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