Martin Luther’s reforms put an end to the uniqueness of the medieval Catholic Church in Europe.

This is a popular biography that has been popular in Europe and the United States. Since its release in 1978, it has been very popular among readers everywhere, with more than a million copies in print. In addition to the readability of the text, the main reason for its popularity is that Martin Luther is a great prophetic religious figure in modern world history, and especially in the eyes of Christians, he is a modern apostle of the revival of the gospel faith and the rebuilding of the Christian church.

The author of this book, Roland Bainton (1894~1984), was a professor of church history at Yale University in the United States during his lifetime, and is an authoritative scholar in the study of the history of proselytizing. Most of the contents of this book are the essence of the author’s travels and lectures, and are the result of many years of research and study. With his superb literary attainments, Loren interpreted the life of Martin Luther, telling the causes and consequences of his conversion, the breakthrough of faith, the struggle for growth, and the joys, anger, sorrows, and pleasures of his life. The author’s rich feelings and keen thinking overflow between the lines, methodically bringing a distinctive historical character to life in front of the reader’s eyes.

Martin Luther is one of the most talked about and least understood historical figures of the church in modern times. His own writings are numerous, and the later generations are loaded with evidence and commentary, so that even the scholars and experts are rarely able to take a close look at the whole picture, and the ordinary people are even more dazzled and have no way to start. This book provides a simple and comprehensive introduction that can serve as a first lesson in the study of Martin Luther and the history of proselytizing.

For Luther, the only way for man to communicate with God was through the Word of God-the Bible. But the Bible and God speak only to those who have faith, and that faith is a gift from God, not a human achievement. Luther believed that there is only one God, a loving, just, and righteous God. He is beyond all human reason and is mysterious and incredible. Luther said: If man could understand Him, He would not be God.

Luther was not a perfect man. Biographer Roland Bainton says that by the time of his death in 1546, Luther was already a “grumpy, irritable, indulgent, and sometimes a little coarse old man.” This medieval monk from a small town in eastern Germany ended up symbolizing the entire Christian Church. So what does he symbolize today?

First, he symbolizes the importance of proselytizing to the Christian movement. Proselytizing is not something that happened centuries ago and was accomplished in one fell swoop so that we can rest on our laurels. Secondly, the church should be totally dependent on the Word of God, and Luther said, “The whole life and essence of the church is the Word of God.” That Word is Christ Jesus. Without the fullness and richness of God’s Word, the church is nothing more than a meeting house, a museum, or a concert hall. Third, a saint is a sinner saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The Church is holy because Christ, the Head of the Church, is holy. Though holy, the members of this body are still sinners, in constant need of forgiveness and receiving new strength. Therefore Luther wanted the church to be an inclusive church. Where the sick could be healed, the poor fed, the broken-hearted comforted, the lacking in knowledge taught, and sinners saved.

Fortunately, the personal shortcomings of this aging rebel did not have any impact on his noble accomplishments. He ultimately transformed not only Christianity, but all of Western civilization, even though all of this work was not done by him alone. Luther’s greatest contribution to history was not in politics, but in religion. He was like a starting point, a dawn! From him the foundations of the Christian faith began to return to the Scriptures and not to the councils of the church. He addressed the four basic questions, “How is a man saved”, “What is the authority of religion”, “What is the church”, “What is the true meaning of the Christian life? “These four fundamental questions have been given inspiring new answers. And these far-reaching answers were all found by him in the Bible. His bravery, therefore, played a very important role in the development of Protestantism in later times as well as in the correct interpretation and adherence to biblical principles. To this day, any classic description of Protestantism must be an echo of these core truths.