Report for Hist 141 - Book Report/Review Example

As a result, historical accuracy is less important than demonstrating Erikson’s theories. In spite of this, Young Man Luther is one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, changing how people thought of both Luther and the Protestant Reformation. In Young Man Luther, Erikson attempts to answer the question, “How does a young man dedicated to monastic living get to the point of rebelling against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and speaking out against what he thought was its erroneous teachings?

” Erikson’s answer is the identity crisis, and his description of Luther’s life up to the point that Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church in 1517 supports it. According to Erikson, Luther grew up in a time where the harshness of “guilt and sadness” (18) was such a part of society that it drove Luther into the monastery. Luther’s father, a peasant turned capitalist, wanted his son to become a successful lawyer and then enter political life, but a freak accident—a lightning bolt nearly missing him—along with a sense of dissatisfaction about the path his father had chosen for him, convinced Luther, despite his father’s great disapproval, to enter the monastery. . perience as Luther’s identity crisis and caused by the stress of his feelings of guilt regarding his inward yearnings and the betrayal of his father’s wishes.

As commentator Tom Butler-Bowden (2007) stated, “He [Luther] was caught in a terrible no-man’s-land of identity. Whatever he thought he was, it was painfully clear that he was not” (324). In spite of Luther’s lack of self-confidence, he quickly ascended the ranks of the church and became a vicar of eleven monasteries by 1515, even though he became increasingly disturbed by church teachings and practices such as requiring worldly penance for sins and the sales of indulgences. It came to a head in October 1517, when he published the Theses, thus starting the Protestant Reformation.

Interspersed throughout the history of Luther’s life and the beginning of the Reformation is Erikson’s interpretation of these events. Understanding these events requires an understanding of Erikson’s theories. Erikson is best known for his psychodynamic theories of psychotherapy, and for his nine stages of human development, which he believed everyone goes through, from birth to death. This is not the place to describe all his stages, but it is important to understand that in order to progress through each stage, one must experience an identity crisis, which propels us to grow and develop through the stages.

Erikson uses the life of Martin Luther and the events surrounding Luther to illustrate how Luther’s identity crisis propelled him to rebel against the Church and begin the Reformation. Erikson believed that rebellion most often occurs when one is young, but that we must strongly believe in what we are rebelling against before we can rebel. Young people must have a strong attachment to their parents before they