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CHHI 525
A Paper
Submitted to Dr. Tim McAlhaney
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Course
History of Christianity II
CHHI 525
By
Jeremy Butler
06 December 2009
Jeremy Butler #22416702
CHHI 525
Roland Bainton’s “Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther” is considered by many
a classic work on the famous reformer. His in depth study and research on Luther, the
surrounding events and situations are of great quality and insight. Bainton is well
qualified to write on the subject having taught Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity
School for forty-two years. For the most part Bainton seems to paint a solid and accurate
picture of the man who turned the church upside down but does leave me with a point or
two of contention. He seems to have missed the mark as to Luther’s main driving force
Luther and moves mostly chronologically through his life. Following this section He
moves into Luther’s days as a monk and focuses on how dedicated he was in this.
Moving forward Bainton covers Luther’s inner struggles of faith and how he developed
his theology which would lead to his eventual problems with the Roman church. The
book continues on focusing heavily on his conflict with the papacy, certain individuals
and the church in general. The final section of the book centers on Luther’s contributions
following his conflicts with the Catholic Church. These chapters discus his work on
translating the Bible to German, other writings including hymns as well as his
Bainton doesn’t limit himself to only things Luther in his biography. This is both
an incredible strength and a glaring weakness of the work. The strength is easily
includes a great overview of some of the other great individuals in church history such as
Erasmus and movements such as the Anabaptist and Hussites. The weakness in this is
Jeremy Butler #22416702
CHHI 525
also easily seen. The trouble with this is that the book becomes less a biography of the
man, Martin Luther, and more a history of the Reformation. This doesn’t take away from
the complexity and quality of the work but it may be slightly mislabeled solely as a
biography.
The major focus of the body seems to be on the theology of Luther. Bainton goes
to great lengths to explain circumstances and understanding as to how Luther came to his
writings to limit his own bias and leave it to Luther to tell us about himself. The use of
the numerous sketches, illustrations and carvings coupled with descriptions and
explanations are also a nice feature that further explains the events and people of the
time. Overall this text provides a great resource for studying the Reformation and along
with the extensive bibliography provides a great starting point for deeper study.
My major criticism of the work stems from one phrase that I cannot help but
mention. Bainton asserts of Luther that “religion was for him the chief end of man, and
all else peripheral.” This statement seems a bit different from a more famous Lutheran
captive to the Word of God.” I may be splitting hairs but his focus wasn’t on religion but
on Word of God which filled his thoughts of God’s grace and faith. Luther focused
everything in his beliefs and actions on faith in Christ. The Gospel was his true chief
end, not religion, or works but the simple story of grace and the work of Christ on the
cross.
The theological focus of this work is to me its’ greatest strength, especially the
snapshot of the struggles not only of Luther but of Christ and gives a deeper
historical treatment of the Reformation which gives a great starting point for further study
on the period. The weaknesses are mostly that of a possible misrepresentation of the
book as a true biography when it is more an overall history of the period with a focus on
its main character. The other minor faults mostly deal with Bainton’s interjecting of his
own guesses or opinions into the understanding of Luther’s thinking. For the most part
the book seems to be a faithful volume on the matter and should be recommended for
anyone wanting to further study the Reformation and its greatest figure.
Jeremy Butler #22416702
CHHI 525
Bibliography
Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, New York: Mentor, 1950.