Martin Luther

Although he titled it Luther, W.H. Auden’s poem applies better to the systematizers of Lutheranism and those who preached the system. --Richard John Neuhaus, On Loving the Law of God, The Public Square column, First Things, February 2009


With conscience cocked to listen for the thunder
He saw the Devil busy in the wind,
Over the chiming steeples and then under
The doors of nuns and doctors who had sinned.

What apparatus could stave off disaster
Or cut the brambles of man's error down?
Flesh was a silent dog that bites its master,
World a still pond in which its children drown.

The fuse of Judgment spluttered in his head:
"Lord, smoke these honeyed insects from their hives;
All Works, Great Men, Societies, are bad;
The Just shall live by Faith..." he cried in dread.

And men and women of the world were glad
Who never trembled in their useful lives.
--W. H. Auden,, Luther, Anti-Climacus, April 14, 2009 4:16 PM


his frequent assertion that the Protestant Reformation was all about elevating the conscience of the individual is certainly wrong. For Luther, for instance, the error of the Anabaptists was a capital offense: Those seeking a second baptism were to be put to death by drowning. --Gary A. Anderson, A Level Praying Field, First Things, February 2009, review of Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought, by Joshua A. Berman


...Benedict XVI gave a general audience touching on Martin Luther’s doctrine of justification by grace through faith. Benedict is a close and appreciative student of Luther and has made inestimable contributions to healing the breach of the sixteenth century between Rome and the Reformation. Luther’s doctrine of justification is correct, if care is taken not to oppose faith to charity, the pope said. --Richard John Neuhaus, On Loving the Law of God, The Public Square column, First Things, February 2009


--Stephen Pastis, Pearls Before Swine, December 19, 2008


When it comes to gays, 'What would Luther do?' By Mary Zeiss Stange, USA Today, Posted at 12:16 AM/ET, July 9, 2007
(via Catholic and Enjoying It!)


Discovering Luther, review by George Sim Johnston of Martin Luther, by Martin Marty, Crisis, October 2004


Martin Marty's Martin Luther: A masterful life of the Reformer, review by Kenneth L. Woodward, Books & Culture, May/June 2004


The Catholic Luther, by Ted Dorman, First Things, December 1999


The Catholic Luther, by David S. Yeago, First Things, March 1996


Reversing the Charges, by Robert Benne, First Things, April 1995


Life of Luther (1881) by Julius Kostlin, Project Gutenberg


The Bull Exsurge Domine by [Pope] Leo X, with which he threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther, June 15, 1520
(via Anthony Sacramone at First Things)