A Song for Else, Part II: The Overthrow

by Christopher J. Zehnder

Peace. This is what Lorenz List seeks: peace for a troubled conscience and an unfulfilled longing. But this peace eludes him until he meets Frater Martin, a scholar of the small, insignificant university of Wittenberg in Saxony. Martin's strange new teaching speaks peace to Lorenz – or does it? For Lorenz soon discovers how this same teachings unsheathes a sword that strikes at the peace of Church, state, and his own soul. A member of Frater Martin's inner circle, Lorenz experiences the hope and terror that stirs Germany but finally shakes her to her foundations. This volume, The Overthrow, continues the story of Lorenz List and “Else” begun in The Vow, Part I of A Song for Else. As he emerges from the dramatic “heroic years” of the German Reformation movement and their climax, the bloody Peasants' War of 1525, will Lorenz find the peace and joy that have so long eluded him?

430 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. While part I struck me as underwhelming the whole work considered together is a masterpiece. From the start of part II the story is convincingly set in the historical context. The theological conflicts that our academic protagonist throws himself into wholeheartedly seem to be the only matter at hand. He believes himself a true evangelical reformer. But before long we see how even mild heresy acts as a truly revolutionary force, rending apart the societal framework. Our protagonist is left behind as a Radical Centrist of sorts while bloodthirsty heretic rebels - peasant and noble alike - cause all sorts of horrors to unfold. The protagonist is really fleshed out as a character in this vilume - his neurotic religiosity makes him recognizable as precisely the sort of person who has no business in theological academia. His great zeal for Luther's heresy blinds him to the evils committed in its name because of course his own mild preaching would never encourage That Sort of Thing.
The author does an excellent job handling the questions of church and state. If he'd solemnly explained through a pious stock character that the state must crush heresy it would be unconvincing. Instead he demonstrates how just and right Christendom was to punish heresy by delving into the horrors that resulted from the flourishing of heretical thought.