Chapter XXXVI: The Darker Side of Luther’s Inner Life

HIS AILMENTS _pages_ 99-186

1. EARLY SUFFERINGS, BODILY AND MENTAL.

Fits of fear, palpitations, swoons, nervousness; his
temptations no mere morbid phenomena _pages_ 99-112

2. PSYCHIC PROBLEMS OF LUTHER’S RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT.

Temptations to despair. The shadow of pseudo-mysticism.
Temptations of the flesh _pages_ 112-122

3. GHOSTS, DELUSIONS, APPARITIONS OF THE DEVIL.

The statements regarding Luther’s intercourse with the
beyond and his visions of the devil. The misunderstood
reference to his disputation with the devil on the
Mass. His belief in possession and exorcism _pages_ 122-140

4. REVELATION AND ILLUSION. MORBID TRAINS OF THOUGHT.

His conviction that he was the recipient of a special
revelation; his apparent withdrawals of this claim. His
so-called “temptations” viewed by him as confirming his
mission; his persuasion that the Pope is Antichrist,
that his opponents are all egged on by the devil and
that no man on earth can compare with him. His tendency
to self-contradiction; his changeableness, his feverish
polemics _pages_ 141-171

5. LUTHER’S PSYCHOLOGY ACCORDING TO PHYSICIANS AND
HISTORIANS.

Whether Luther’s mind was abnormal, or whether all
his symptoms are to be explained by uric acid, or by
degeneracy _pages_ 172-186

CHAPTER XXXVII. LUTHER’S LATER EMBELLISHMENT
OF HIS EARLY LIFE _pages_ 187-236

1. LUTHER’S LATER PICTURE OF HIS CONVENT-LIFE AND
APOSTASY.

The legend about his first appearance on the field
of history. His supposed excessive holiness-by-works
during his monastic days _pages_ 187-205

2. THE REALITY. LUTHER’S FALSIFICATION OF HISTORY.

Inward peace and happiness in his monastic days; his
vows and their breach; some peculiarities of his
humility; his feverish addiction to his work; the facts
around which his later legend grew _pages_ 205-229

3. THE LEGEND RECEIVES ITS LAST TOUCH; HOW IT WAS USED.

Forged in the solitude of the Coburg. His
characteristic passage from the “I” to the “we.” His
monkish “experience” useful to him _pages_ 229-236