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Erik Erikson's book on the 'Young Man Luther' is and is not a book on history and on religion and on philosophy. It is a psycho-analytic study of a great man as he developed in his time. It is a clinical study of Martin Luther's torturous search for ego-identity while on his way to greatness through a series of ego-crises. In his book Erikson gives a perfect illustration of a psycho-analytic contribution to existential philosophy.
The book is also a good example for teaching and understanding the relationship between a writer and his subject, between an analyst and his patient; to understand implies to a certain extent to be understood. Thus, this book is as personal as it is mature. It gives faith and hope in our time. Erikson shows something that should be self-evident; the problem of our time is not how to shoot at the moon, but man's search to find himself, his meaning, his place in this world and the essence of his being here. Man's fight for his soul, as Luther would have said, is still the most important task we are trying to accomplish in this life. Freud would have called it