Lutheran Book Review: The Cross Proclaimed and Endured
Kellemen, Bob. Counseling under the Cross: How Martin Luther Applied the Gospel to Daily Life. Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2017. Paper. 246 Pages. $19.99. http://stores.newgrowthpress.com/counseling-under-the-cross/
Selderhuis, Herman. Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography. Wheaton: Crossway, 2017. ADVANCE READER COPY received. Final Cloth edition received. 320 Pages, $35.00. https://www.crossway.org/books/martin-luther-hcj/
Six months after 31 October 2017, the Reformation of Martin Luther lives on!
We previous read counseling advice from Bob Kellemen in the brief book on anxiety.
Now he turns his attention to mining Luther for help in pastoral counseling.
Martin Luther was not only a theologian, a writer, and a preacher, he was a pastoral counselor who longed for peace with God. Now, 500 years after he posted his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church, his teachings on gospel-centered and cross-focused pastoral care can transform our approach to soul care, and teach us that daring faith in Christ alone can change our life today and give us peace forever.
In Counseling Under the Cross, biblical counselor and noted author Bob Kellemen mines the riches of Luther’s letters of spiritual counsel to give readers a new understanding of how Luther engaged in the personal ministry of the gospel. He guides pastors, counselors, lay leaders, and friends toward a deeper understanding of the gospel that will directly impact their personal ministry to others. Through lively vignettes, real-life stories, and direct quotes from Luther, readers will be equipped to apply the gospel to themselves and others, and learn that pastoral care is what every believer does in one-another ministry.
As one of the most influential figures in Christian history, Luther was not only the father of the Reformation, he was also the father of “gospel-centered counseling.” As sons and daughters in the faith, we have much to learn from him. Counseling Under the Cross equips us to apply the gospel richly, relevantly, and robustly to suffering and sin so that we find our hope and help in Christ alone.
Author
Bob Kellemen, PhD, is the Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Chair of the Biblical Counseling Department at Crossroads Bible College and the founder and CEO of RPM Ministries. He is the author of many books, including Counseling Under the Cross: How Martin Luther Applied the Gospel to Daily Life, Gospel-Centered Counseling and Gospel Conversations. Bob and his wife Shirley have two children and two grandchildren.
(Publisher's Website)
Upon receiving Counseling Under the Cross, the author’s name
seemed familiar. I personally purchased Robert Kellemen’s Anxiety: Anatomy and
Cure, a booklet that is part of P&R’s The Gospel for Real Life Series. It
was helpful to me in some recent pastoral counseling cases. New Growth Press
gives us a title reminiscent of Tappert’s Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel,
yet with more guidance for pastors and counselors.
I do disagree with the author’s “Tweet-Size Summary” of
Chapter 11: “Faith Active in Love: Luther’s Methodology of Guiding >>
Christian pilgrims progress in their sanctification journey by exercising their
heart in the gospel victory narrative by trekking toward the gospel pole of
faith active in love.” Luther wouldn’t speak that way. He would describe
sanctification in the language of vocation as he does in Christian Freedom: A
Christian is the freest lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is the most
dutiful servant of all, subject to all. The “pilgrim” language is anachronistic
to Luther. The author does mention The Freedom of a Christian in the main text
of Chapter 11 (199ff), yet with a different emphasis than I would provide as a
Lutheran.
Given the objection above, I recommend this title for
seminarians and pastors. Consider: “As the title of this book suggests, Martin
Luther’s counseling is gospel-centered and cross-focused. It is grace-filled
and gospel-rich…In a hundred different ways you will see what I saw—Luther
richly, relevantly, robustly, relationally applying the gospel to suffering,
sin, sanctification, and people’s search for peace with God” (3). On pages
12-13 he introduces the helpful concept of Anfectungen,
helpfully connecting the term to Luther’s own concerns and pastoral care,
especially with regard to justification and reconciliation (26). By pages 106
and 107, Anfectungen makes room for
faith in Christ. The Gospel predominates in the chart on page 57. A Lutheran
would connect the individual to the body of Christ as the author does (91), yet
more so to Word and Sacrament of Christ rather than pietism’s small groups
(91ff).
Luther ended like he began—with Christ’s gospel of grace. He sandwiched gospel indicatives around gospel imperatives. When Satan tempts us to despair, we do not look ultimately to our self, but ultimately and always to Christ: “When the devil casts up to us our sin, and declares us worthy of death and hell, we must say: ‘I confess that I am worthy of death and hell. What more do you have to say?’ ‘Then you will be lost forever!’ ‘Not in the least: for I know One who suffered for me and made satisfaction for my sins, and his name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So long as he shall live, I shall live also’ (194).
We now turn from Luther quoted and applied to today to Luther explained for today in an English translation of a major Danish biography.
Famous for setting in motion the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther is often lifted high as a hero or condemned as a rebel. But underneath it all, he was a man of flesh and blood, with a deep longing to live for God.
This biography by respected Reformation scholar Herman Selderhuis captures Luther in his original context and follows him on his spiritual journey, from childhood through the Reformation to his influential later years. Combining Luther’s own words with engaging narrative designed to draw the reader into Luther’s world, this spiritual biography brings to life the complex and dynamic personality that forever changed the history of the church.
Herman Selderhuis is professor of church history at the Theological University Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and director of Refo500, the international platform focused on raising awareness for projects related to the legacy of the Reformation. He also serves as the director of the Reformation Research Consortium, president of the International Calvin Congress, and curator of research at the John à Lasco Library in Emden, Germany. He is the author or editor of several books, including John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life. (Publisher's Website)
Crossway provided us with both an Advance Reader Copy and
final hardcover of Herman Selderhuis’ Martin
Luther: A Spiritual Biography. We note no significant changes between the
two. Endorsements adorn the front pages of the final edition as well as the
intended General Index and Scripture Index.
What exactly is a spiritual biography? I understand the term
to focus the subject’s life in Christ, covering struggle, theology, practice,
and consolation. A Calvinist, Selderhuis gives his own spin on the seventeenth
century English non-fiction prose genre of an autobiographical narrative that
“follows the believer from a state of damnation to a state of grace.” Ten
chapters follow Luther from child, student, and monk to exegete, theologian,
and architect and finally reformer, father, professor, and prophet (9). “This
book is translated from the original Dutch version” © 2016 (8).
“The fear of being lost forever, the fear of God, and his
consciousness of sin and guilt led to a zealous study of Scripture in the hope
that he [Luther] would find peace and rest” (54). This is well stated. Luther’s
visit to Rome disappointed him (71). Romans, however, became “the most
important book in the new testament for him” (77).
I’m not surprised that it was a Roman Catholic that claimed
that Luther didn’t nail the 95 Theses to the Church door (100). I am surprised
at how trendy it is to doubt this event. This author tends to be more fair and
balanced in his assessment of the event in that he allows for 1) an actual
“nailing” of Luther’s Theses, 2) that the door was truly the public bulletin
board, and 3) that a university “beadle” likely did the nailing rather than
Luther. That said, I hold to the historicity of Luther nailing the theses
himself. There appears to be a correlation (among self-described Lutheran
theologians) between belief or doubt in the event’s historicity and in belief
or doubt in authority and sufficiency of Scripture (see the 2017 documentary
film Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed
the World).
For a personal assessment of Luther the man at the time of
the Leipzig Disputation by Mosellanus, see 128-129. The initial sentence of
Chapter 6 (135) struck me wrong. Yet, I concede that with regard to being and
architect and leaving it “to others to build on what he established” I must
concede as at least partially true. He wrote his catechisms (230) in part
because others did not follow through on his request for them to do the work.
Some took up the task of writing new hymns, yet Luther wrote several dozen
himself 210).
That Luther did or did not say the words “Here I stand, I
can do no other” (159ff) is less controversial to me than the posting of the 95
Theses. Rome had pushed Luther across a red line. They would not tell him where
he erred. They would not allow him to distinguish between what he saw as three
groups of books.
The author’s account and assessment of Marburg (especially
238-240) is more fair than most from a Lutheran perspective. My favorite
remains This Is My Body by Sasse. It all should come down to faith rather than
doubt or speculation about what Christ said Himself.
Reform of the Sacrament of the Altar went hand-in-hand with
a German translation of the New Testament (170ff). One of my favorite paintings
depicts this time in his life, with Luther, his family, and Melanchthon
gathered around Luther playing a lute (211).
Professor Luther knew Scripture and how to apply it to life.
(251). “Prophet” Luther (Chapter 10) is a bit more jarring picture, even for
Lutherans who have heard Walther interpret Revelation’s Angel with an Eternal
Gospel to proclaim. We Lutherans are far more familiar with the pattern set by
Luther in ordaining the first Lutheran bishop: “Luther conducted this
ordination but with a transformed ritual that reflected Luther’s views of the
bishop as a normal minister. Everything else remained the same, as if the
bishop carried out his work of supervision, pastorate, and preaching” (297).
This is one of the best recent Luther biographies I’ve read.
I’m still stuck in the middle of the Metaxas volume. It would be nearly
impossible for one person to read them all!
The Lutheran Reformation lives on. Our intent was to
complete and publish this review by the 500th Anniversary of the
posting of the 95 Theses, but parish duties intervened. We had twelve deaths in
the congregation between our reception of the ARC and the day I write. Reform
of the Church, returning to the Word as sole authority for faith and life, and
hearing Christ are not activities for merely one quincentennial day, but for
our ongoing daily theology, teaching, practice, and pastoral care.
Rev. Paul J Cain is Senior Pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster of Martin Luther Grammar School and Immanuel Academy, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education, Secretary of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a member of its Board of Directors, Wyoming District Education Chairman/NLSA Commissioner, and Editor of Lutheran Book Review. He has served as an LCMS Circuit Visitor, District Worship Chairman and District Evangelism Chairman. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Rev. Cain is a contributor to Lutheran Service Book, Lutheranism 101, the forthcoming LSB Hymnal Companion volumes, and is the author of 5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church. He is an occasional guest on KFUO radio. He has previously served Emmanuel, Green River, WY and Trinity, Morrill, NE. Rev. Cain is married to Ann and loves reading and listening to, composing, and making music.
