Luther and His Opponents: Ink against the Devil by Harry Loewen (review)

This book is the fruit of a lifelong study and teaching of the Reformation by a seasoned scholar. The aim of the book, though, is not to appeal to scholars alone, but to anyone interested in learning about the Reformation. In particular, Loewen focuses on Luther and his opponents, giving them equal room to make their arguments and stake their positions. The book is well organized, well written, and highly accessible. While primarily historical and sociological in focus, Loewen provides sufficient theological analysis to help the reader zero in on the key issues that separate and divide various reformation movements and their leaders. Loewen also helps the reader understand how theological differences that may seem minor or insignificant from a North American point of view today are engaged as ultimately significant in the sixteenth-century European world.

In the preface, Loewen admits that the current book is "an expanded version of my earlier book, Luther and the Radicals: Another Look at Some Aspects of the Struggle between Luther and the Radical Reformers (WLU Press, 1974)" (xiii). The new book, however, is almost triple the size of the original. There are some altogether new sections added, which include Luther's debate with Erasmus, his relationship with the Jewish people, his writings against the Turks, and his later writings against the papacy.

There is also a shift of perspective and understanding from the earlier book to the new one. In the earlier book, Loewen made the argument that the difference between Luther and various radicals was one of "emphasis rather than substance" (xiv). After many years of studying and teaching the Reformation, however, Loewen has come to the conclusion that the differences between Luther and various individuals/groups were felt and lived as much more substantial. It was believed that getting the theology right could make all the difference to people's eternal destiny, and Luther was not alone in refusing to give way when the stakes were so high. Loewen's hope is that his new book contributes to a greater interest in the Reformation and better ecumenical understanding and love for one another.

Loewen begins the book with a brief but incisive presentation of Luther's journey toward his discovery of a gracious God. He then summarizes some of Luther's key early writings, which set off the break with Rome and created an opening for all those who felt disillusioned with the papal church. Loewen concludes by arguing that Luther's personal experience, which found theological articulation in the doctrine of justification by divine grace through faith, became the foundational measuring stick for right theology and the road to eternal salvation. While this doctrine became equally important for other dissidents from Rome, personal experiences and different readings of the Bible inspired many toward different directions from Luther. Unfortunately, given that theological and doctrinal divisiveness could so easily lead to social divisiveness, conflict, and upheaval, Luther felt responsible for bringing some order out of what could easily have become destructively chaotic. Loewen does a good job mapping how Luther's earlier openness and tolerance for difference turned in time toward greater intolerance and open hostility toward various groups and individuals.

Among the different groups and individuals, Loewen gives significant attention to three: Anabaptists, Spiritualists, and Rationalists. Anabaptists appeared in Wittenberg and throughout Germany, but also separately within Swiss and Dutch regions. There was wide diversity among them, and Loewen does an incredible job highlighting their distinctive theologies and where Luther and they differed. Spiritualists were also prevalent around Wittenberg and throughout Europe. All of them were inspired by Luther at first but then developed in their own ways, privileging the experience of God and the Holy Spirit above a more objective dependence on the Bible and external markers of salvation like the sacraments. Rationalists included antinomians, who took the doctrine of justification so far that sanctification and the law were no longer...