Eric W. Gritsch was a native of Austria, did his graduate work in Vienna, in Zurich, in Basel, and at Yale, and was Emeritus Professor of Church History at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. He was also an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and an author of numerous books, including Martin--God's Court Jester (1983), The Wit of Martin Luther (2006), Toxic Spirituality (2009), Martin Luther's Anti-Semitism (2012), and Christendumb (2013).