Review – The Heroic Boldness
Of Martin Luther
I’ve said it
before, and so I’ll make the statement now that I, like a good many people,
tend to stay away from Biographies and Autobiographies because while the
informative value is usually unequaled, the presentation is generally dry and
it seems like the monotony will never end.
But I’m more than pleasantly surprised by the superb use of space by the
author in the one hundred and twenty-two pages of The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther.
In the first
chapter of this book, Dr. Lawson introduces the reader to the humble beginnings
of the son of copper miner Hans Luder and a devout Roman Catholic mother. The
manner in which Lawson presents a brief yet complete synopsis of Martin Luther’s
life is anything but dry and monotonous, which as I stated earlier is what I’ve
come to expect to find in this type of work. By maintaining the use of the same “rapid”
writing style that was in evidence from the preface on, this writer doesn’t
give the reader time to become bored or overwhelmed by what is actually a goodly
amount of information. In fact, I was a
bit perturbed that the book ended as soon as it did, I wanted it to continue
on.
I came away from
this read with the same mindset that I, as an author, work towards developing
in my readers. While without a doubt
complete, this book left me with the need to do further research on the person
of Martin Luther, to answer questions not raised in the book, but by the
book. In my humble opinion, this is what
a well-written book or a well-delivered sermon should accomplish.
Well done, Dr.
Steven J. Lawson!