Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval

To commemorate 500 years since Martin Luther posted The Ninety-Five Theses on the doors of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany (October 31, 1517), readers are treated to two important studies of the great reformer: Lyndal Roper's magisterial Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet, and now Schilling's (emeritus, early modern history, Humboldt Univ.; Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe) latest work. Although there are similarities between the two books, there are substantial differences in emphasis which, in the case of Schilling's work, leads to differences in argument. The signal virtue of Schilling's account is that it places Luther in contexts outside himself. In doing so, the historian explains Luther's relation to late medieval reform and pietism and shows parallels between Luther and Catholic reformers such as Emperor Charles V. No wild revisionism is at work here; rather a temperate, qualified attempt to place Luther in the larger context of his own, intensely religious age. In the process, many myths are stripped away.