The Reformation of the sixteenth century was a vast and complicated movement. It involved kings and peasants, cardinals and country priests, monks and merchants. It spread from one end of Europe to the other, and manifested itself in widely differing forms. Yet in spite of its diverse and complex character, to start to understand the Reformation you need know only one name: Martin Luther. Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther remains the definitive introduction to the great Reformer and is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this towering historical figure. A vivid portrait of Martin Luther, the man of unshakable faith in God who helped bring about the Protestant Reformation. Roland H. Bainton (1894 1984) was born in England and came to the United States in 1902. A recipient of many degrees, Dr. Bainton was a specialist in Reformation history. For many years he was Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale University. His other books include The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, The Travail of Religious Liberty, The Age of Reformation, and Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace. HERE I STAND A Life of Martin Luther By Roland H. Bainton Abingdon Press Copyright © 1978 Roland H. Bainton All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4267-5443-2 Contents HERE I STAND—After a Quarter of a Century..................................1I. The Vow.................................................................5II. The Cloister...........................................................21III. The Gospel............................................................37IV. The Onslaught..........................................................54V. The Son of Iniquity.....................................................71VI. The Saxon Hus..........................................................91VII. The German Hercules...................................................111VIII. The Wild Boar in the Vineyard........................................128IX. The Appeal to Caesar...................................................144X. Here I Stand............................................................162XI. My Patmos..............................................................187XII. The Return of the Exile...............................................203XIII. No Other Foundation..................................................214XIV. Rebuilding the Walls..................................................233XV. The Middle Way.........................................................249XVI. Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Great Waters.............................269XVII. The School for Character.............................................292XVIII. The Church Territorial..............................................313XIX. The Church Tutorial...................................................336XX. The Church Ministerial.................................................359XXI. The Struggle for Faith................................................372XXII. The Measure of the Man...............................................387Bibliography...............................................................401References.................................................................415Sources of Illustrations...................................................430Index......................................................................433 CHAPTER 1 The Vow ON A SULTRY DAY in July of the year 1505a lonely traveler was trudging over a parchedroad on the outskirts of the Saxon village ofStotternheim. He was a young man, shortbut sturdy, and wore the dress of a universitystudent. As he approached the village, thesky became overcast. Suddenly there was a shower, then a crashingstorm. A bolt of lightning rived the gloom and knocked the man tothe ground. Struggling to rise, he cried in terror, "St. Anne help me! Iwill become a monk." The man who thus called upon a saint was later to repudiate thecult of the saints. He who vowed to become a monk was later torenounce monasticism. A loyal son of the Catholic Church, he waslater to shatter the structure of medieval Catholicism. A devoted servantof the pope, he was later to identify the popes with Antichrist.For this young man was Martin Luther. His demolition was the more devastating because it reinforceddisintegrations already in progress. Nationalism was in processof breaking the political unities when the Reformation destroyedthe religious. Yet this paradoxical figure revived the Christianconsciousness of Europe. In his day, as Catholic historians all agree,the popes of the Renaissance were secularized, flippant, frivolous,sensual, magnificent, and unscrupulous. The intelligentsia did notrevolt against the Church because the Church was so much of theirmind and mood as scarcely to warrant a revolt. Politics were emancipatedfrom any concern for the faith to such a degree that the MostChristian King of France and His Holiness t