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Luther, vol. 5 of 6
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In: Biographies·History - Religious
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #49171.
About this book
Hartmann Grisar’s fifth volume in his six‑part “Life of Luther” is a scholarly biography that concentrates on the ethical, social and personal dimensions of the Reformer rather than on doctrinal exposition. The work opens with a series of contemporary reviews praising its impartiality and meticulous research, then launches into a detailed contents list that maps out chapters on topics such as the “Ethical Results of the New Teaching,” Luther’s “Conscience and Personality,” and his later struggles with depression, demonic anxieties, and the Council of Trent. The opening passage sets the tone by emphasizing Luther’s paradoxical character and Grisar’s intent to probe the mind and motives behind his actions, promising a minute analysis of both his writings and his lived experience.
The prose is dense, academic, and reflective of late‑19th‑century German scholarship translated into English. Grisar’s voice is methodical, citing primary sources and engaging with theological and psychological debates of his time. Readers who relish rigorous historical study, theological inquiry, or the psychological portrait of a pivotal figure will find this volume rewarding, while those seeking a narrative novel or a simple overview of Luther’s doctrines may prefer a more accessible treatment.
Who appears in Luther, vol. 5 of 6
- LutherMiddle-aged German man, brown beard, stern eyes, black hair, wearing black monk's habit with white collar, 1520s portrait
The opening · free to read
“Its interest increases. As we see the great Reformer in the thick of his work, and the heyday of his life, the absorbing attraction of his personality takes hold of us more and more strongly. His stupendous force, his amazing vitality, his superhuman interest in life, impress themselves upon us with redoubled effect. We find him the most multiform, the most paradoxical of men.... The present volume, which is admirably translated, deals rather with the moral, social, and personal side of Luther’s career than with his theology.”—_The Athenæum_ (Vol. III).
“Father Grisar has gained a high reputation in this country through the translation of his monumental work on the History of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, and this first instalment of his ‘Life of Luther’ bears fresh witness to his unwearied industry, wide learning, and scrupulous anxiety to be impartial in his judgments as well as absolutely accurate in matters of fact.”—_Glasgow Herald._
“This ‘Life of Luther’ is bound to become standard ... a model of every literary, critical, and scholarly virtue.”—_The Month._
“Like its two predecessors, Volume III excels in the minute analysis not merely of Luther’s actions, but also of his writings; indeed, this feature is the outstanding merit of the author’s patient labours.”—_The Irish Times._
“This third volume of Father Grisar’s monumental ‘Life’ is full of interest for the theologian. And not less for the psychologist; for here more than ever the author allows himself to probe into the mind and motives and understanding of Luther, so as to get at the significance of his development.”—_The Tablet_ (Vol. III).
“Historical research owes a debt of gratitude to Father Grisar for the calm unbiased manner in which he marshals the facts and opinions on Luther which his deep erudition has gathered.”—_The Tablet_ (Vol. IV).
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