‘A compelling biography of one of the greatest men of the modern age. Stanford is particularly brilliant on the tensions inside Luther’s private and spiritual life. This is a very fine book, written with a flourish.’ Melvyn Bragg

The 31st of October 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther pinning his 95 ‘Theses’ – or reform proposals – to the door of his local university church in Wittenberg. Most scholars now agree that the details of this eye-catching gesture are more legend than hammer and nails, but what is certainly true is that on this day (probably in a letter to his local Archbishop in Mainz), the Augustinian Friar and theologian issued an outspokenly blunt challenge to his own Catholic Church to reform itself from within – especially over the sale of ‘indulgences’ – which ultimately precipitated a huge religious and political upheaval right across Europe and divided mainstream Christianity ever after.

A new, popular biography from journalist Peter Stanford, looking at Martin Luther from within his Catholic context, examining his actual aims for Catholicism as well as his enduring legacy – and where he might fit within the church today.

‘Peter Stanford makes the life of Luther into a thrilling narrative, told from a modern Catholic perspective’ Antonia Fraser

Author Biography

Peter Stanford’s previous investigations into the history, theology, enduring appeal and cultural significance of religious ideas include: Judas: The Troubling History of the Renegade Apostle; The Devil – A Biography; Heaven – A Traveller’s Guide to the Undiscovered Country; and The She-Pope, an investigation of the Pope Joan legend. His other books include biographies of Bronwen Astor, Lord Longford and the Poet Laureate, C Day-Lewis, plus the polemical Catholics and Sex that became an award-winning Channel 4 series in 1992. He is a senior features writer at the Daily and Sunday Telegraph titles, and contributes to the Independent, the Observer, the Daily Mail and the Catholic weekly, the Tablet, where he is a columnist. He has presented programmes on BBC 1, Channel 4 and Channel 5, as well as BBC Radios 2 and 4 and the BBC World Service.

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