About this Book

We cannot afford to ignore Martin Luther--that influential and highly controversial personality in European history. Not only were his activities mainly responsible for starting the Reformation of the sixteenth century, but his ideas also have greatly influenced political, cultural, and social thought ever since. Some modern writers have tried to trace the roots of Nazism and German militarism back to Luther; others claim on the contrary that Luther's ideas form the only real cure for these evils, and that the authority which Luther still possesses among many Germans and other Europeans should be used for the regeneration of Europe. Lutheranism is very international. The Scandinavian countries are practically completely Lutheran, so were some of the Baltic states; Lutheran groups are…