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BOOK REVIEWS Metaxas, Eric. Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World. New York: Penguin Books, 2017. “Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders!” This famous proclamation, attributed to Luther at the Diet of Worms, is often translated, “Here I stand, I can do no other!” But that’s kind of an awkward wording in English, don’t you think? Actually, I’ve often thought that it’s better translated as, “Here I Stand. I can’t do anything else!” I hope my high school German teacher would agree. Because Luther found himself at a crossroads, didn’t he? On one side was the long-standing institutions of church and state, and the equally long-accepted corruption that came along with them. But on the other side was God’s Word. Which path should he follow? He had to make a decision, and his choice was to follow holy scripture. He simply couldn’t do anything else! And if you think about it, this new translation changes the entire narrative of Worms. Gone is the defiant Luther, boldly challenging the princes of his day; replaced by an exasperated Luther, a reluctant hero stuck between a rock and a hard place – a simple Christian who humbly chose the word of God because he had no alternative.1 But what other possible misconceptions, or even myths have crept into the Luther saga? Well in this book, famed
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