Cardinal Yves Congar wrote an interesting essay, « Martin Luther, sa foi, sa réforme » (I do not know if it has been translated into English) that places Luther firmly within a well-established Catholic tradition. Oh, Congar disagrees with Luther on sola fide, but says that Luther overemphasizes faith, and did not really understand James 2, which Luther called "an epistle of straw".

Unfortunately, in Luther's day, both sides were more interested in scoring debating points than in understanding their opponents.