A Review of Luther by S.T. Karnick.
This is a film review but, like many of his pieces, Karnick provides us with a free history lesson, and, if you’ve been as lazy about reading pre-Civil War materials as I’ve been, it is highly valuable.
Holding his position firmly though he is nearly paralyzed by fear, Luther says that unless the authorities can show that his teachings contradict the Bible, he cannot disavow them: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” Pressed to recant his writings or face death, he responds with words that still ring heroic, regardless of one’s religious leanings: “I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.”
I put his words in the foreward of my book but they still affect me.