Quotes from Theology of the Heart
     

 On healing, from p. 47.
      In 1528, during a period of illness, Luther wrote to a friend "Christ has so far triumphed. I commend myself to the prayers of yourself and the brethren. I have healed others, I cannot heal myself." Indirectly Luther poses the question whether prayer and healing must necessarily result in physical improvement. It appears that Luther would answer'no' to this query. The main point is the relation to Christ. The British healer, Dorothy Kerin, writes on this matter: "Our beloved Lord did not come to take away all pain from the earth, but he did come to share it, all of it, whenever he can get to it."
      WB [Dr. Luther's letters] 4, 319, 7-11 (1528).
      Dorothy Kerin, Fulfilling (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969), p. 52.


      On Life after Death, from p. 55.
      In Martin Luther's writings one finds much evidence his faith also embraced the conviction that life continues after death, not in sleep or semi-sleep, but in a wakeful condition. This thought often emerges when the Reformer wants to depict a true Christian's martyrdom. Most of the   time we are probably unaware that for decades Martin Luther lived under the constant threat of plots against his life and therefore martyrdom became a part of his picture of the lot of a Christian. A part of faith's triumph over a world that seems to have all the advantages on its side is precisely the "knowledge" that life continues after physical death. 

Perhaps the martyr awaits a sentence.
      He is to be hanged, beheaded, burned, or drowned. Then, too, a road stretches out before him that he must walk. . . . a way that he cannot see, on which feet cannot tread, on which he cannot travel by wagon. Yet, one commonly says: "He is departing, he is gone." But this is not to be taken in a physical or literal sense . . . our reasoning ceases to function and neither knows nor understands how the transition from this life to that one takes place, much less how and by what means it is to be attained. (W[Luther's writings] 45: 494, 21-35 (1537). LW 24: 37-38.)


      On being human, from p. 76 and p. 88.
      I am a human being; that is indeed more than to have the title of prince. (Luther in his writings--W 45; 15, 3-4 (1537)

      Sadhu Sundar Singh told the following: 'It became clear to me that the heart of man is God's throne and castle. When he deigns to live there heaven begins, and God's kingdom is there." Luther translated Jesus' words 
about the Kingdom in the manner of the mystics: entos hymon means "inwardly in you." In spite of fact that the words were directed to a group of insensitive Pharisees--or perhaps just because of it--Luther took for granted that an echo from that world always lingers in the valleys of    our heart. However, for lengthy periods the sound of that echo is distorted by our sinful acts. Nevertheless, we can hear that tone not least from Luther's own story about his mystical salvation experience, his iberation from the difficult struggle with the meaning of "God's      righteousness."


      In conclusion, p. 263.
      Our focus on "the mystical Christ" and "the mystical Incarnation" in Luther's testimony has brought us to the central point and the secret in his battle for his own and the church's liberation. Although he, at least on the surface, fought against a clericalism that ossified the message, whereas we fight against a secularism that dissolves it, perhaps we recognize here our own longing after wholeness in God and to be useful among men. What is more, perhaps there is confirmation of our feeling that Christ, in friendship and majesty, is never far from us.