Here I Stand by Roland Bainton
As an immature 19-year-old college Freshman, committed to a religion major and to becoming a minister, I was introduced to Roland Bainton’s biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand. I opened it while on Christmas break and couldn’t put it down until I finished it before Christmas break was over, and I returned to college. I was pulled into Roland Bainton’s descriptive language after a semester of reading dry books from a freshman’s core requirements. Bainton was a respected 20th-century scholar, but recognized his responsibility to write Luther’s biography with historical and theological truth in an interesting way, helping students and scholars alike to embrace the drama of Luther’s life in the Middle Ages and the development of the Reformation.
Here I Stand helped me view a specific religious life and theological understanding, which provided a model to compare my life and beliefs against. Even though I wasn’t a Lutheran and my 20th- and later 21st-century theology was dramatically different from Luther’s 16th-century theology, living a faith and questioning society, religious institutions, and my personal faith was something Luther continues to teach our present society.
Reading Here I Stand allows you to walk with Martin Luther as he lives into his faith, questions theology and religious institutions, and grapples with personal struggles that impact his faith in God and his commitment to living with integrity. You will be the fly on the wall as you experience Luther’s challenges and struggles with Cardinals, Popes, and political authorities. You will live with him as he makes dramatic changes, with a view into each step of his thought process.
My prayer is that you will love Roland Bainton’s book as much as I do. I’ve read it a couple of times since 1981, and it remains entertaining, inspiring, and intellectually stimulating. Do not shy away because Bainton wrote the biography in 1950; Here I Stand remains a respected, scholarly, and accessible biography of Martin Luther’s life. Even if you have not read a religious book before, you will enjoy and learn a great deal about Luther, the Middle Ages, and your own faith. Enjoy!