Taking its title from a wistful statement by Martin Luther, in which the Reformer hoped that God would be gracious to a wise pagan like Cicero, this work follows Cicero's influence on educational systems over the centuries, with a special focus on Lutheran traditions. Luther's reputation as one often at odds with classical philosophy and rhetoric makes this a provocative approach. What might a Roman bureaucrat like Cicero have had to teach a German Reformer who was famously hostile to the Roman Catholic authorities of his day? As author Carl Springer shows in this book, Luther appreciated Cicero as a public servant and teacher.

To demonstrate positive uses of Cicero in Luther's thought, Springer notes that Cicero was among Luther's most cited authors from antiquity. As a youth, Luther was raised in educational programs built upon classical Latin writers like Cicero and Quintilian. As a Reformer, Luther and his colleagues designed curricula that valued bona litera for its role in nurturing knowledge and building character. As a translator and author, Luther appreciated clear communication and honest powers of persuasion. Recognizing that Luther could be very critical of rhetoric and philosophy, Springer writes, “while Luther may not always be judged to be all that Ciceronian, he is never unrhetorical. Indeed, his rhetorical self-deprecation can itself be seen as an expression of a time-honored (and effective) rhetorical strategy, rhetorica contra rhetoricam” (75). In contrast to many studies that take an either/or approach to the relationship between humanism and the Reformation, Springer's work consistently makes nuanced observations about how Luther and his colleagues engaged the Greco-Roman classics.

The chapters flow well together, beginning with an introduction to Cicero and his place in the Western canon, before moving to a study of Cicero's reception among Renaissance humanists and church Reformers, such as Luther and Philip Melanchthon. Chapter 3 examines Lutheran educational reforms of the sixteenth century and considers the many ways Luther and Melanchthon positively employed classical rhetoric and dialectic in their writings and reforms. Chapters 4 and 5 are more diffuse, as they examine positive and negative receptions of Cicero in the centuries after the Reformation in Europe and North America. Adding to the book's overall readability, Springer cites most Latin phrases in both the original and in translation, so that nonspecialists can follow the discussion and those familiar with Latin can read key passages directly.

Cicero in Heaven is valuable and enlightening as a hybrid study of religion and the humanities. Further, it not only examines Cicero's influence but also models the effective use of Ciceronian writing: it persuades and it delights. While investigating how classical rhetoric impacted the Lutheran Reformation, Springer's prose frequently moves from the descriptive to the poetic, as demonstrated here: “Luther used both the German and Latin tongues in a masterful way; he was blessed with a keen sense of audience, a high degree of rhetorical self-awareness, and an uncanny ability to achieve powerful effects with either language” (62). In countless places, this book combines fascinating ideas with wonderful turns of phrase. Like the joy that comes from a lecture delivered by a professor who knows and loves the subject, it was a pleasure to read this book, even—and especially—in its Ciceronian meanderings and musings.