My medieval history professor at the very secular and anti-Christian UCLA didn’t intend to evangelize his class. But that’s exactly what he did when he made the mistake of assigning us to read some of Martin Luther’s Reformation writings, including The Pagan Servitude of the Church and Preface to the Book of Romans. Bill, a friend and fellow classmate who was blind, read the works in braille.
One day Bill said to me excitedly as we walked from class down Bruin Way, “Herb, I just finished reading Luther’s Preface to the Book of Romans and I wanted to tell you that I’ve become a Christian!”
I wasn’t surprised. I had just read it too and was amazed at how powerful the treatise was. Luther presented a passionate and profound picture of Christ’s atoning work on the cross and our justification by faith in Christ’s completed work, contrasting that with the works-based teaching of the Catholic church. (Joh Wesley himself came to Christ after stumbling into a Moravian Brethren prayer meeting in London, England, where Luther’s Preface was being read out loud.)
In The Pagan Servitude of the Church, Luther savagely described the corruption and oppression of a church that had gone completely off the rails. No wonder the Reformation (and Counter Reformation) happened. The wood and gas were already there. Luther just provided the spark.
That spark first happened when Luther famously nailed his Ninety-Five Theses against the sale of Indulgences (licenses one could purchase for the forgiveness of sins) and other abuses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The date was October 31, 1517. It’s commonly regarded as the official beginning of the Reformation and is celebrated in Germany as its equivalent to our Independence Day. That means October 31, 2017 – our Halloween – is also the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation.
So here’s my suggestion for Halloween this year: read Luther’s The Pagan Servitude of the Church and Preface to the Book of Romans. I’m thinking you’ll find them a bit more uplifting than skeletons and jack-o-lanterns.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
2 thoughts on “Suggested Readings for Halloween, 2017”
Looking for Introduction book on Amazon but don’t see it listed. Do you know where I can find this?
Ron, The exact title is actually “Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans and Concerning Christian Liberty.” That’s what 40 years does to your memory. Here’s the link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=luther%27s+preface+to+the+book+of+romans