The bestselling toy in the history of the German-based Playmobil toy company is Martin Luther. Putting Martin Luther on the market for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation was quite an ingenious strategy. A great deal of   hype surrounds Martin Luther in Germany in 2017, including television specials, publications, and year-long events in various cities.

Reformation Before Luther

My computer often reminds me of important spiritual truths. For example, when it begins to respond sluggishly, erratically, or unreasonably, I perform a “System Restore” exercise that resets all operations to an earlier point in time. This reset button allows the computer to perform as it did before problems started.

Jacob Arminius (1559 – 1609) was a Dutch pastor and scholar who spent most of his career as a pastor in Amsterdam. He served as professor of theology at the University of Leiden for about 6 years before dying of tuberculosis in 1609.  His pastoral spirit and sensibilities cannot be overestimated and were clearly present throughout the entirety of his career, including his theological writings.