Book Recommendation: I'm looking for a good intro into Martin Luther

by jquintus

I'm going to an installation at the Morgan Library about Martin Luther's Reformation. I know a little about this, but would probably enjoy the event more if I had a more thorough background. So I want to read a good book that introduces the major issues leading up to the 95 Theses and the reactions to them.

RTarcher

Short biographies of Luther that still are quite good are: Kolb, Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith; Marius, Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death; and Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil.

There are some good sections in the Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther edited by McKim. You'd want chapters 1, 8, 9, 11, and maybe 14.

There are several histories of the Reformation that have good sections on Luther: MacCulloch, The Reformation and Wandel, The Reformation are two good examples.