Protestants of all stripes have long read at least a few of Martin Luther’s works, but 21st-century readers need guidance and encouragement. Stephen Nichols’s Martin Luther provides both.

After an exciting overview of Luther’s life and theology, Nichols orients the reader to some of the Reformer’s major works: The Bondage of the Will, The Three Treatises, The Small Catechism, and On the Councils and the Church. Luther’s ethical writings, "table talk," hymns, and sermons also receive due attention. "A Select Guide to Books by and about Luther" concludes this volume, which displays more than 20 illustrations.

"I have chosen the texts and issues that seem to be both pivotal and prominent in Luther’s thought," writes Nichols. "This encounter is intended to serve as the gateway for further exploration in his life and thought."

"How do you write a book that’s easy to read and yet is theologically precise? How do you do a book on everything from training of children to hymns to preaching to political conflict—and have it always full and running over with the glorious gospel, which Luther found again for the whole Christian world? Well, Nichols has done it." —D. Clair Davis