Book Review Introduction: October/November 2022

[1] The two books reviewed in this issue are academic works focused on Luther scholarship. Christine Helmer’s, How Luther Became the Reformer brings a critical lens to the image of Luther as “instigator of modernity.” Critiquing scholarship of the German Luther Renaissance, Helmer argues for a historical perspective that grounds Luther more solidly in late medieval Catholicism than in modernity. Helmer also attends closely to Luther’s anti-Jewish polemics, tracing modern anti-semitism, the rise of Nazism, and the Shoah to these writings.

[2] Miikka Roukanen’s Trinitarian Grace in Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will attempts to counter earlier Luther scholarship that overlooked Luther’s perspective on the mystical union between God and believers. Roukanen argues for a fully Trinitarian view that recognizes the essential role of the Holy Spirit in infusing Christ’s gifts into sinners, transforming them and creating faith and neighbor response.