Clicking here will take you to the Book Review

Sarah Masters reviews the documentary

Martin Luther

The power of individual charisma resonates throughout this story of an obscure monk who challenges the corrupt and all-powerful Medieval Catholic Church and unleashes forces that plunge Europe into war and chaos.

Martin Luther is a beautifully filmed documentary narrated by Liam Neeson that closely follows the transformation of Luther from a devout monk cloistered in a small German town that is dominated by the Catholic Church to a Protestant revolutionary. The film examines in detail and through expert commentary how he comes to understand that it is his own individual faith and liberty of conscience, and not the Church hierarchy, that will guarantee his salvation.

A very illustrative sidelight of Martin Luther’s influence is how he benefits from the newly invented printing press. The pamphlet criticizing papal authority that he nails to the doors of the Wittenberg Cathedral is carried from town to town and duplicated in further print runs so that, within three months, all of Europe is exposed to his 95 theses.

The camera follows Luther’s pilgrimage throughout Europe, from rural Germany to the Vatican and back as he struggles with the dawning realization that “no institution could believe or atone for you or stand between you and God.” When Luther takes the stand that the Church has no right to sell redemption and that salvation is a gift received through faith he is excommunicated and forced to defend his theses before the Holy Roman Emperor.

One individual’s epic vision of his relationship with God, which destroys the medieval concept of man’s relationship with authority, leads to the collapse of his world and the dawning of the modern age.

Completed: 2002
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Producer/Director: Cassian Harrison

If you are interested in purchasing this film, you can do so at www.hartleyfoundation.org. Just click on “Masterworks” on the homepage for more information. The cost is $19.99/DVD.

Sarah Masters is the Managing Director of the Hartley Film Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to cultivation, support, production and distribution of the best documentaries and audio meditations on world religions, spirituality, ethics and well-being.

Book Review

Chaplain George A. Burn reviews

Spirituality, Health, Wholeness: an introductory guide
for health care professionals

This book is a very fine compilation of multiple issues surrounding the topic of whole person care. Chapters include the titles: “Toward a Theology of Wholeness, Spirituality and Coping with Trauma; Faith, Illness and Meaning; Spiritual Care: Basic Principles; and Spiritual Care of the Dying and the Bereaved.”

I particularly liked that the book is formatted into two sections: Theory and Praxis. Each chapter begins with an introductory statement of the objectives and concludes with several guided questions as a review of the contents of the chapter. It is conceivable that, while using this text as a study guide for CPE students or hospital staff in general, competencies for working with patients around their spiritual needs could be established and tested.

The writers are thoroughly versed in, and have researched the writings within psychology, nursing, and pastoral care journals. This is not simply a reiteration of old material but a carefully prepared and fresh approach. Two writers have theology degrees. The remainder practice clinical psychology. This actually makes this book more useful and may add to its reception by physicians and other hospital staff.

It is well worth purchasing for either a Pastoral Care or hospital library.

Spirituality, Health, Wholeness: An introductory Guide for Health Care Professionals. Siroj Sorajjakool and Henry Lamberton, editors: Haworth Press, 2004, pp 180.

Do you have thoughts about these reviews you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org