Tag: Martin Luther

Reformation Week: Book Recommendation – Life of Luther by Barnas Sears

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

As part of Reformation week, I wanted to highlight a new book published by Attic Books and New Leaf Publishing Group. It is a handsomely packaged reprinting of a classic biography of Martin Luther entitled Life of Luther. The American Sunday School Union published the book in 1850 under the full title: The Life of Luther; with Special Reference to its Earlier Periods and the Opening Scenes of the Reformation.

The trailer below introduces the book, and it looks like it will make a great read. It was written with young people in view and has pictures and focuses more on the history and life of Luther than all the theological controversies of his later years. It certainly will have a positive perspective on his life, but was made from the author’s thorough research using the correspondence and letters of Luther himself to tell his story in his own words.

The book has 496 small-sized pages in a convenient 5 x 8 inch size with a nice hardcover. It’s an attractive book and would make a great read in conjunction with Reformation Day remembrances.

You can pick up a copy through Amazon.com or direct from New Leaf Publishing.

Reformation Week Book Giveaway & More

~ Bob Hayton ~ 7 Comments

This is the week before we celebrate Reformation Day. 493 years ago, on the night before All Saints’ Day, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Church door. Everyone entering the church for the next day’s festivities, would be sure to see his theses, and the door often served as a community bulletin board. Today, we look back to that event, on October 31, 1517 as perhaps the single event most responsible for the start of the Protestant Reformation.

In honor of Reformation Day, I plan on posting several related posts. On the Wednesday after Reformation Day, I’ll be giving away a copy of A Reformation Reader by Denis Janz (Fortress Press). Between now and then, I’ll have a series of posts highlighting selections from the Reformer’s works, and possibly a few Reformation-themed book reviews interspersed in there.

A Reformation Reader gives you multiple excerpts from Reformation era documents, and some historical analysis. It sheds light on the era of the Reformation and while one may not always agree with the author’s conclusions, the selections make for excellent reading. This copy is furnished courtesy of the kind folks at Augsburg Fortress Press. Feel free to read my review of the book, too.

To enter the contest, fill out the form below. If you subscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you get additional chances to win. You can subscribe or follow me now, in time to get the additional entry, too. UPDATE: You can post an update to your blog, Twitter or Facebook page publicizing this giveaway for an additional entry, too.

I’ll be updating the tally on which Reformer is the most popular too, in the comments below. Early on it’s John Calvin in the lead ahead of Luther and Huss.

 

This contest is now closed. The winner was announced in this post.

 

Quotes to Note 9: Luther on Sanctification

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Today I have a simple quote for you. This comes from Joel Beeke’s Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. This single quote is worth meditating on today. May God bless us in our walk with Christ.

Martin Luther states, “We in Christ equals justification; Christ in us equals sanctification”. (Beeke, Living for God’s Glory, 202)

Contemplating the Cross: True Contemplation of the Cross

~ Bob Hayton

For the next few days, I’ll be posting excerpts from Nancy Guthrie’s Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter (Crossway). Join me as I aim to contemplate the cross this passion week.

Today’s meditation is by Martin Luther, from chapter 1 “True Contemplation of the Cross” (pg. 11-14 of Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, edited by Nancy Guthrie).

The true contemplation is that in which the heart is crushed and the conscience smitten. You must be overwhelmed by the frightful wrath of God who so hated sin that he spared not his only begotten Son. What can the sinner expect if the beloved Son was so afflicted?…

Take this to heart and doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ. Your sins certainly did, and when you see the nails driven through his hands, be sure that you are pounding, and when the thorns pierce his brow, know that they are your evil thoughts. Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve one hundred thousand.

The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble. Pray to God that he may soften your heart and make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instills it….

…Herein we come to know both God and ourselves. His beauty is his own, and through it we learn to know him. His uncomeliness and passion are ours, and in them we know ourselves, for what he suffered in the flesh, we must inwardly suffer in the spirit. He has in truth borne our stripes. Here, then, in an unspeakably clear mirror you see yourself. You must know that through your sins you are as uncomely and mangled as you see him here.

May Christ’s sacrifice on account of our sin, chill us to the dreadfulness of sin. And then warm our hearts to the glory that Christ would suffer in our place.

Reformation Day Reading

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

Happy Reformation Day!

This is the 491st anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Church. Because of the printing press, this step by Luther was soon the spark that kindled the Reformation fires across much of Europe. And as Dan Phillips points out, if we enjoy the privilege of freely worshipping in a non-Catholic, Christian church of almost any Protestant denomination (or even no denomination), we have Martin Luther to thank. We don’t need to idolize Luther, however. Instead we can be thankful for God’s mercy in providing us with the Reformation and the blessings we still enjoy because of it.

Here is some reading for you this Reformation Day.