About This Book
The volume examines the reformer's involvement in high-profile princely marriages and the controversies they provoked, detailing his pragmatic advice on divorce and polygamy, engagement with rulers' requests, and the discreet handling of politically sensitive opinions. It then probes tensions between private conscience and public statements by surveying instances where he softened, concealed, or distorted facts to protect reforms or allies, and evaluates critiques from fellow theologians. Interwoven analysis of correspondence, polemical writings, and table-talk material illuminates the moral, social, and psychological dimensions of his leadership amid confessional and political pressures.