Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet - Hardcover

"This is a smart, accessible, authoritative biography of one of the most dynamic figures in European history. Lyndal Roper writes with clarity and discernment, so that nothing stands between the reader and her grimly fascinating subject; she earths the reformer, situating him psychically as well as geographically in a Germany she describes as vividly as if we lived there: mining towns as well as lecture halls, courts as well as cathedrals. She creates a context for a man who arouses both admiration and horror in the modern reader. Here he stands: never more vocal, more controversial, more compelling" (Hilary Mantel)

"A fine achievement, deeply researched and fluently written, and it brings its difficult and cantankerous subject to life as no other biography has... A magnificent study of one of history’s most compelling and divisive figures" (Richard J. Evans)

"Impeccable scholarship and painstaking fair-mindedness characterize his deeply illuminating biography. Roper has mined the correspondence, and Luther’s charisma and complexity shine through the letters" (Andrew Pettegree New York Times)

"Lyndal Roper's new book is a compelling and provocative attempt to restore some flesh and blood to this static icon...the work of one of the most imaginative and pioneering historians of our generation." (Alexandrda Walsham Guardian)

"Lyndal Roper provides a fine scholarly narrative of Luther’s extraordinary life...She paints the picture of a “difficult hero”, with full attention to both light and shadow. A compellingly readable and richly documented study." (Rowan Williams)

"Excellent and wholly absorbing biography... Roper’s biography, distinguished by the excellence of its writing and research, is the beginning of wisdom in all things Reformation, anti-Roman and, alas, proto-Hitlerite." (Ian Thomson Guardian)

"[Martin Luther is] exemplary history: imaginative yet empirical, rounded and profound." (Malcolm Gaskill Financial Times)

"Roper’s immaculate scholarship...gives a complex account of his inner life, without ever straying beyond what the evidence will allow." (Kathryn Hughes Guardian, Book of the Year)

"[It] deploys its considerable learning with the lightest of touches: a seductive, shimmering and significant retelling of a man whose rise to power was...as unlikely as it was extraordinary" (Thomas Penn Guardian, Book of the Year)

"An impressive and fascinating read." (David Crane Spectator, Book of the Year)

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2017

Selected as a Book of the Year by the New Statesman, Spectator, History Today, Guardian and Sunday Times

When Martin Luther nailed a sheet of paper to the church door of a small university town on 31 October 1517, he set off a process that changed the Western world for ever.

Luther’s ideas spread like wildfire. His attack on the Church soon convulsed Germany, divided Europe and polarised people’s beliefs. They triggered decades of religious persecution, social unrest and war. And in the long run, his ideas paradoxically helped break the grip of religion in every sphere of life.

But the man who started the Reformation was deeply flawed. He was a religious fundamentalist, a Jew-hater and a political reactionary. He was a fervent believer who was tormented by doubt, a brilliant writer who shaped the German language and a vicious and foul-mouthed polemicist. He was a married ex-monk who liberated human sexuality from the stigma of sin, but also a man who insisted that women should know their place. For him the Devil was not just a figure of speech but a very real and physical presence.

In this first historical biography for many decades, distinguished historian Lyndal Roper gives us a flesh-and-blood figure, warts and all. She reveals the often contradictory psychological forces that drove Luther forward – insecurity and self-righteousness, anger and humility – and the dynamics they unleashed which turned a small act of protest into a battle against the power of the Church.