Browse Items (8955 total)
Sort by:
Vnterricht der Visitatorn an die Pfarhern ym Kurfurstenthum zu Sachssen; Title page recto
This book represents the first attempt to organize the Reformation within a given territory. These are the "Saxon Visitation Articles", intended to guide the Saxon government representatives charged with bringing order, and raising the level of…
Eyn Deutsch Theologia das is Eyn edles Büchleyn, von rechtem vorstandt, was Adam vnd Christus sey, vnd wie Adam yn vns sterben, vn[d] Christ ersteen sall; Title page recto
Luther edited and wrote the preface to the Theologia Germanica. This anonymous 14th century mystical work enjoined union with God and self-renunciation and was a favorite of Luther’s. In addition to its theology, the fact that it was written in…
An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation : von des Christlichen standes besserung / D. Martinus Luther. ..; Title page recto
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…
Epistola Lutheriana ad Leonem decimum summum pontificem Tractatus de libertate Christiana; Title page recto
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…
De captivitate babylonica ecclesiae / praeludium Martini Lutheri; Title page recto
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…
Eyn Sermõ von dẽ hochwirdigen Sacramẽt, des hyeligen waren Leychnamss Chrsiti. und võ den Bruderschafften / D.M.L.A; Title page recto
The woodcut illustration depicts the seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, eucharist (holy communion), penance, marriage, priestly ordination, anointing of the sick.
Von der freyheyt eynes Christen menschen / Martinus Luther. Czu Vuittenbergk Im XX iar; Title page recto
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…
Vier Predigten des Ehrwirdigen herrn D. Martini Luthers, zu Eisleben vor seinem abschied aus diesem leben gethan; Title page recto
Contains Luther’s "warning to the Jews" of harshest persecution if they did not convert to Christianity.
Dr. Martin Luther: Wider die Jüden, vierhundert Jahre deutschen Ringens gegen jüdische Fremdherrschaft, von E.V. von Rudolf [pseud.]; Title page recto
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…
Des Christlichen Pawren getrewen radt : Wie die Christglaubig seel ein gesprech mit dem menschlichen fleysch teglich halten vnd betrachten sol; Title page recto
Published in Zwickau, a hotbed of the radical appropriation of his ideas that Luther came to disdain. The caption for the woodcut reads: "In human terms I am a peasant. God gives his grace where he thinks fit." Diepold Peringer, author of this item…
Eyn brieff an die Fürsten zu Sachsen von dem auffrurischen geyst / Martinus Luther. ; Wittemberg. 1524; Title page recto
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.…