Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval

The calibre of this generously but discreetly illustrated study of Luther by a famous and influential historian of sixteenth-century Europe is very high. Better known as a ‘structuralist’ and as one of the inventors of the religio-political ‘confessionalization’ paradigm, Heinz Schilling admits here that employing biographical and theological genres are late developments for him. Although he might be vaguely characterized as ‘culturally Protestant,’ Schilling subscribes publicly to no religious persuasion and thus implicitly claims to be disinterested in dealing with the Luther-phenomenon. Targetting what he believes are open-minded modern people, his approach is paradoxical in tone. Hence, it both evaluates Luther’s albeit disputed impact on the modern age and affirms that outside the devotional, or transcendental spiritual, sphere, Luther is ‘different, not one of us... he is foreign to our age... a witness to a lost world.’ (3). His regular tête-à-têtes and stormy disputes with God and the Devil as well as his inherited medieval prejudices testify to the latter. But I am sure that considering this book’s sub-title: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval, Schilling would concur that irrespective of the Reformer’s sometimes shabby medieval baggage and socio-politically conservative instincts, much of the genius of Luther was also foreign to his own age and subversive of it. This important study first appeared in German in 2012, with revised editions later, that of 2013 being normative. Happily, its wider reception in the English-speaking world will be hastened by an overall convincingly idiomatic translation by Dr Rona Johnston of Yale – a monumental achievement. Anyone who has ever ventured into the field of translation can only corroborate that. This book adds to other recent and readable anniversary Luther-studies written in, or translated into, English by Scott Hendrix, Lyndal Roper, Richard Rex, Herman Selderhuis, Volker Leppin and Thomas Kaufmann, among others. Schilling, however, urges legitimately that it is high time to liberate Luther from the ‘cult of remembrance.’ While the Wittenberg professor did not publicly disseminate his fundamentally groundbreaking religious and theological ideas until 1520, his half-rebellious Ninety-five Theses in 1517 helped generate two conventional axioms in historiography and popular perception. First: the Reformation began in 1517. Second: the symbiosis between ‘1517’ and ‘Luther’ is secure by both belt and braces. Consequently, while there have always been high-profile, centenaries of Luther’s birth (1483) and death (1546), the 1517 anniversaries usually take shape as another Luther memorial, rather than remembering the Reformation in general and as something more than a German event. This is understandable if not justifiable, and certainly 2017 was no exception. In literature, the various media and commemoration events, Luther’s fame and celebrity status re-asserted itself in and around that year. In London, at the annual popular classical music fest (the ‘Proms’), a day was devoted in 2017 to musically honouring the 500th anniversary of the ‘Reformation’ and Luther’s ‘seismic’ text on indulgences in 1517. Arguably, 1520 was much more significant. Most Luther biographies dwell on Luther the religious revolutionary who took European Christianity by storm, resulting in what still is a divided Church. This was not Luther’s objective; rather, it was an unintended consequence. As Schilling points out, Luther was not just a