Harry Loewen, Luther and His Opponents: Ink Against the Devil (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2015).
Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.
Alfred Lord Tennyson (Poet Laureate 1850-1892)
REVIEW
There are moments in history in which seismic shifts take place that alter the landscape of thought and public life—such was the 16th century and the complex nature of the Reformation. There are many towering and significant thinkers and activists in the early decades of the 16th century, but there can be no doubt that Martin Luther towers above many theologians, exegetes, ecclesial activists and public intellectuals of his time. Luther is often seen as the prime mover and shaker of the protestant reformation and the multiple fragments that emerge post Luther are part of his line and lineage. There is much to ponder in the complex life and writings of Luther, but stepping inside the head of Luther (and how he dealt with opposition) is more than worth the meditation for a variety of reasons. Luther and His Opponents: Ink Against the Devil is a must read tome by Harry Loewen as we inch ever closer to 2017 (500th anniversary of Luther’s 1517 launch of the Reformation).
There are thinkers that are ironical, see complexity and lean towards unity and concord—such thinkers and activists tend to see themselves as finite and fallible, seeing through a glass darkly, holding but a broken light of that which is far beyond their ken. There are other thinkers that tend to see their read of ultimate and penultimate reality as the fittest, finest and best, purists of the highest kind –those who differ with them are viewed as compromisers and deniers of the truth—bearers of broken lights or holders of the true light?—Luther certainly stood within the latter tribe.
Luther and His Opponents: Ink Against the Devil, as the graphic title suggests, brings together the way Luther used ink to oppose those he thought were of the devil—his opponents. There can be no doubt that Luther’s way of seeing and interpreting the Bible, faith journey and public life had a way of fragmenting and clashing with those who dared to differ with him. Luther and His Opponents is divided into sixteen chapters, and in each chapter Loewen carefully examines and explores why and how Luther came out punching with both fists churning. Many of the main actors in the early decades of the 16th century are brought on front stage as Luther lunges at them: Karlstadt, Zwickau Prophets, Augustinian monks, Muntzer, peasants, Erasmus, Anabaptists (a few chapters are devoted to them given Loewen’s Mennonite roots), Servetus, Jews, Muslims and, of course, the thorn of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy—few are spared Luther’s ink throwing pen—those who question him are of the devil—such a dualistic way does have consequences—such is the purist remnant way of interpreting life—many are the Luther’s that are still with us today in church and society.
The strength of Luther and His Opponents is the way Harry Loewen has carefully and meticulously clarified for the interested reader, in each chapter, the history and reasons for Luther’s assault on those who dared to differ with them. But, there was a deeper motivation for the writings of this informative book. There was, obviously, a desperate need for reform of the church in the 16th century, but the reactionary nature of the reform as embodied in Luther (and those who followed him) created as many divisive problems as the inept nature of the Roman Catholic Church in the late Middle Ages. It is to these deeper and more far reaching issues that Loewen points and of which Luther is but a portal. What are these issues? Briefly put, there are two that are the most prominent and Luther embodies them in a heightened degree. First, Luther was convinced he saw truer and better than most and those who differed with him simply did not see the truth—he had no sense of only holding an imperfect broken light of which others also carried fallible broken lights-—it was this “I’m right, you are wrong mentality” that, by its very nature, creates discord, separatist thinking and a war like attitude (crude and subtle) at the level of thought and action—certainly Luther was not a unifier or peacemaker—Loewen’s probes into the life and writings of Luther painfully illustrates the consequences of those who lack a minimal level of broken light humility. Second, it was Luther’s rather crude and bombastic intellectual approach (both in content and method) that led, as expected, to the multiple schisms of the 16 th century (and beyond). There is a correlation, though, between a way of reducing reality to a tidy purist formula (from which those of a lesser or no light must be separated from) and formed communities that cluck and cluster around such perverted broken lights (sadly and tragically so absolutizing them).
We live in an age that, in many ways, continues the fragmentation that Luther began—postmodernism is a sort of Luther on steroids. We also live at a period of time in which there is a greater longing for unity and concord. The deeper purpose in the compiling, in many ways, of the various opponents in Luther and His Opponents was to highlight the dire consequences of trekking down Luther’s path—the much maligned and irenical Erasmus (and some of the dovish 1st generation Anabaptists) might be better models for us as we move into the future than the ink throwing Luther—much hinges on how we interpret and apply the broken lights we are called to bear and carry.
Appendix
It would have been valuable if Loewen had touched on Luther and the English Reformation—the Anglican tradition/Anglican theologians did not merit a chapter—Luther was quite engaged, in his predictable and animated way, with many Anglican archbishops, bishops and theologians of the 16th century. Erasmus, Luther and the English Reformation is a library of commentaries—Loewen missed this gold-packed motherlode.
Ron Dart