\n
(4-17-08)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The question always arises with regard to a work such as this, written from a Catholic perspective: why write about Martin Luther at all<\/span>? Such an endeavor is viewed in many quarters as \u201cstirring up a hornet\u2019s nest\u201d or as an unnecessary provoking of undesirable tension between Christians. Life is tough enough without further quarreling, we are told. We are supposed to be beyond<\/span> all that, seeing that this is an \u201cenlightened\u201d age of tolerance and ecumenism.<\/p>\nMy question in return is: \u201cwhy are we required to pit legitimate ecumenism and the honorable quest for Christian unity against honest, critical analysis of competing theological claims and historical inquiry?\u201d I\u2019m a thoroughly ecumenical Christian, and readers may rest assured that I have great respect for my Protestant and Orthodox brothers and sisters in Christ. Indications of this on my blog (see the front pages of this book) are innumerable. Thus I need not \u201cprove\u201d my \u201cecumenical good faith\u201d.<\/p>\n
That said, I fail to see how it is improper \u2014 or in any way unbiblical \u2014 to contend for one\u2019s own Christian position, or to engage in apologetics (my own vocation). The effort need not be acrimonious at all. It can be done with the utmost cordiality. I try very hard to do so \u2014 not that I always succeed<\/span>.<\/p>\nIn fact, Martin Luther himself \u2013 it seems to me \u2014 would not frown upon a vigorous advocacy of a theological position (since he often did that). He certainly disagreed strongly with other viewpoints if he felt they were in error, and was not all that inclined to accept criticism of himself or his own opinions, but I doubt that he would ever say that a person shouldn\u2019t state their disagreement or principled theological positions at all<\/span>, for fear of being accused of creating yet more division amongst Christians.<\/p>\nThat is a peculiarly modern perspective. And it derives, in my opinion, mostly from the fact that people (as a general trend of the last two hundred years or so) have a less robust Christian faith, compared to their theological ancestors. Therefore, they have less motivation to contend for the relatively few things they continue to strongly believe. In other words, the fewer theological tenets one accepts, the more they tend to make the abstract of \u201ctolerance\u201d the highest goal, rather than the concrete goal of pursuit of truth. This can frequently be observed today.<\/p>\n
Indeed, all of the original Protestant leaders would have strictly opposed such a mentality. They contended for their distinctive viewpoints with great enthusiasm and a felt sense of vision. It was rare in the 16th century to hear of the current fashionable notions of \u201csecondary doctrines\u201d: where all parties concede that they cannot be resolved one way or the other (so that they should be ignored or consigned to relative irrelevance).<\/p>\n
The subject matter and positions taken in this book will, no doubt, be offensive to some or even many Protestant readers. It is difficult to write about such a delicate topic: one that elicits deep feelings of allegiance. But this work is not meant to be an \u201cattack\u201d on Martin Luther. Apologetics isn\u2019t political campaigning (an apt analogy in this presidential election year in America). It is, rather, a very straightforward examination of Martin Luther: the founder of Protestantism, with a concentration on massive citation of his own words.<\/p>\n
Some \u201ccontroversy,\u201d although painful at times, is necessary and useful for the purpose of determining the relative merits of competing truth claims. I think it is self-evident that Martin Luther, as the founder of an important and influential movement within Christianity, should be held up to the utmost scrutiny, given the fact that so many basic Protestant assumptions originate (largely or solely) from him. This work is, accordingly, an analysis of the roots<\/span> of present-day Protestant theology.<\/p>\nIt is foolish for any Protestant (some of whom reject even the appellation \u201cProtestant\u201d) to deny the inescapable link between current-day denominational Protestantism (even beyond Lutheranism) and Martin Luther. To do so is to be uninformed about a crucial element in Protestant thought: its own root presuppositions. Any Christian body claiming to be a (or the<\/span>) legitimate manifestation of historical Christianity must have a coherent story to tell. This necessarily involves historical study and some kind of theological interpretation of the history of one\u2019s own group.<\/p>\nI strongly contend that no Protestant can deny an organic relationship to Martin Luther, any more than a Catholic can disavow all ties to the historic papacy, the Crusades and Inquisition, etc. Both sides must have the courage to fairly acknowledge their own shortcomings and the other side\u2019s positive, godly attributes. We\u2019re all products of the past.<\/p>\n
The views set forth here are certainly one-sided, and purposely so, in order to form a conscious counter-argument to the accepted Protestant \u201cmythology,\u201d so to speak, of Martin Luther. His many commendable qualities are well covered in any Protestant biography (and some can be rightly classified as virtual \u201chagiographies\u201d).<\/p>\n
The objective Christian student of Church history needs to consult works written from a critical Catholic perspective as well, in order to foster a closer examination and perhaps a partial reappraisal of Luther. The full, multi-faceted, complex truth concerning important historical figures is invariably more fascinating than the usual myths that circulate about. I aim to present Luther as he was: no more, no less: as fairly as I can, but \u201cwarts and all,\u201d too.<\/p>\n
Lastly, the reader may wonder (in all fairness) about my own personal <\/span>opinion (as a committed orthodox Catholic, and Catholic apologist) of Martin Luther. I\u2019m happy to comply with such a desire. I disagree with the man\u2019s theology<\/span> (that is, where he departs from Catholic orthodoxy) and some of the ways in which he went about things. But I do not<\/span> regard Luther (like many Catholic biographers and critics throughout history) as an essentially \u201cevil\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d man. I don\u2019t deny his good intentions and sincerity at all (though I often question his wisdom and foresight, as will be evident).<\/p>\nI actually admire<\/span> Martin Luther in many ways. I love his passion and boldness and bravery in standing up for what he believed. I always admire people who do that, unless the stand they take is unquestionably evil. One can respect such a person without necessarily agreeing with the specific cause or belief that he or she espouses. One can be wrong for the right reasons, and right for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\nI\u2019ve written extensively about Martin Luther, and maintain perhaps the largest web page on the Internet devoted to Luther and Lutheranism, from a Catholic perspective. It may surprise some to learn that among these many papers (written over the past seventeen years) are about twenty, as of writing, where I defend<\/span> Luther against myths and bum raps, cite him in agreement, or take a fairly neutral stance towards his opinion.<\/p>\nIn one fictional, Plato-inspired dialogue I even portrayed Martin Luther quite positively (and downright affectionately), as a sort of (saved) \u201cwise old man\u201d. I\u2019ve even \u2013 on occasion \u2014 received unsolicited letters of commendation from Lutheran pastors for such efforts. These aspects of my research will be utilized in the Part Two \u201cpraise\u201d section of this book (which runs 83 pages, or about 34% of all the material \u2014 245 pages \u2014 from Chapter One to the Bibliography).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve engaged in many cordial dialogues with Lutheran scholars or pastors or informed layman, and enjoyed them very much. I\u2019ve defended Lutheranism as well, against false charges from other Christians (for example, the bogus accusation of semi-Pelagianism, or unfounded criticism from Calvinists).<\/p>\n
So this book is not about \u201cLuther-bashing\u201d or attempted \u201chistorical revisionism\u201d or any such thing. It is simply a Catholic examination of Martin Luther: critical where I feel I must be so, in light of my own heartfelt theological adherence as a Catholic, but also appreciative of the several areas where I can wholeheartedly agree with Luther, and rejoice in those instances where he is an eloquent proponent of a position that Catholics also hold.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
Meta Description:\u00a0Introduction to the critical + ecumenical book about Martin Luther by Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong.<\/p>\n
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*** (4-17-08) *** The question always arises with regard to a work such as this, written from a Catholic perspective: why write about Martin Luther at all? Such an endeavor is viewed in many quarters as \u201cstirring up a hornet\u2019s nest\u201d or as an unnecessary provoking of undesirable tension between Christians. Life is tough enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":8263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2503,3074,3079,3078,3077,3076,3071,3075,488,419,2348,694,3080,2779,690,41,692,693,691,3072,3073],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martin-luther","tag-16th-century-germany","tag-95-theses","tag-bondage-of-the-will","tag-catholic-reformation","tag-counter-reformation","tag-diet-of-worms","tag-founder-of-protestantism","tag-here-i-stand","tag-luther","tag-lutheranism-2","tag-martin-luther","tag-origin-of-protestantism","tag-peasants-revolt","tag-philip-melanchthon","tag-protestant-reformation","tag-protestant-reformers","tag-protestant-revolt","tag-protestant-revolution","tag-reformation","tag-reformers","tag-religious-wars"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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