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Luther here argues in German for a full-scale overhaul of the Church, and that the secular powers of emperor and nobility had the authority and the responsibility to act in the face of a corrupted Church, whose members he dismissively referred to as…

In this preface to his key work On the Freedom of the Christian, Luther appeals directly to the Pope in his own defense and to address the failures of the Church. Luther is variously obsequious and brash in making his case:"Among those monstrous…

Unlike his Open Letter to the Christian Nobility, this more theologically nuanced work is composed in Latin (though there were German editions) and addressed to a specialist audience in a more measured tone. Citing the Bible as evidence, Luther…

The woodcut illustration depicts the seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, eucharist (holy communion), penance, marriage, priestly ordination, anointing of the sick.

Arguably Luther’s best-known work, it was reprinted no less that eighteen times in its first few years. It is a searching treatment of key theological and ethical issues such as freedom and grace, and religious quandaries such as: if a person is…

Contains Luther’s "warning to the Jews" of harshest persecution if they did not convert to Christianity.

On the Jews and Their Lies became a core text for subsequent anti-semitism. Excerpts from this work and from his Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ were reprinted in the Nazi era and were used at Nazi rallies. One historian has…

Thomas Müntzer was among the "radicals" initially sympathetic to some of Luther’s teachings, but he and Luther became bitter opponents. Müntzer remained an important figure and his image appeared on the 5 Mark bill of the German Democratic Republic.…

In this work, published after his controversial Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants and after the peak of the uprisings, Luther does not retract his attacks levelled there, which many of his allies and supporters had decried, though he…