Young Man Luther

This is Erikson's breakthrough work in psychohistory. He reads the inner conflicts of Luther and connects them convincingly with great historical events. In this particular case he chooses a historical figure whose violence in some way undermines and contradicts the very religious vocation his life is built upon. Erikson shows how the revolutionary Luther in conflict with his own violent father and himself turns against the world of corrupt medieval indulgence- laden Catholicism and uses his own personal energy and story to create a powerful change in history, the Reformation. This is an admirable piece of theorizing and research combined and a fascinating read.

Having had to read this for a college class, I approached it with a certain resignation, but found that my Lutheran background was at first helpful in understanding the context, and then made more clear in comprehending the "big picture." Erickson proposes some unusual connections, but in light of our increasing knowlege of what makes people "tick," it is not too farfetched. Given that the reformation was a significant watershed in the political, religious and ethical world, it is worthwhile to have a better understanding of who this guy (Luther)was, and what could have pushed him from devoted Catholic priest to the impetus for a massive schism. It was more than the sold indulgences, and understanding what had influenced his life as a child, as well as what continued to influence him as a reformer, made more clear the personality and motivations, the heart and mind of the man who opened the church to the common man. With that opening, the "church" was no longer on such a pedestal, the priest was no longer too elevated for common folk, and subsequently, the progress of the Renaissance was inevitably, though slowly, available to all, rather than the select few. A man of such importance deserves to be understood.

Erikson has written a brilliant book about how one man's religious obsession, his desperate need to find a loving God and forever escape a God of devouring terror, was univeralised and turned into history. Luther is painted as a compulsive sometimes hysterical man trapped in the adolescent stage, hungry for "grace" as a solution to his arrested emotional development. He further develops the notion that man must find God by himself and his Bible has had a huge effect on the Western World. This book articulates some of the most trenchant insights on psychology, history, and religion.