Martin Luther, hiding from arrest after being declared an outlaw by Emperor Charles V, disguised himself as an aristocrat, Junker Joerg. This portrait, by Lucas Cranach, serves as the cover art for Oberman’s biography of the reformer.
Luther: Man Between God and the Devil is a complex book about a complex man and the intricacies of the time during which he lived. Though filled with detail about Luther’s life and his struggle against the Roman Catholic Church, Oberman’s thesis is as simple as his subtitle. Where else does man exist but between God and the devil? Man, who is capable of terrible atrocities, but also of the most selfless and good acts? Man, who has the freedom of choosing between sin and salvation? In his time, there were some who viewed Luther as a heretic, as a devil, but there were also those who saw him as a saint, a savior of the German people and of Christians worldwide. Even today, among many Protestant churchmen, he is lauded as the founder of modern Christianity. In truth, Luther was between these two things. His criticism of the Church was perhaps entirely necessary, but often riddled with rudeness quite unbecoming for a monk, and perhaps not intended to have the effect that it did. He was a man constantly tormented by his own sin, and convinced that his struggle against the corruption of the Church was a struggle against the devil himself: a person who was as real to him as Christ. In Luther’s mind, a mind influenced heavily by Medieval theology, he saw himself standing precisely in this position between God and the devil, between salvation and sin, between life and death, between his German brethren and the Church in Rome. He was pulled from both sides, he was loved and hated, and he sparked a revolution in religious thought which echoes loudly to this day.
The theology to which Luther adhered was that which had occupied the minds of Christians throughout the Middle Ages. God was very real, as was the devil. For Luther, however, the reality of the latter figure was emphasized. This emphasis began during his time as a monk, when he pushed his physical limits in showing penance for sins, and spent hours upon hours in confession. He was an incredibly self-conscious person, who felt consistently harried by the devil and unforgiven by God. He was terrified of eternal damnation, which seemed inevitable, as none of the penance or rituals in which he took part alleviated his guilt. It was this terror which drove his study of the Bible, and eventually led to the idea of salvation through faith. After a particularly unfulfilling visit to Rome, Luther became convinced that both the leadership and the teachings of the Church had been corrupted by the devil, and that Christendom itself was under spiritual attack by the forces of darkness. As a monk, Luther learned that Godliness came from the denial of earthly pleasures, and seeing the pope and clergy indulging in a lavish lifestyle brought him to the conclusion that they were indeed totally impious and under demonic influence, and that the end was nigh. Luther’s fight against the Church began as a reaction to this unrighteous behavior and the unsound teachings which it produced.
Coupled with his stand against corrupt theology and clergy, Luther stood against the Catholic Church as a non-German institution. By Luther’s time, many Germans were growing dissatisfied with the vacuum which the Church in Rome had become, sucking up money to fund its own artistic and architectural endeavors. The popes lived lavishly, and none of the offerings sent off to Rome came back to benefit Germany in any way. Some of the German nobility sought ways to detach themselves from the Church and its influence, and Luther’s movement was an ideal way for them to advance their agenda. Political and theological ideas became tied together, and Luther went as far as to issue a manifesto to the German nobility, explaining the importance of standing up against Rome. His manifesto described the financial and governmental stranglehold of Rome on the Empire, as well as the influence of the devil on the Church’s affairs. Luther refers to the pope as the Antichrist, and mentions how so many great German emperors in history were trampled by papal influence. This anti-Roman rhetoric turned Luther into a central figure in the German nationalistic movement, and the Reformation may not have had such an outstanding effect on history if Luther had been of a different nationality.
The character of Luther was also critical to the success of the Reformation, even if he did not intend to be a reformer. As a man, situated between God and the devil, he was in no way perfect. He was highly critical of himself, suffered bouts of depression, and was often extremely ill. It was his self-condemning nature that drove him to seek out an alternative to the Catholic sacraments and rituals, which did not satisfy his need to feel forgiven. The discovery of salvation through faith led to the discovery of the falsehood of many Church teachings and practices, and these were simply unacceptable to Luther. He could not tolerate these things in any way, and his harsh words reflected total disillusionment with the Church for upholding them. If he had not been so passionate in his position, it is likely that Luther may have given up or softened his rhetoric when the pope threatened excommunication, or when he was made an outlaw by Emperor Charles, but these things only strengthened his resolve. The same firmness of resolve which once drove him to nearly kill himself in penance kept his faith strong through the trials and tribulations which encompassed him, and the stinging nature of his words drew many dissatisfied people to his side.
Oberman’s work addresses a number of historiographical perspectives on Luther. In his description of Luther’s theology, his intense belief that the devil was influencing the Church, Oberman points out that Luther was not the modern thinker that many people have believed him to be. He was very much stuck in Medieval times. Instead of looking at the Church’s practices as simply irrational, he truly believed that they were signs of the end of the world. Luther never intended to become the central figure in the reformation of the Church. He believed it to be corrupt beyond repair–at least, too corrupt to repair before the impending apocalypse–which caused more moderate reformers to shy away from him. Because of these things, the view of Luther as a very rational, forward-thinking man is inadequate. Similarly, describing Luther as a German nationalist is proven to be not entirely accurate. Though he harnessed the nationalistic mindset of Germans around him, and he indeed viewed himself a German rather than a European, he was far more concerned with theology than with politics. His anti-Semitism, also, has been misconstrued in light of the Holocaust. Luther’s heavy criticism of the Jews was purely on a religious rather than racial basis. These two things, his focus on Germany and his harsh words about the Jewish people, have led to many people painting him as a precursor to the Nazis. However, this view totally overlooks his apocalpytic mindset, and the fact that he was motivated not by the idea of ethnic cleansing, but by the spiritual cleansing of false beliefs and practices. Luther did not expect to create a strong, independent Germany, or a new, totally reformed church. He was convinced that the end of the world was near, and that he had been called upon by God to fight the dark forces encompassing the world.
The approach taken in this book is quite atypical for a biography, but nonetheless effective in serving Oberman’s purpose. Rather than forming a chronological narrative of Luther’s life, which has been done many times before, Oberman focuses on the major points of his thesis, and organizes the book accordingly by subject instead of time. Oberman seeks to dispel many common views of the character of Luther and his impact on the Reformation, and a typical chronological biography perhaps would not fulfill this goal so well. The book poses thoughts contrary to preceding analyses by other historians and authors, and Oberman points out that these other perspectives are not entirely wrong, but not entirely adequate either. In taking a much more objective approach to his subject, Oberman focuses in on the primary sources available, more so than on secondary and tertiary sources. It is these primary sources which provide a more accurate depiction of Luther as a person, opposed to later sources which overlook certain details of his life in order to fit him into the mold of a reformer, or a nationalist, or any number of other things.
Luther: Man Between God and the Devil is not an easy book to read. It is heavy with facts, refers to a multitude of sources, and is organized in a way unlike what most would expect from a biography. It is not necessarily a hard read, but an intensive one. It is thought-provoking, and the thoughts it provokes are not easy to process quickly. The incredibly thorough analysis of Luther is kept interesting by the way Oberman jumps from one instance to another, relating different parts of Luther’s life and works to each other by their subject rather than their chronology. This leads to many surprises in the text, and perhaps the most prominent of these is the description of Luther’s death at the very beginning. Starting with the end of the story leaves the reader to ponder how things culminated in this conclusion, and the reader is inspired to accustom himself with the style of organization in order to grasp the author’s main ideas. Overall, Oberman’s work is impressively thorough, and the skill with which he handles such complex subject matter is extremely apparent. This book may perhaps not be appropriate for the moderate history enthusiast, but for anyone deeply invested in the study of Western history, or the history of Christianity, it is a critical source for understanding one of Europe’s most influential–and indeed controversial–historical figures: a man who took up a position between salvation and sin, between life and death, between God and the devil himself.
Written September 15, 2016. Published October 11, 2015.
J.D. Smirl 