The Early Luther: Stages in a Reformation Reorientation.

Klein, Ralph W.

The Early Luther: Stages in a Reformation Reorientation. By Berndt Hamm. Translated by Martin J. Lohrmann (Eerdmans, $36). Hamm traces the developments in Luther's theology from his entry into the monastery to his essay on the freedom of a Christian in 1520. Luther gradually left behind the medieval theology of love for the certainty of faith. He was, however, both medieval and evangelical at the same time. Luther's theology of dying separated the Christian's approach to death from anxieties over mortal sin to concentrate instead on the only thing he saw as necessary for the dying: faith in God's promise outside of us. Luther knew medieval mysticism well and this tradition structured his theology in terms of law and gospel and helped him view justification experientially. Hamm concludes that Luther's adaptation or break with existing tradition was a gradual change and that there was not a single heroic moment. We need to differentiate between Luther's accounts of surprising discoveries and the varied attempts of modern scholarship to nail down a central biographical Reformation insight or a decisive moment of discovery. This is one of the Lutheran Quarterly books.