book on Luther for Evangelical Protestant?

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I, a Catholic, have gotten into an e-mail conversation about differing beliefs after being approached by an Evangelical Protestant friend. Although we are mainly talking about “sola fide” and “sola Scriptura”, she has questioned my perceptions of the Protestant Reformation (or Revolt, as the case may be). She has done quite a bit of research on her own, and she recently ran across the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for Martin Luther. She says she is sure the information in it cannot be true. I haven’t yet questioned her on her specific objections, but she distrusts the source because it is Catholic. What book or books about Luther would you recommend to someone like her?
 
I don’t know of a particular book – but there is a taped audio series by Ken Hensley (a former Protestant minister turned Catholic apologist) called Luther: The Rest of the Story. I simply cannot recommend these tapes enough! They are excellent. I think your friend will truely, truely appreciate them.

Even if you don’t want to give them to your friend - you can listen to them yourself and have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips next time you talk about Luther. 👍

Luther: The Rest of the Story
 
Off-hand I don’t know of a biography of Luther.

On Lutheran-ism-, Gene Edward Veith’s The First Evangelicals is excellent.
 
I would be interested in an independent source. Reading the book “Triumph” and it makes him seem like a neurotic (and worse), if the quotes are true.
 
I just finished “THE ROOTS OF THE REFORMATION” by Karl Adam. It is a really good book. Does a good job of explaining why Luther broke away, said what he did and did not believe and gave some justification of what he was precisely rebelling/protesting against. I highly recommend it! The book concludes that Luther would have been fine with the Church after…hmmm…I think the first Vatican council…someone could/should correct me on that if I’m wrong (wrong about what the book says, not their understanding of Luther 🙂 …

John
 
Well, you would want to point her to an honest, unbiased bio of Luther. *Luther: Man Between God and the Devil * by Heiko Obermann would be an excellent choice. I truly doubt if she would accept anything written by a Catholics such as Grisar, O’hare, etc.

Peace,
CM
 
According to Amazon, the proper title is The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals, and the ISBN is 0570053218.
(And I plan on looking it up, as my fiance is MO Synod Lutheran and keeps hitting me with “so what’s the difference?”)

ChibiBarako
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Puzzled:
Off-hand I don’t know of a biography of Luther.

On Lutheran-ism-, Gene Edward Veith’s The First Evangelicals is excellent.
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Unfortunately, Amazon shows that as out of print … well, maybe I can track it through the library system …

ChibiBarako
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Churchmouse:
Well, you would want to point her to an honest, unbiased bio of Luther. *Luther: Man Between God and the Devil *by Heiko Obermann would be an excellent choice. I truly doubt if she would accept anything written by a Catholics such as Grisar, O’hare, etc.

Peace,
CM
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ChibiBarako:
Unfortunately, Amazon shows that as out of print … well, maybe I can track it through the library system …

ChibiBarako
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I went through the Borders website which is hooked up with Amazon and found it. As of this writing there is 1 left with more on the way. There are also 16 new and used starting from $6.50 (you can’t beat that price 😉 ). Here’s the link: Luther

Peace,
CM
 
“What’s the difference [between Lutherans and Catholics]?”

Read There We Stood, Here We Stand, 11 Lutherans Rediscover their Catholic Roots by Timothy Drake (a journalist and convert to Catholicism). Most of these eleven stories are by former members of the Lutheran clergy.

You can get the book new from 1st Books Library (name changed to Authorhouse) for only $10. (It’s a lot more than that at Amazon and other booksellers.)

Call toll free at 888.519.5121
 
The chief difference between LCMS (or “Old Lutheran”) and RC is authority, is Scripture higher than the traditions of men, or do the traditions of men filter and interpret the Word of God for you.

Pretty much everything else flows from that, three sacraments instead of 7, married priests (as the Orthodox still do, and Catholics did for the first millenium) Parsing salvation into its components of justification, sanctification and glorification, still using traditional liturgical worship, no icons or statues, no perpetual adoration in spite of also holding to Real Presence, no view of celebacy as higher than marriage, potlucks, people living in on-going mortal sin not still considered Lutherans, the apocrypha are considered worthy, but not inerrant, and a number of other matters on that level. Many LCMS congregations are more Catholic than most AmChurch parishes.
 
Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand is an excellent biography.

The ELCA congregation which I joined is far more “catholic” in liturgical practice than my old Catholic parish. Liturgy is one part of a bigger picture, mind you.

Peace,
John
 
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b32865:
She has done quite a bit of research on her own, and she recently ran across the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for Martin Luther. She says she is sure the information in it cannot be true.
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you have a very smart friend! The information and approach is more outdated than anything else. I have covered the entry on Luther from the Catholic Encyclopedia here:

ntrmin.org/The%20Roman%20Catholic%20Understanding%20of%20Martin%20Luther%201.htm

Just click on the link that says, “Catholic Encyclopedia”

If your friend has any questions about the Luther entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia, she can e-mail me:

Tertiumquid@msn.com

James Swan
 
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Churchmouse:
Well, you would want to point her to an honest, unbiased bio of Luther. *Luther: Man Between God and the Devil * by Heiko Obermann would be an excellent choice. I truly doubt if she would accept anything written by a Catholics such as Grisar, O’hare, etc.
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Hi Churchmouse,

I would add that Catholics should not accept anything by Grisar or O’Hare. There work has been proved to be inferior by later Catholic scholarship. There has been a virtual wealth of much better Catholic scholarship on Luther:

ntrmin.org/Catholic%20Understanding%20of%20Luther%202.htm

Also, I agree, Obermann’s work is excellent.

BTW, there probably is no such thing as an “unbiased work”

Regards,
James Swan
 
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