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11 resources you should read about the Reformation

As you no doubt are aware, it’s Reformation season! Every year, this time of year is like Christmas for theological nerds, but this time it’s really special because, 500 years ago this month, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, and accidentally changed the world.

If you’re like me, the chances are pretty good you’ve been looking to do some reading about the Reformation, some of its more notable figures, and their theological writings. Today, I want to share with you a selection of resources I would highly encourage engaging with as you seek to better understand this movement that changed the course of history:

  1. Echoes of the Reformation by Brandon D. Smith. This is a group study produced in partnership between LifeWay Christian Resources and The Gospel Coalition that explores the Five Solas of the Reformation. Regardless of the time of year, this is a study that is worth engaging in your small group.
  2. A Simple Way to Pray by Martin Luther. This book contains some of the most helpful advice I’ve ever read on prayer: using the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostle’s Creed to focus and guide our prayers.
  3. Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer. Admittedly, I’m biased since I wrote it. But this is a very accessible introduction to the man who kickstarted the Reformation in earnest. (There’s also a nifty book version available here, too).
  4. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland Bainton. This biography is essential reading for those wanting to dig into the background of the German Reformer.
  5. Reformation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Carl Trueman. Based on a series of lectures, Trueman addresses why the Reformation continues to captivate and frustrate so many even to this day, and why its theology endures. This is a super-accessible book, one that I’d highly recommend for anyone interested in this era but not sure where to start.
  6. Institutes of the Christian Religion by the Theologian Who Shall Not Be Named™. Regardless of your opinions of said unnamed theologian’s views, The Institutes is one you should read to gain a better sense of the theology that shaped much of the west.
  7. Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley. This is one of the two books I’d encourage reading to give you greater context on why the Reformation happened at all. The fires were burning long before Luther came on the scene
  8. 2000 Years of Christ’s Power by Nick Needham. For a more extensive—but readable—treatment of church history, this is a great series to invest in.
  9. The Unquenchable Flame by Michael Reeves. This is another book that offers a solid introduction to the major players and ideas of the Reformation. (Stephen Nichols’ The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World is another great primer in the same vein.)
  10. Martin Luther’s Table Talk. If you’ve ever wondered what a dinner conversation with Luther would have been like, this is the book for you. Covering a plethora of theological and social issues of the day, this is one of the places where we see Luther at his most pastoral.
  11. Luther’s 95 Theses by Martin Luther. You can find them online and in different volumes, but regardless, you’ll do yourself a disservice if you don’t read the document that actually set the world on fire.

Be careful spitting in the wind

Communion

I’m reading a book right now that is challenging. It’s specifically challenging in that I want to try to read it sympathetically. The author and I would disagree on just about everything, so that’s not easy, but something I’m working on. It’s one of the books written by a former evangelical who seems frustrated by just about everything that is distinctive about evangelicals, particularly by the idea of boundaries, both theological and societal.

I’ve actually been impressed a number of times about the author’s correct assessment of many weaknesses within some evangelical churches. The proposed solutions may be incorrect, but the weaknesses shouldn’t be dismissed (you’ve probably read them all before, so I’ll spare you the laundry list). But one of the most consistent claims I see from authors like this one is the insistence that to hold to what most of you reading would describe as theological orthodoxy is arrogant. That to be humble is to be open and not create boundaries that would keep people away from Jesus, whether those boundaries pertain to same-sex relationships (and beyond) or that only believers be permitted to participate in communion.

And every time—every time!—I read things like this, I don’t get angry. I find myself becoming sadder. And I do because authors like this one seem blind to their own arrogance. No theologian is inerrant, no theological system is without inconsistencies, and no denomination is without sin. I think we all get this. But this is why we need a wide view of the church’s history, as well as an intense desire to hold fast to the Bible, to see it be our norming norm.

Church history allows us to look back and seek to understand why certain doctrines were established. We learn of the controversies and heresies that challenged the church to define its theology in light of Scripture. We also see the moments where the church itself slid into gross sin and folly when Scripture was abandoned. And this greater scope should create in us a spirit of humility, both in recognizing that there aren’t really any new ideas and that the reasons behind much of what we believe make good sense.

Simply, orthodoxy should never produce arrogance. It should always lead us to humility. And when Scripture leads us to challenge the beliefs we hold to, it should always be done in that same spirit something that was present through much, though not all of the Reformation (even Luther at times!).

But this is not the spirit I see in many of today’s “reformers.” Instead, I find myself concerned by the appearance of arrogance in their writings. It reminds me of someone attempting to spit into the wind, and not expecting to have it blow back in your face. But with rare exception, it does.

In the same way, arrogance leaves you a mess. And pursuing answers to questions doubts and divisions with an uncharitable spirit is nothing if not arrogant. We should do these things. We should ask questions because asking questions matters. We should wrestle with doubt because it is important, and can lead to greater faithfulness. We must figure out how to address the problems that divide us because we should desire to be one with one another as we are with Christ.

But even as we do, let’s be careful to not spit in the wind.

Where does reformation begin?

heart

Over the last while, I’ve read a lot of articles about the need for reformation in the Church, usually with titles like, “Is the Reformation over”—that is, did the chain of events started when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517, ever really end? Does the Church still require reformation now?

And usually the answer is (and I think correctly), no, the Reformation can never really ever end, because there is always a need for the Church to be sharpened and corrected according to the word of God. The Church as a whole is always prone to wander from her Lord. There are always fanciful ideas that are trying to distract her.

The same is true for the individuals to make up the Church. We, individually, are as desperately in need of reforming as the Church as a whole is. For the Church collectively could not wander away unless we first were wandering. Fanciful ideas could not take hold unless they’d first captivated the minds of individual believers.

It’s no wonder, then, that Luther began his theses placing repentance at the center of reformation. “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent’,” he wrote, “He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Repentance as a concept refers to a deliberate, Holy Spirit-empowered-and-enabled change of mind and action, a conscience turning away from one way of thinking and behaving to another. When we repent of our sins, for example, we’re not merely asking forgiveness, we’re turning our backs on a false god and setting our affections upon our true Lord and Master. Repenting of our former way of living means to start living in a different way, to believe a different way—to see Jesus as our only hope, and and that we are welcomed into the family of God as his adopted brothers and sisters, and that the Church collectively is Christ’s Bride. And every distraction, everything and anything that tempts us to forget who and what we are—perhaps the lust for political power, the lure of cultural influence, or promise of prodigious earthly riches—is what we need to repent of.

The Church is always needs of reformation because our wandering hearts are always in need of reformation. May God continue to call us back when we’re tempted to leave.