But did this really work as a solution to the problem of a tormenting conscience and the concomitant depression? The answer is ambiguous at best. Much of Luther’s Table Talk portrays a lifelong struggle with melancholy.25 When describing the necessity of holding fast to God’s proclamation of forgiveness, Luther comments, “But I preach to others what I don’t do myself.”26 And Erikson reports that toward the end of his life, Luther required people to remind him constantly that God forgave him27 and