"In the first months of their marriage, when she insisted that her husband could not leave Erasmus unanswered, she had been pushed into the forefront by Camerarius, as we know. Camerarius was driven by objective reasons. The diatribe that Erasmus had published was the Humanists’ declaration of war on the Reformer. And with the prominence of both men, the battle had to be taken up and fought until there was an honorable accord or one of the combatants was defeated. Katie maybe had little understanding of such deliberations, but she understood that the opponents could easily see her husband’s stubborn silence as conceding defeat—a concern which Luther himself shared otherwise—and she didn’t stop assailing him with urgent pleas until, after he had indignantly procrastinated almost a year, he finally overcame his reluctance and wrote his reply in a few weeks."
I've never heard this before. The quote above is said to come from Ernst Kroker, The Mother of the Reformation: The Amazing Life and Story of Katharine Luther (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 2013). A preview of the book can be found here.
Special thanks to the Heavenly Springs blog for the information.
James, thanks for sharing the Katie piece here. I wondered after I hit "Publish" if the suggestion that might not have "The Bondage of the Will" if it weren't for Katie was a bit extreme. Especially in light of the discussion of the Sovereignty of God -- albeit salvation! At any rate, it's interesting to know that she had a hand in getting him to write this all important work! Thanks again for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI saw that Concordia put the book out, and usually their materials on Luther are accurate. I have not purchased the book, but it does look intriguing, thanks for sharing the info.
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