Out of the storm : the life and legacy of Martin Luther

Martin Luther changed Europe and, through Europe, the world. It was he who finally exposed the myth of a unified Latin Christendom, which was only held together by crusades, heresy hunts, Inquisition, and priestly magic. Though not the first radical thinker to challenge papal pretensions and the doctrines they were founded on, by his defiance Luther created the biggest __cause célèbre__ of the age. But this renegade monk did not just split Europe into rival Protestant and Catholic camps. By urging Christians to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, he gave a religious boost to that emancipation of the individual we associate with the Renaissance. By putting men and women in charge of their own destinies he made a cultural impact which is incalculable. This first major biography in English for many years, by leading historian Derek Wilson, responds to recent Reformation scholarship to assess Luther's... A revelatory biography of a remarkable Renaissance man whose rationalist convictions changed not only the post-Reformation Church in Europe but also the individuals relationship to society. On Halloween 1517, Martin Luther nailed to the door of Wittenbergs Castle Church his 95 Theses protesting papal indulgences. It is one of the ironies of history that at the very moment when Charles V came to rule over a European empire which was, for the first time, as large as that controlled by Charlemagne, a young Saxon monk irrevocably shattered its very raison dtre. Luthers solitary stand against the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and his magnificent German translation of the Bible in the 1530s secured his place in history as one of the greatest religious thinkers of all time. His vast oeuvre (over 70 volumes) sprang from one idea that believers are saved by faith alone and not works and incited the worlds biggest evangelical revival, provoking the re-thinking of deep-seated ideas about church and state, government and the individual, war and peace. But was Luther a humanitarian and champion of individual freedom or was he a defender of state tyranny who sparked a century of religious wars? In Out of the Storm Derek Wilson offers a fresh assessment of Luthers place in history and in so doing, shows how the world was changed forever by this deeply passionate, intelligent and courageous man. From the Hardcover edition. Martin Luther changed Europe and, through Europe, the world. It was he who finally exposed the myth of a unified Latin Christendom, which was only held together by crusades, heresy hunts, Inquisition, and priestly magic. Though not the first radical thinker to challenge papal pretensions and the doctrines they were founded on, by his defiance Luther created the biggest cause célèbre of the age. But this renegade monk did not just split Europe into rival Protestant and Catholic camps. By urging Christians to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, he gave a religious boost to that emancipation of the individual we associate with the Renaissance. By putting men and women in charge of their own destinies he made a cultural impact which is incalculable. This first major biography in English for many years, by leading historian Derek Wilson, responds to recent Reformation scholarship to assess Luther's impact on his own and later ages. A warts-and-all study, it gives a vivid picture of a complex and driven man - courageous, stubborn, rumbustious, vulgar, erudite, self-opinionated - but a man of tireless energy and, above all, total conviction. For his achievements we can admire him. In his failings we can identify with him. Luther remains perpetually fascinating. A revelatory biography of Martin Luther, this title shows how he was a man whose rationalist convictions changed not only the development of the church and Europe post-Reformation, but also exercised a profound influence on how the individual relates to society