Roland Bainton's Luther | Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

In Depth Study | Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther | Roland H. Bainton

books:


	• Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther Roland H. Bainton Plume, 1995 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 44 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Standard English-Language Biography for Non-Scholarly Use

This is the standard English-language biography of Martin Luther, dating from 1950 but still being reprinted by various publishers. Written by the late Prof. Bainton of Yale, it is aimed at the more sophisticated general reader rather than the scholar. The bibliography in the Abingdon Press edition has not been updated since 1978 and is heavily weighted toward German-language books and articles. There are lengthy, translated quotations (set in very small type in the paperback edition), but they are not sourced. There are probably a dozen theological terms that may require a present-day lay reader to resort to a theological dictionary.

A unique strength of this book is the wide assortment of a hundred woodcuts from the Reformation period, but they are quite small and difficult to decipher in the paperback edition. It also ties in the economics and politics of the period to the Reformation.

The book's longevity may be attributed to its particular suitability for the lay reader, in that it is readable and largely self-contained.

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Roland Bainton's Luther

"Here I Stand" is both the keystone of Roland Bainton's series of Reformation studies, including
his life of Sebastian Casellio, "The Travail of Religius Liberty" on Ochino, and the more condensed "Reformation of the Sixteenth Century"; it was in the years of my visits to Germany, the "1950's and 60's", regarded there as the best Luther biobgraphy ever written. All Bainton's books were enlivened by numerous rreproductions of contemporary woodcuts, few of them published anywhere else, and more accessible than even the usually shown, vividly first-hand Cranach portraits, but this biography includes the cream of the crop, whose originals were often set up on the bookshelves of his Yale Divinity School office.
Hugh Barbour, Earlham College & School of Religion emeritus

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In Depth Study

I am preparing for a trip to Germany where I will visit many of the sites central to Luther's life and work. This book is an in-depth study of Luther's beliefs- not an easy read but a very good source of information.

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excellent

I used this book as one of my references when I taught a Lutheran Sunday School class of high school aged students. It examines the humanity of this very important historical figure and adds a great deal of perspective to a complex time. It's a enjoyable and very readable book and is in my personal library.

Here I Stand

This book was a great research source and a pretty easy read. I recommend this to anyone starting to study Martin Luther or the Reformation.

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Available for the first time in trade paperback, this authoritative biography of the great religious leader was hailed by Time magazine as "the most readable Luther biography in English." This edition showcases the intricate woodcuts and engravings that enhance the text and give the flavor of the era in which Martin Luther lived. More than 100 woodcuts and engravings.