Book Review: Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World by Paul L. Maier

Author: Paul L. Maier
Illustrator: Greg Copeland
Hardcover: 32 Pages
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Publication Year: 2004
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0758606265
ISBN-13: 978-0758606266

I wanted to extend a word of thanks to the kind folks at Augsburg Fortress for sending me a review copy of Paul L. Maier’s Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World.

Paul L. Maier is Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University. His areas of research include manuscript and text analysis, archaeology, and the comparison of secular and sacred sources from the first century A.D. Dr. Maier also serves as the second vice-president of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Two of his more recent publications are More Than a Skeleton (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003) and (with H. Hanegraaff), The Davinci Code-Fact or Fiction? (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2004). A forthcoming work is titled: The Real Story of the Flood, which is scheduled to be released by Concordia Publishing House in July 2008.

This short book tells the story of the adult life of the great reformer Martin Luther. It touches on many of the key events that shaped his life and religious convictions. (i.e. encounter on the road to Erfurt, challenges as a monk, the after of effects of the 95 theses, etc.) While, this is categorized as a children’s book, it will be enjoyable to adults and children alike. The writing of Dr. Maier and the beautiful illustrations of Greg Copeland make this book a joy to read and look at. Maier does a great job of expressing the challenges Luther faced in trying to come to terms with salvation as expressed by scripture versus the teachings of the church of his day. The reader will get a sense of the great courage it must have taken for Luther to face the huge obstacles that were constantly before him. I would highly recommend this book to anybody wishing to introduce their family to the life of Martin Luther and the reformation. If you appreciate this work, I would also commend several other illustrated children’s books by Dr. Maier:

• The Very First Christmas (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1998)
• The Very First Easter (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999)
• The Very First Christians (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2001)
• The Real Story of the Flood (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2008)

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