The Depressed Luther (Conclusion)

While Luther saw his Anfechtung as essential to spiritual growth he did not view it lightly. The Christian carer needs to view people’s struggles seriously and sensitively, while encouraging people to look to God’s promises and cry out to God in prayer. Then they may emerge from their struggles with deepened faith.

In dealing with people who are suffering from anxiety and depression we need to be conscious that there may be a variety of factors at work.

Osborn’s reflections on Luther’s ‘scruples’, while probably not giving enough attention to Luther’s theology, nevertheless remind us that if the reformer was alive today he may have received a medical diagnosis concerning his depression. Luther’s Anfechtung reoccurred after his theological breakthrough, and was not always directly associated with his own position before God—suggesting that at least part of his trouble lay in his emotional make-up.

This is not to ignore the theological dimensions of Luther’s struggles. We have seen that from childhood the reformer had a distorted image of God. The majority of Luther’s Anfechtung seems to have centred round the personal goodness of God. If someone is not convinced that God is merciful, and is willing to show mercy to them, this will be a source of anxiety. When it came to helping others suffering with similar struggles Luther majored on the application of Biblical truth. The preacher should be aware that there is a pastoral element to their preaching. The Christian should not forget the objective need for forgiveness from God, and the emotional release that comes through experiencing it. While we cannot answer all the ‘whys’ of people’s suffering Luther would direct our gaze to the cross of Christ, where the love of God is seen in its purest form.

Thus when the pastor encounters someone who is struggling with anxieties they ought to consider recommending a trip to a general practitioner as part of their care; and, in an ideal world, when a medical professional comes across someone with a religious dimension to their anxiety they would recommend a visit to a pastor.

The third factor that we observed, contributing to Luther’s Anfechtung, was circumstances. Luther’s emotional struggles were at times heightened by the erroneous pressures he faced. All those who are involved in pastoral care should take into account the external factors contributing to peoples feelings of stress. Dealing with these factors can contribute people being prevented from experiencing anxiety and depression.

Luther's cure for Anfechtung

Luther did not see Anfechtung (his anxiety and depression) simply in a negative light. He stated: ‘If I live longer, I would like to write a book about Anfechtungen, for without them no [person] can understand Scripture, faith, the fear or the love of God. He does not know the meaning of hope who has never being subject to temptations.’ In Table Talk, Luther speaks of the value of Anfechtung declaring, ‘[m]y tribulations are more necessary for me than meat and drink.’ He taught that these ‘tribulations’ keep us from pride and so increase our acknowledgement of Christ, and of God’s gifts and benefits. According to Luther the solution to Anfechtung lies in allowing the tribulation to drive you to prayer and Scripture, and above all to the promises of God. Headley makes the helpful observation that Luther evidently did not think that depression was a shameful problem to be hidden, as he often revealed his own struggles in his works.

When it comes to the help that Luther offered those dealing with Anfechtung he took a ‘deductive’ approach to pastoral care. Ballard and Pritchard explain that the deductive method of relating theory to practice ‘starts with a given truth from which all is deduced.’ In his Treatise of Christian Liberty Luther wrote, ‘where the word of God is missing there is no help for the soul,’ and spoke of the ‘tender spiritual touch’ of absorbing the promises contained in the word of God. Given Luther’s uncritical approach to the Bible, and the help that he received from his theological discoveries it is obvious that the application of Biblical truth would play the leading role in his pastoral care. Central to his understanding of the message of the Bible is the cross of Christ. Luther famously declared, ‘The cross alone is our theology’, and that ‘There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem, which can be understood without reference to the cross.’ Thus our main focus regarding Luther’s care for those who are suffering from Anfechtung will be to see the pastoral task as mediating the word of God, and the central message being mediated as focusing on the cross of Christ.

1.The Pastoral task as mediating the word of God
Wengert points out that teaching and preaching defined the pastoral centre of Luther’s theology and life. The reformer would surely have been in agreement with Prime and Begg who state that the ‘Holy Spirit does the most effective counselling as the Word that He inspired is taught and preached.’ While not all those who are entrusted with the ‘cure of souls’ will be preachers, surely all those who preach should be aware of the pastoral significance of this duty.

As well as giving pastoral care through his formal preaching and teaching Luther was tirelessly involved in providing spiritual counsel to individuals. Luther himself was much involved in pastoral work, as his numerous writings and letters show. Eugene Peterson suggests that the role of the pastor has been secularised (except for Sundays) in much of the contemporary American church. He lists Luther among those who have contributed to forming his pastoral identity, and who help him realise that being a physician of souls takes priority over running a church. One notable feature of Luther’s individual care was the many letters that he wrote. Again Luther would have been in agreement with Prime and Begg, who highlight the place of letter writing among the practicalities of pastoral care.

2. The centrality of the cross.
Nichols states that as ‘one reads through Luther’s sermons, you see the overwhelming emphasis on Christ, his work, and our response.’ Luther recognised that central to this work of Christ is the cross. He declared that the ‘cross of Christ is the only instruction in the Word of God there is, the purest theology.’ As Kolb points out, ‘Luther’s theology of the cross focuses our attention on trust in the God who loves us and promises his presence in the midst of affiliations.’

In the preface to his commentary on Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which deals with this righteousness through faith, Luther declares that ‘I produced these writings (with much labour) only for such as St. Paul wrote this letter to—the troubled, afflicted, vexed, tempted (for only they understand these things)—wretched Galatians in the faith.’ He goes on to say that, ‘the afflicted and troubled conscience has no remedy against desperation and eternal death unless it takes hold of the forgiveness of sins by grace, freely offered in Christ Jesus …’

However, it is not just the objective nature of Christ dealing with sin that relates the cross to those with Anfechtung, as Luther looked at the cross he identified with the fact that Christ experienced Anfechtung himself. In 1518 Luther put forward his ‘Theology of the Cross’ at the triennial public disputation of his order, the Augustinians. There Luther taught that we should think of human existence being similar to the experience of Good Friday. The experience of troubles may lead us to the conclusion that God is inactive or absent. On the cross Christ experienced similar feelings. It is only as we experience Good Friday in light of the resurrection that ‘the strange and mysterious manner in which God was at work can be discerned.’ McGrath writes that ‘Christian existence is life under the cross, life spent in its shadow while we await the dawn of the resurrection’ , and that for Luther, ‘the resurrection demonstrates the superiority of faith in the promises of God over reliance upon experience or reason.’

Thus one helpful aspect of Luther’s theology of the cross is that he does not seek to offer easy answers to the ‘why’ questions that are raised by our suffering. In a Table Talk selection from 1532 he discussed the ‘hidden’ and ‘revealed’ God, stating that ‘[a]part from his Word and his work no one should look for him.’ He went on to instruct his younger disciples gathered around that table, ‘I recommend that speculations be laid aside, and I should like to have this rule adhered to my after by death’. As Kolb points out this ‘theology of the cross redirects our gaze from probing the darkness further and directs those who hurt and ache to cling to Christ, whose love is certain and whose faith is beyond all doubt.’

Before making concluding remarks in the next blog it is worth noting the role personal opinion played in Luther’s pastoral care. Headley is clearly impressed with Luther’s “commonsense approach”. Luther advocated music and singing, God’s work through other believers, the benefit of talking about trivialities, and playing games. While at times he engaged in disputation with the Devil, he warned against doing so when fasting. Bainton points out that once Luther gave three rules for dispelling despondency: ‘the first is faith in Christ, the second is to get downright angry, the third is the love of a woman.’

The anxious Luther

The German word that Luther used to describe his struggles is anfechtung. Anfechtung is a word that does not easily translate into English. Scaer points out that Luther’s concept of anfechtungen is a multifaceted concept that incorporates the ideas of undergoing a period of testing by Satan; of being tested by God who measures the depth and sincerity of faith and brings it to a higher level; and that with anfechtung a person endures real suffering and pain. In this blog I want look at three features of Luther’s anfechtung.

Firstly, it is significant that Luther’s anfechtung persisted over the duration of his life. Bainton notes that there is just one respect in which the young Luther appears to have been different from other youths of his time, ‘he was extraordinarily sensitive and subject to recurrent periods of exaltation and depression of spirit.’ Similarly, Stephen Nichols notes that a series of spiritual crises marked Luther’s early life of study. However, Luther’s struggles were not simply a feature of his early life—for example in 1527 the experienced reformer endured a frightful period of anfechtung of which he later wrote, “for more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell.”

Secondly, we ought to observe that Luther’s anfechtung was religious in nature. Bainton comments upon the fact that the content of Luther’s depressions was always the same, ‘the loss of faith that God is good and that he is good to me.’ Nichols points out how the young Luther was haunted by a medieval sculpture of Christ—depicted as a judge with a sword clenched between his teeth and a piercing stare—that he encountered daily at the university in Erfurt. Atkinson says that while Luther entered monastery life to find peace with God, the closer experience of God which he sought turned out to be a torment and even worse alienation. Luther’s theological breakthrough concerning ‘that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith’ certainly brought emotional benefits but, as we have seen above, his struggles with anfechtung, reoccurred beyond that point.

Thirdly, it is worthy considering how Luther’s circumstances contributed to his anfechtung. The superstitious nature of medieval Christianity would have exerted a toll on a sensitive young man—when Luther was famously caught in a severe storm he feared that God had unleashed the very thunder from heaven to judge his soul. The many physical illnesses that Luther suffered surely affected his mood; however, the severe anfechtung that he experienced in his monastic life predate these physical ailments. The pressures of being a condemned heretic and having to live in exile must have contributed to the spiritual struggles he endured while at Wartburg Castle (1521). Similarly, the impact of the theological radicals, combined with the fact that Luther was still sleeping in his own bed, while his followers were dying for the faith, muct have been a factor in his anfechtung of 1527. However, Bainton writes that although ‘outward events affected him, the very nature of the dark night of the soul is that it may be occasioned by nothing tangible whatsoever.’

In seeking to understand the nature of Luther’s anfechtung we may want to engage with both theological and medical perspectives.

On the theological front, while Nichols is right to state that Luther’s theological breakthrough regarding justification marked a resolution to his long-endured struggles there is a sense in which it seems premature to speak of his struggles as being resolved, given that he would later suffer further battles with anfechtung. Luther’s experiences remind us that although a correct understanding of God’s saving grace should bring the troubled spirit much relief, those, like Luther, with a sensitive nature are not immune from further battles with anfechtung. In the church we have to realise that people’s emotional make-up, physical health, and outward circumstances may make them vulnerable to anxiety and depression, no matter how well they have grasped the truths of the gospel.

An interesting medical comment on Luther is provided by Ian Osborn in a book dealing with the issue of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Citing words found in Luther’s Commentary on Galatians, where the reformer talks of his days as a monk, Osborn points to Luther’s ‘excruciating scruples’ and his preoccupation with being certain that he had confessed all his sins. Osborn later points out that Luther can be described as ‘a melancholic’. It may be, as Osborn is suggesting, that if Luther lived in modern times he would have been diagnosed with a recognised psychiatric illness. This gives us further insight concerning the circumstantial factors that contributed to his anfechtung. It also gives us help when considering how to help people who struggle with similar mental health issues—for while Luther’s theological breakthrough did not make him immune from further bouts of anfechtung we will see in the next blog that teaching about God’s mercy and grace did bring him significant comfort, and was used by him to bring comfort to other fellow sufferers.

The Tender Luther

I am writing an essay on depression with reference to Martin Luther. The following account from his life brought a tear to my eye (I am tired and so probably feeling more emotional than usual!).

Luther's thirteen year-old daughter Magdelena, or 'Little Lena' as the reformer liked to call her, was the apple of his eye. In September 1542 she suffered a severe and swift-moving illness. Just before she died Luther prayed, “I love Magdelena dearly. But if it is your will, dear God, to take her away, I shall be happy to know that she is with you.” He then turned to his daughter and gently asked, “My little Magdelena, my little daughter, would you like to stay here with me, with your father? Yet, you would also gladly go to your Father beyond?”
“Yes, dear father,” she answered, “it is as God wills.”
Luther then said, “You dear daughter. The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak. If her flesh is so strong, what then must her spirit be?”

The Depressed Luther

I consider Martin Luther to be a bit of a hero. I realise that the moment I say this people will want to remind me of his feet of clay. Afterall Luther said awful things about Jews and Anabaptists, and in relation to the peasants’ revolt. I have no desire to defend what he said in such contexts, but I do believe that such spiteful attitudes were not the essence of the man. I do not say this simply because I am an evangelical, who feels indebted to his theological insights. Non-evangelical writers (such as Martin Marty and Roland Bainton) also paint Luther in a generally positive light.

It is often pointed out that Luther suffered from depression. Bainton writes about a young Luther saying, ‘There is just one respect in which Luther appears to have been different from other youths of his time, namely, in that he was extraordinary sensitive and subject to recurrent periods of exaltation and depression of spirit’ (p. 20). This was a battle that remained with him. Like many who have suffered from acute anxiety, Luther repeatedly testified that the torments he suffered were far worse than any physical ailment that he had ever endured. This was no idle observation given that Luther had a number of health problems.

Over the next week I am going to blog some thoughts on Luther’s battle with depression.