Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

Luther's fortress : Martin Luther and his Reformation under siege / James Reston, Jr.

by Reston, James, Jr., 1941-

View full image

Basic Books, [2015]

Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.

Reformation -- Germany.

Monks -- Germany -- Biography.

9780465063932 (hc.)

xi, 260 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The birth of a contrarian -- Worms -- Appointment at Altenstein -- Patmos -- Lowly monk versus lofty King -- Unclean thoughts, devouring fires -- Rivals surface -- Wrestling the Devil -- The new creature -- A clandestine mission -- Twenty-seven books in ten weeks -- Rome -- All alone -- Fanatics take over -- Liberation -- Consolidation -- Fruition.

In 1521, the Catholic Church declared war on Martin Luther. The German monk had been excommunicated the year before, after he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses - which accused the Church of rampant corruption - to the door of a Saxon church. Now, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V called for Luther "to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic." The edict was akin to a death sentence: If Luther was caught, he would almost inevitably be burned at the stake, his fragile movement crushed, and the nascent Protestant Reformation strangled in its cradle. Historian James Reston, Jr. describes this crucial but little-known episode in Luther's life and reveals its pivotal role in Christian history. Realizing the danger, Luther's followers spirited him away to Wartburg Castle, deep in central Germany. There he hid for the next ten months, as his fate - and that of the Reformation - hung in the balance. Instead of cowering in fear, Luther spent his time at Wartburg strengthening his movement and refining his theology in ways that would guarantee the survival of Protestantism. He devoted himself to biblical study and spiritual contemplation; he fought both his papist critics and his own inner demons (and, legend has it, the devil himself); and he held together his fractious and increasingly radicalized reform movement from afar. During this time Luther also crystallized some of his most significant ideas about Christianity and translated the New Testament into German - an accomplishment that, perhaps more than any other, solidified his legacy and spread his bold new religious philosophy across Europe.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal