‘We can all relate to his [Luther's] profound humanness as he desperately sought ultimate truths for his own wellbeing and then to make these available to his contemporaries for their consolation too, he was sure’ (p. x). In the hands of Susan Karant-Nunn, a fascinating Martin Luther emerges in his vulnerability and arrogance, in his fleshiness and soulfulness, with his gifts to provoke and inspire.
Karant-Nunn approaches Luther as a cultural historian, making it clear that she is not examining the development or articulation of Luther's theological thought. Rather, she seeks to consider the fullness of Luther's existence and personality as a sixteenth-century person, both conventional and radical in his context. Theological observations are unavoidable, though. The few occasions where theological arguments are made, theologically oriented readers may be left hungry for more nuanced discussion. But that said, the way in which Karant-Nunn lays out her evidence for her arguments succeeds in providing valuable kindle for those immersed in theological analysis of the reformer's works.
The chapters in the book – all independent treatments – analyse Luther from a relational point of view. The author's interest is in knowing Luther as a breathing and feeling person, as a man, husband, father, friend, lover and, finally, a person on his deathbed. The chapter titles are indicative: for example, chapters vii, ‘The tenderness of daughters, the waywardness of sons: Martin Luther as a father’, v, ‘Fleshly work: the sex act as Christian liberty’ and vi, ‘The masculinity of Martin Luther: theory, practicality, and humour’ discuss Luther as a man who discovered himself several times anew: in his male body with deep emotions and sexual needs; in his domestic parental experiences that grabbed his heart; and in his different relationships that made him experience himself as a human being with emotional and physical needs in a new light. This all both informed and tested his theological viewpoints.
Luther's dealing with the gender/sex question in his time and place (chs vi, vii), without being fully cognizant of the profoundness of the issue but with a hunch and more experience to draw from than the celibate male theologians, a married man as he became, is fascinating to think about. Getting a window into the heart of a man who loved his wife passionately and who was more tender towards his daughters, whom he did not expect to have the same level of education and liberties as his sons would have, is important when assessing Luther's writings on women and gender-related matters. In this area of Luther scholarship, more work can be done. Karant-Nunn models balanced deliberation, without too quickly judging Luther for his patriarchal views – much of which she counts in the category of tender joking, especially when Luther's comments on women are made in the presence of or about his wife Katharina.
Karant-Nunn does not hesitate to reject perceived ‘truths’ about Luther and offer a new reading, based Luther's own words, which she has perused diligently, and this free from denominational loyalties and Lutheran theologians’ tensions. She leads the reader to many details from Luther's life and the occasions for his texts. For example, chapter ix, on ‘Martin Luther's perfect death’, follows the last hours of Luther's passing and his body's journey to Wittenberg, focusing on the words and emotions expressed, noting individuals present and those not named – Luther's two sons.
The first chapter, ‘Luther's ego-documents: cultural history and the reconstruction of the historical self’, makes a significant argument: written in different genres, Luther's printed works can – and should – be studied as a forum of his (unique) self-expression. In her search for the authentic Luther with a notably ‘prominent ego’, Karant-Nunn dives into the reformer's letters and sermons as ‘a gigantic ego-document’. The Table Talks with the ‘spontaneous, center-stage, but unrehearsed Luther’ she considers ‘a godsend’ (p. 18) – for the seasoned and linguistically apt scholar.
Theologically speaking, two of the most fascinating chapters target ‘Martin Luther's heart’ (ch. viii) and concept of conscience (ch. ii). In the latter, ‘Luther's conscience: a template for the modern West’, Karant-Nunn concludes that
Conscience was a key concept in the Reformation [and Luther]. Its redefinition marked a watershed between Catholic expectation of works righteousness and Protestant reliance upon the Atonement. For Martin Luther conscience was the place where faith, God's grace, and Scripture came together. Conscience, he thought, was uniform in in all true Christians (p. 42).
With insights into Luther's place in the study of religion, and of conscience and religious emotion, the chapters provide important building blocks for theological analysis.
Historically speaking, chapter iii, on ‘Luther's friendship with Frederick the Wise’ offers clarifying perspectives – with textual evidence – to assess the level and places of Luther's disobedience that led him on the path of a reformer. Correcting past assumptions on the nature of the relationship, the author speculates on the power play and mutual respect between the two individuals whose ‘getting along’ was vital for the longevity of Luther's movement. Within this relationship, Luther rebels against his closest authority, and negotiates the parameters of his liberties, and power, as a reformer in the Saxon lands.
Chapter iv, ‘Luther's relational God: finding a loving heavenly father’ gets to the core of Luther's spiritual theology. The bottom line is that ‘Luther could not have achieved the spiritual peace that he ultimately did without envisioning God as a feeling heavenly Father who cared deeply about the wellbeing of each of his earthly children’ (p. 68). This is the God whom Luther got to know personally and as merciful. Karant-Nunn writes that ‘I am arguing here that Luther did not merely adopt the vocabulary of feeling in order to relate a distant deity…. Rather, he himself demanded that God care for him’ (p. 69). In this, Luther ‘started with a text. He did not invent the conversations between the Deity and His [sic] human creatures’ (p. 70).
The final chapter (x), ‘The imprint of personality upon the Reformation’, allows Karant-Nunn to offer her provocative conclusion about Luther's legacy with the Reformations: ‘up to early 1546, when Martin Luther died, the Reformation that he presided over in the Ernestine Saxony and Thuringia bore in substantial ways the imprint of his personality – not as much his intellect as his personality’ (p. 205). Karant-Nunn points to Luther's ‘endearing’ personality trait of chronically needing ‘reassurance of God's love and forgiveness’ as an explanation for the ‘emotional tone of Luther's corpus and ministry’ as ‘one of consolation’ (p. 209). The arguments merit theological follow-up, for example on Luther's experience of grace and forgiveness and the impact of his doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone and grace alone’ in the lives of those to whom he ministered.
Susan Karant-Nunn's exploration of Luther's ‘ego-documents’ brings the reader close to the fascinating, complex man Luther who evades one-dimensional interpretations. From his own words ‘We see his hybridity. In every setting, he offers a unique combination of cultural product and inherent personality; of nurture and nature’ (p. 6).
The chapters can serve well as enhancements in teaching, in upper level and doctoral classes. For peers in Luther research, this book is a thought-provoking conversation partner that inspires new research trajectories.
