Luther's Mighty Fortress in a Crumbling World

In 1529, Martin Luther sat in a cold room in Wittenberg while the Ottoman army marched toward Vienna, the bubonic plague crept through German villages, and the Roman church had declared him a heretic worthy of death. His friend and fellow reformer Friedrich Myconius lay gravely ill. Political alliances that once protected Luther were fracturing. By every earthly measure, the ground beneath him was giving way.…