HERE I STAND (1940) / Roland H. Banton

Here I Stand (1940) / Roland H. Banton

My dad was a Lutheran pastor. He passed away last year on Valentine's Day. For as long as I can remember, he had this book face out at the end of his bookshelf. While I knew a little about Luther's life, I didn't know a lot. This is a book that I always meant to read, but never had.

To my knowledge, this is a classic biography of him and was studied and enjoyed by a lot of the clergy in the LCMS. The style of its scholarship feels somewhat dated, but I was surprised by how well the content seemed to still stand up today, in my opinion.

It covers his life from his conversion experience, through his monastic vocation, his break from Rome, through to the end of life. What is striking about Luther is how much of a paradox he was. He was enlightened, but also very medieval in his thinking in many ways. He could be very intemperate in his rhetoric, but also moderating and rather conciliatory to his opposition at times. He was absolute in his own faith and confession, but could be yielding to other faith beliefs as long as they didn't threaten his Christian polity. He very much respected the civil authority of the state, up until it started to threaten freedom of conscience and belief.

By the end of it, I feel I understood Luther much better and how he left his imprint on the Lutheran tradition. For instance, it explained to me why there is no theological justification in Lutheranism (as I'd been told) for conscientious objection to war in Lutheranism. I'd also like to make a shout-out to the many facsimile woodcut illustrations found throughout. They helped to visually and aptly ground the historical context of late Medieval / early Renaissance cultural life in Germany at the time.

Rating: 💥💥 💥 💥 I like it!