[originally from a review I posted on goodreads.com. Check out my profile for more content like this.]
One should practically ignore my rating of this text as it conveys very little of my thoughts on the matter. Luther’s letter to Pope Leo X and his subsequent defense of Sola Fides is masterfully crafted. The Freedom of Christian accomplishes Luther’s goal splendidly. However, I can also see how the shallow Protestantism that so many object to today can spring from such thought.
Luther spent all his effort trying to clear up what is at the core of Christianity, God’s Grace and the Faith that sustains those who live through Him. But I’m not sure I agree with Luther’s tangential claim: because we are free from the demands of works, ceremony, structure, and the law we should eliminate them from our lives when they prove unnecessary. He uses an analogy where he likens ceremony to that of building plans. They are necessary for creating a beautiful and orderly structure but once complete, you set them aside and place your attention upon the structure itself. They are no longer necessary for the enjoyment and use of the space. I’m not sure this analogy works, though. Building plans serve a preparatory pre-role in the building of a structure, whereas ceremony, works, and the law, these things we may actively participate in alongside faith. Luther is correct in saying that they do not supersede faith but cannot they bring greater depth and meaning to our faith?
Consider, for example, the analogy of a picture frame. If I obtained a painting by the great Leonardo da Vinci and proceeded to frame it and place it in my home, no one would say that by adding a frame to the painting I was participating in the actual painting of the work. But you could make a pretty good argument that the frame might compliment or even emphasize the beauty, execution and master-craftsmenship of the painting.
Luther provides the church with its bare bones requirement and he admonishes us that we let nothing supersede it. But why would we simply hold to the barebones. As long as we rightly order all things, are not (as Luther and Paul so eloquently point out) all things permissible; and might some of these things even be beneficial? This is a question I will certainly be pondering for a long while yet.
Wonderstuck 