Luther and His Spiritual Legacy (Theology and life series)

By Jared Wicks

Book Overview

""Luther can be a forceful teacher of lived religion. He can be a resource for the enrichment of personal spirituality for members of all Christian confessions. Above all, Luther sought to help people be struck personally by the word and work of Christ."" So writes Jared Wicks in Luther and His Spiritual Legacy, a work full of citations of Luther's teaching that shows the Reformer treating major issues of Christian living that focus on conversion from self-reliance to trusting God's word of grace. After a concise survey of the world in 1500, Luther's theology of the cross emerges from his interpretation of Psalms and Romans. Once the Reformation reached an initial settlement, Luther produced attractive catechisms to counter ignorance of the Christian basics among the people and their pastors. Luther's many-sided controversial arguments--with Catholic opponents, the Reformation radicals, Erasmus, and Zwingli--were efforts to ward off misconceptions of the central dynamics of Christian conversion. But Luther's later constructive works offer a well-rounded account of life in Christ--characteristically marked by personal certainty ever renewed from God's address, by eruptive spontaneity in doing good, and by dutiful service in one's vocation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1532602588
• ISBN13: 9781532602580
• Release Date: July 2016
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A fascinating account from a Catholic theologian

If you read any books written by Luther, especially anything after 1520, you will find that Luther is no friend of the Catholic Church. Calling the Pope the antichrist, and the Roman Curia a den of evildoers are not comments that are going to curry a great deal of favour from Rome. Perhaps it was Luthers passion that served as a detriment to his ability to dialogue productively with the theologians of his day. Equally possible is the intransigence of those with whom he argued. I think it was somewhere in between.Therefore, it has taken some years for Catholics to take a look at Luther, to bypass his anti-Catholic sentiments (sentiments which remain in many Protestant quarters) and to delve into his theology. Using Luther's own words, Wicks makes a good attempt to examine what Luther has to say about salvation, works and God's gift of righteousness through Christ. Taking an historical approach, we see Luther moving from his famous and more mystical "theology of the cross" to his reformational decisions, to more mature writings on grace.While this is a good start from an "outsider", I would have liked to see a more critical review of Luther's work. Aside from some initial comments in the introduction, I think it would be helpful to have Wicks dialogue more with the text as a Jesuit, rather than simply present what Luther has to say. It may be that his intention was to write for fellow Catholics (which is very likely), but I found this book less helpful for someone like myself who is studying Luther and already reading similar Protestant writings.From an ecumenical perspective, this is a remarkable work. I am eager to see more of this occur between Catholics and Protestants.

The clearest introduction to Luther

Jared Wicks lays out the clearest outline to date of Luther's life journey and spiritual teachings.He comes to Luther from the outside, as a Jesuit scholar.Wicks lets Luther speak (eloquently) for himself on all the main features of his theology. He achieves the remarkable: a text which serves for scholarship, meditation, and worship.Wicks provides just enough his history, sociology, philosophy and psychology to let Luther live in a realistic light. He is aware that more has been written about Luther than any other person excepting St. Paul, and he has done his own depth analysis, but he does not bog the reader down in it. Those wanting to pursue further study will find a wonderful bibliography.