Having started out Lutheran-ish, the figure of Martin Luther has been of occasional interest for me. I recall rather hagiographical descriptions from my youth which were subsequently corrected sharply by other, more objective (and some not so objective) accounts.
An new/old book about Luther was brought to my attention. It was written by someone just a couple decades after Luther, hence firmly within living memory. It was originally in French, vetted by the University of Paris, and then Latin.
The title (with apologies to a priest friend and piper) is perfect.
The Devil’s Bagpipe: The True Life of Martin Luther by James Lang (Author) and Fr. Robert Nixon (Translator)
It is a short read, but packed, as is consistent with writers before the age of word processors.
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Totally worth it for the title and cover alone. And such a great easy way to donate to Father Z. We click through the Donate tab on his website (or go back to it if we forget) to give him the Amazon credit.
Fascinating – many thanks for bringing this to our attention! For those who want to let Father Robert Nixon help them find out how packed the original Latin is, I see that the Internet Archive has a Google Books scan of a National Central Library of Rome copy of De vita et rebus gestis Martini Lutheri, et aliorum Speudoapostolorum haereseos nostri temporis &c. traductis ex sermone Gallico in Latinum. Authore Iacobo Laingaeo Scoto doctore Sorbonico. The vitae “aliorum Speudoapostolorum haereseos” are of Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and John Calvin – with a lot of other names (e.g., Knox, Beza) turning up in what seem effectively chapter titles in the “Index rerum omnium”.
There’s a lot of controversy surrounding the person of Luther (how could that happen?) But I think the real issue was his radical redefinition of Faith as a sort of “felt certitude of one’s own salvation” rather than as an ” assent to revealed fact.” This fundamental philosophical and theological point throws its shadow over history, and forms many of the various deformities and corruptions we see in our own time.
Paul Hacker talks about this extensively in his book “Faith in Luther.” He was a Lutheran (and expert in multiple languages including Sanskrit) who set out to read the complete works of Luther, which caused him to convert to Catholicism.
Oh, interesting! As a former Lutheran, I still remember being told at school how wonderful he was, including how clever of him it was to throw his inkwell at the devil. I should love to read this.