Good Biographies and Writings about Martin Luther?

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joshrp

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Hi,

I am looking for good solid biographies of Martin Luther, that talk about his life as well as his theological ideas. I am trying to understand this man as much as I can. I have read some of his original writings, although I can’t say I particularly liked them. But I would like to pray for him, and hope that whatever errors he may have promulgated be remedied, and if he will have entered Heaven, ask for his prayers in converting the world to the one true faith in Jesus Christ and His Church. But I would really like to understand him better and would be very appreciative of any comprehensive or authoritative and truthful writings about or by him. I am in my university library right now, and I am going to look and see what they have right now.

God bless all friends of God, whatever beliefs about Him you proclaim.
Joshua
 
Luther and His Times is a good book, as far as his writings, Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms, Luther’s Works( 55+ volume set ), and his various Commentaries.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Both books are available in my university library, which I am in right now. I just finished reading Karl Adam’s “The Roots of the Reformation” which is a small quick read (95 pages, finished it in less than 3 hours). If you or any other Lutheran’s have read, or would want to read this book, and tell me what you think of it, I would be interested to know your responses.

I will go now to the shelf to check out those books you both recommended.

When I have more questions I will come back here.
 
joshr,

If you go to the site beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/ you can find a huge amount of resources regarding Martin Luther. I use this site often. The owner of the website works very hard to be balanced in his comments. I also enjoyed the book Luther, Letters of Spiritual Counsel. It is loaded with the actual teaching from Luther and much of Luther’s personal correspondence that show how his his beliefs changed over time.

God Bless ❤️
 
You might try “The Facts about Luther.” It’s put out by Tan publishers.
 
Probably the best place to start is Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand. I much prefer Oberman’s take on Luther, but Oberman’s book assumes that you already know the basics about him.

Bainton is best for an intro; Oberman for the most insightful interpretation of what Luther thought he was about; and Martin Brecht’s 3-volume biography for the details. (Brecht is thoroughly biased in a Lutheran direction, and I don’t find his interpretations very helpful, but he has a mammoth knowledge of the evidence and is very good for getting the facts.)

Edwin
 
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