Scripture in German, over 2,000 hymns, catechism and books for liturgy and prayer along with the regular preaching and teaching which at one point included preaching around 197 messages in 145 days. Whew! Reading this can't help but to encourage our appreciation for doctrine and the truth of Scripture. My one criticism is that some historical details are assumed and it would have been helpful to provide more background context for some of the people and events mentioned in the book.

An amazing biography of Martin Luther. I especially appreciated the parts which touched on his depression, the crusades, marriage, and his interactions with the Anabaptists.

Somewhat dry biography of the reformer (not helped by the narration) but thorough, with one exception. The author rushed through Luther's antisemitic diatribe "On the Jews and their Lies." Given this work's malevolent influence in the history of the Lutheran Church during the Hitler regime, it merited a deeper discussion. Words do have consequences.

It's funny to think that the Protestant religion - today, at least, a moderate and forward-looking religion - is based on the writings of this man, one of the evilest human beings that ever lived. He was also the acknowledged inspiration for the Nazi party which should tell you plenty of his sentiments on race and the value of life. Not only did he advocate violence, including arson and looting, against Jews but was behind the Peasants' War where thousands died. All because he felt that men should not ape their betters nor expect to improve their station in life but accept whatever lowly status they may be born into and serve their betters cheerfully.

This is not exactly a Christian sentiment, more one of the Eastern religions concept of dharma. Luther was, needless to say, in the pay of the aristocratic class he so felt he belonged to. Naturally this book is not required reading for Protestants in Sunday school.

In 1521 Henry VIII published a book about Luther, referring to him as a “a venomous serpent, a pernicious plague, infernal wolf, an infectious soul, a detestable trumpeter of pride, calumnies and schism.” The Church was mightly pleased. But a few years later was not minded to give Henry a divorce. I think the hated Luther was where he got his ideas of reform from though.

The good men do lives after them. The evil is forgotten (when expedient). That certainly describes Luther.

Note, Feb. 16, 2022: I just made two slight edits here, to correct a typo and clarify a sentence.

16th-century German theologian Martin Luther, instigator of the Protestant Reformation, is a pivotal figure in Christian church history, in subsequent German history and culture, and in the history of the modern world as a whole. The larger picture in any of these areas can't really be grasped without understanding his influence. Having been raised in a Lutheran denomination originally founded by German immigrants, I naturally heard plenty about Luther as a child and teen in church (and parochial school for five years), though what I heard tended to be a hagiographic version of his life and a simplistic and uncritical distillation of his thought. I set about gratifying my curiosity for a fuller and more balanced treatment with this biography sometime after graduating from high school in 1970 (1971 is a rough guess as to when I read it). The book was a good choice for the purpose, usually considered to be the definitive Luther biography, and written by a liberal Quaker scholar who was basically sympathetic to his subject but able to view him with a certain detachment. Bainton was also an accomplished scholar (Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale, an endowed chair also held by another church historian whose work made even more impression on me, Kenneth Scott Latourette), and literate in German.

This is a fairly thick book, with 386 pages of text; but it's narrative popular history for interested and intelligent lay readers, rather than very dry and pedantic academic history, and doesn't presuppose any specialized knowledge or vocabulary. It's a full-length biographical treatment, going back to Luther's childhood, as far as we know of it, carrying through to his death in 1546, and assessing his postmortem influence. The author doesn't employ footnotes, but he bases his text solidly on substantial acquaintance with primary and secondary sources, and documents the provenance of quotations (by page number and line) in a roughly 10-page list of references in the back. (As that indicates, there are quite a few quotations of Luther's own words, and those of his contemporaries.) Luther's theological and social thought, and that of the thinkers with whom he interacted (often in dispute), are presented in the context of his life, and in terms that make them intelligible to theological nonspecialists. Bainton doesn't whitewash his subject, giving an honest appraisal of the less palatable aspects of his career, particularly the savage controversial writings he produced in his pain-wracked and increasingly irascible old age.

By the time I read this, I had already embraced the concept of a church voluntarily composed of adult believers (or, at least, believers old enough to know in whom they're believing), and so had rejected the Constantinian conception (which Luther and many of the other Reformers retained) of a State-sponsored church entered by infant baptism. That conviction has only deepened in the decades since, and undergirds a strong belief that the greatest problem of the Christian church, which directly stems from that terrible historical wrong turn, is the popular identification of the "church" as a huge, amorphous mass of nominal "members" who have no more personal Christian beliefs than my daughter's pet house-cats (but who are thereby "entitled" to represent the church to the world and share in its governance). If the church had held to the believer's church concept in the second century and afterwards, IMO, or if more Christians had adopted it in the 16th, its subsequent history would have differed for the better. Closely related to this is my belief that the church's true unity is as the organic fellowship of believers united around a common loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, rather than as an adherence to a set of creedal formulations determined and enforced by a human authority (again, Luther didn't originate the latter view, but both he and his Catholic and Protestant opponents certainly embraced it with a vengeance). Bainton doesn't actually deal in great detail with any of these issues; but for me they tend to be inherent in the historical narrative itself, and to color my interpretation of Luther's significance. I think they dilute the practical impact of his insight about justification by faith (which was not as radical a break with historic Catholic thought as some modern interpreters treat it, though again Bainton doesn't discuss that in detail), and make much of his legacy an exercise in missed theological and ecclesiastical opportunity. (Some fellow Christians, whom I respect, would of course disagree with some or all of these views; but they do represent my honest principal take-aways from the book.)

Given the 1950 publication date, Bainton's 11-page bibliography of books and articles (which don't include Luther's own writings, though he made use of those too) is somewhat dated; but it's extensive enough to indicate a thorough familiarity with the entire scope of Luther scholarship up to that time. The book also has an over 12-page index, which is pretty comprehensive, and is enhanced by dozens of black-and-white illustrations, mostly contemporary woodcuts.

In summary, this is a must-read starting point for anyone who wants to seriously study Luther, the Reformation, or modern (post-medieval) Christian history. It stands as a worthy magnum opus for a distinguished historian.

"Hier stehe ich, und kann nicht anders." With these words Martin Luther, a German priest, set in motion the greatest change that Europe had seen since the final sack of Rome by the Vandals a thousand years before. Luther's '95 Theses', which, in the style of the day, he nailed to the door of the nearest castle church, demanded that the Papacy behave in a manner befitting of its position. What followed was decades of war as northern Europe broke away from Catholicism, while Mediterranean Europe sought to enforce a continent united under the Pope.

Bainton's portrayal of Luther's early life, and the experiences which led to his declaration, are given the necessary weight to build a story which rises to the defining moments of Luther's life. The author then ably depicts the broken, tragic figure who changed so much and died before his time.

I can see why this book is considered a classic. Bainton gives great insights into Luther's times, ideas, and personality, and surveys the incredible amount of work that he accomplished: founding a church, translating the Bible into German (which had a similar effect on German language to the King James' effect on English), writing catechisms, prayers, tracts, and lectures. He doesn't shy away from Luther's flaws, either. And he does all this while writing so that any adult (not just a history buff) could pick up the book and really enjoy it.

I would have liked more focus on Luther's last years, and I disagreed with some of Bainton's comments that were influenced by modern liberal theology, but this is definitely a five-star book.

This was definitely a difficult book to finish. While it did have points of interesting Christian philosophy, it much more commonly devolved into some of the most boring text I have ever read. This, combined with the fact that the book is so devoted to Martin Luther it can hardly spare a page to his rampant antisemitism makes me question much of the good faith interpretations of Luther’s writings. Overall, one of the more boring books I’ve read.

Had to read this for school. His life and thinking is pretty crazy to me.

O biografie completa si complexa, cu multe detalii si informatii despre Luther. Desi am citit-o incet si la un moment dat am simtit ca ma pierd printre diete, bule papale si calatoriile lui Luther, recomand cartea oricui vrea sa inteleaga Reforma si sa afle despre Luther...atat ca om cat si ca teolog si luptator al credintei.

This is a nice beginning biography of one of the world's most remarkable men. It is an older book that hails from the early 1950's. It is a really good overview of Luther's life and his encounters with the outside world, especially up till about 1525. It seems aimed at a believing Christian readership. That is, Mr. Bainton, the author, seems to be a believer who appreciates very much Luther's lifetime spiritual struggle and his scriptural resolution of it in the doctrine of justification by faith. I think this is to be appreciated because Luther was primarily a man of religion and insights into his spiritual life are therefore important.

However, the book also outlines Luther's organizational work after he "began" the Reformation --- much to his surprise. It provides a balanced overview of Luther the preacher, the talker and teacher, the translator, and the writer. Although Mr. Bainton focuses on Luther's actual warmth and high intelligence, he does not minimize or hide Luther's darker acts (e.g., the agreement to outlawing the Anabaptists). On the whole, though, I think that Mr. Bainton's program is to relate and preserve the good in Luther's life and legacy.

Although Mr. Bainton is interested in presenting the man Luther, the book is a little thin on how the outside world such as England, the Netherlands, etc., reacted to Lutheran ideas, especially post-1530. Plus, ensuing bloodshed and martyrdoms need attention.

The book has generous excerpts from sermons on Jonah, the Nativity, and the Sacrifice of Isaac. These and other quotes show Luther as witty and profound. My edition had reproductions of wonderful woodcuts from the period.

This is a good biography, but it encourages me to read another.