Martin Luther’s Occasional Writings: Table Talk, Letters, and Prefaces

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolf-Friedrich Schäufele
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Table Talk ◽  
Authentic Voice ◽  
Popular Image

Besides the great treatises and the German Bible, there are a number of smaller texts by Martin Luther that can be characterized as occasional writings. They can be roughly divided into table talk, letters, and prefaces. The larger part of these was not originally intended for publication. This is true especially of the so-called table talk. Since 1531 guests at Luther’s table took down his remarks and collected them for their own purposes. Only in 1566 did Johann Aurifaber publish his famous edition of Luther’s Table Talk, which shaped the popular image of the reformer. Today scholars are well aware that the complicated history of the transmission of Luther’s table talk makes it rather difficult to hear his authentic voice. Another important genre of Luther’s occasional writings is his letters. Overall, about 2,600 letters from his hand in both Latin and German are extant. Although he rejected the publication of his private letters, the first collections appeared in print during his lifetime. Other letters had been published by Luther himself as open letters (Sendbriefe) for a wider public. Closely related to these are the prefaces and the dedicatory letters to individuals and groups that Luther added not only to his own books but also to those of other authors. Thus he could use his reputation to establish a large-scale publication campaign in favor of the Reformation.

Martin Luther in Sweden

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Axel Aurelius
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
To Come ◽  
Swedish History ◽  
The 19Th Century

In the Swedish history of Christian thought there are various interpretations of the Reformation and of Martin Luther and his work. In the 17th century, Luther predominately stood out as an instrument of God’s providence. In the 18th century, among the pietists, he was regarded as a fellow believer, in the 19th century as a hero of history, and in the 20th century during the Swedish so-called Luther Renaissance as a prophet and an interpreter of the Gospel. This does not necessarily mean that the interpretations of Luther merely reflect the various thought patterns of different epochs, that whatever is said about Luther is inevitably captured by the spirit of the time. The serious study of Luther’s writings could also lead to contradictions with common thought patterns and presuppositions. One could say that Luther’s writings have worked as “classics,” not merely confirming the status quo but also generating new patterns of thought and deed, making him something rather different than just a name, a symbol, or a flag, which sometimes have been assumed. And one can only hope that his writings will continue to work in the same way in years to come. Anyway the reception of the Lutheran heritage in Sweden is well worth studying since it in some ways differs from the reception in other Evangelic countries.

scholarly journals THE MAIN CONCEPTS OF "RUS CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS REVIVAL" OF THE LAST THIRD OF THE SEVENTEENTH – EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AS A PRECONDITION FOR "THE UNION TRIUMPHALISM" IN THE SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF ANDRZEJ GIL AND IGOR SKOCHILIAS

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Svitlana Bila
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
And Control

Summary. The purpose of the article is to analyze the contribution of Andrzej Gil and Ihor Skochylias to the study of the preconditions for the "triumph" of the union confession in the western dioceses of the Kyiv metropolis in the context of development of new concepts and ideas by these scientists. The research methodology is based on the use of historical-comparative method and methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization. The scientific novelty of the article lies in an attempt to study the innovative concepts of modern scholars on the topic of the history of the union church of the late XVII ‒ early XVIII centuries. Conclusions. The significant source material is the authors’ concept that at the turn of the XVII‒XVIII centuries there was a cultural and religious revival and large-scale modernization reforms in the Kyiv metropolis leading to the formation of an innovative religious model "Slavia Unita". The scholars state that the main initiators and promoters of the Reformation innovations were the uniate metropolitans of Kyiv, representatives of the Basilian order and the local church hierarchy. Implementation and control over the innovations were carried out during regular episcopal and archimandrite visits and episcopal courts. Everything was codified at local diocesan councils. According to historians, this religious model contributed to the formation of a clear union identity and a closer union with European religious culture. At the same time, it contributed to the preservation of the important principles of the Kyivan Christian tradition. There are at least two objective conclusions made by the authors. One of them is that a direct result of this model was "the union triumphalism" and the "golden age of union" in the Kyiv metropolis, and the second one is that the political consequence of "Slavia Unita" is unification around the union denomination of the Rus nation. The Union Church in the Kyiv metropolis became the most widespread confession and an effective representative of the interests of the Rus people.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The World ◽  
Thought Patterns ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions

125 scholarly articlesThe Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther is a collaboration of the leading scholars in the field of Reformation research and the thought, life, and legacy of influence – for good and for ill – of Martin Luther. In 2017 the world marks 500 years since the beginning of the public work of Luther, whose protest against corrupt practices and the way theology was taught captured Europe’s attention from 1517 onward.Comprising 125 extensive articles, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther examines:• the contexts that shaped his social and intellectual world, such as previous theological and institutional developments• the genres in which he worked, including some he essentially created• the theological and ethical writings that make up the lion’s share of his massive intellectual output• the complicated and contested history of his reception across the globe and across a span of disciplinesThis indispensable work seeks both to answer perennial questions as well as to raise new ones. Intentionally forward-looking in approach, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther provides a reliable survey to such issues as, for instance, how did Luther understand God? What did he mean by his notion of “vocation?” How did he make use of, but also transform, medieval thought patterns and traditions? How did Luther and the Reformation re-shape Europe and launch modernity? What were his thoughts about Islam and Judaism, and how did the history of the effects of those writings unfold?Scholars from a variety of disciplines – economic history, systematic theology, gender and cultural studies, philosophy, and many more – propose an agenda for examining future research questions prompted by the harvest of decades of intense historical scrutiny and theological inquiry.

Medieval Heretics as Protestant Martyrs

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 185-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Euan Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Church History ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The Church

Two themes which figure repeatedly in the history of the Western Church are the contrasting ones of tradition and renewal. To emphasize tradition, or continuity, is to stress the divine element in the continuous collective teaching and witness of the Church. To call periodically for renewal and reform is to acknowledge that any institution composed of people will, with time, lose its pristine vigour or deviate from its original purpose. At certain periods in church history the tension between these two themes has broken out into open conflict, as happened with such dramatic results in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. The Protestant Reformers seem to present one of the most extreme cases where the desire for renewal triumphed over the instinct to preserve continuity of witness. A fundamentally novel analysis of the process by which human souls were saved was formulated by Martin Luther in the course of debate, and soon adopted or reinvented by others. This analysis was then used as a touchstone against which to test and to attack the most prominent features of contemporary teaching, worship, and church polity. In so far as any appeal was made to Christian antiquity, it was to the scriptural texts and to the early Fathers; though even the latter could be selected and criticized if they deviated from the primary articles of faith. There was, then, no reason why any of the Reformers should have sought to justify their actions by reference to any forbears or ‘forerunners’ in the Middle Ages, whether real or spurious. On the contrary, Martin Luther’s instinctive response towards those condemned by the medieval Church as heretics was to echo the conventional and prejudiced hostility felt by the religious intelligentsia towards those outside their pale.

The Artist as Reformer

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-160
Author(s):  
David H. Price
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Media Campaign ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Philipp Melanchthon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Passion Of Christ ◽  
Visual Record ◽  
The Church

Lucas Cranach the Elder, a close friend of Martin Luther, not only produced the definitive visual record of the history of the Reformation but also became a major leader in the movement to transform Christianity. From 1518 onward, he designed art to advance the Reformation of the church across Germany and Europe. The Bible stood at the center of his media campaign. Cranach and his workshop designed the first Protestant Bible (1522) as well as subsequent imprints of Luther’s translations. He also developed innovative biblical propaganda (most importantly in the anti-papal Passion of Christ and Antichrist). Frequently in his immense oeuvre (including works designed for both Protestant and Catholic contexts) Cranach anchors the new biblicism in a humanist ideal of the authority of philology. A major accomplishment was his development of the portrait type of the professor of the Bible (preeminently Luther and Philipp Melanchthon) as an icon of the authority of humanist biblical philology for the Reformation.

6. Galatians through history

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-76
Author(s):  
John Riches
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
John Bunyan ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

‘Galatians through history’ studies the rich reception history of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which is one of the shorter works in the Bible. At the turn of the 4th century, it helped shape the new worlds which would emerge as the Roman Empire embraced Christianity. At the Reformation, it was one of the central texts for Martin Luther. Luther’s commentary was a key text for John Bunyan and for the Wesleys. It is important to look at how Paul deals in his letter with the central issue of Law observance and consider how later interpreters of his letter used his ideas and images to shape the life of the Churches in their very different situations.

Martin Luther and Lutheran Orthodoxy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Stegmann
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fundamental Reflection ◽  
Lutheran Orthodoxy

The theology of early modern Lutheranism was based on Martin Luther. From the mid-16th century to the start of the 18th, the theology developed and taught at Lutheran universities in Germany (in modern research called “Lutheran Orthodoxy”) centered on the Lutheran confession and took place within the institutional setting of church and university created by the Wittenberg Reformation. Luther’s theology was pervasive throughout early modern Lutheranism owing to basic confessional material such as the Luther Bible, Luther’s hymns, Luther’s Catechisms, Luther’s book of prayers, Luther’s liturgies, Luther’s homilies, Lutheran confessions, individual and complete editions of Luther’s works, Luther anthologies, and Luther memoria. This orientation reflects not so much an intensive preoccupation with his person and work and fundamental reflection on his authority, but rather stems from the natural presence of Luther in the Lutheran church and its theology. This reception is tangible not only in intertextual references, such as when his work is mentioned, quoted, or paraphrased, but also in the approach, completion, and content of theological thinking. Lutheran Orthodoxy continued contributing to the theological work of the Lutheran Reformation, especially in biblical exegesis, soteriology, and Christology, but also in anthropology, ecclesiology, and ethics. Although Lutheran Orthodoxy at times abbreviated or went beyond some points of Luther’s thought, resulting in a broad spectrum of diverging theological positions, it largely remained within the framework created by the Wittenberg Reformation in the 16th century. In fact, many theological initiatives of the Reformation did not come to fruition until the post-Reformation period, and many theological problems that had remained unresolved were then clarified. Hence, Lutheran Orthodoxy must be regarded as the legitimate heir and authentic interpreter of the theological legacy of the Lutheran Reformation. Because the potential of the Lutheran Reformation can be seen in Lutheran Orthodoxy, examining it can bring a fresh perspective on the history of the Reformation.

A Reappraisal of William Tyndale's Debt to Martin Luther

1962 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Trinterud
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
English Reformation ◽  
Christian Humanism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

The colorful and powerful figure of Martin Luther dominates all study of the early years of the Reformation. Inevitably the first pages of the history of the Reformation in any region will begin with an effort by the author to trace the manner in which Luther's influence reached that area. In the study of the English Reformation one of the common ways of showing Luther's influence is to point to the work of the Bible translator William Tyndale. Numerous books on the English Reformation, on the history of the English Bible, and on Tyndale himself, have made of him a follower and an interpreter of Luther who played a major role in introducing the thought of the great reformer into England. A careful study of Tyndale's works, however, will show that his debt to Luther, and the “Lutheranism” of his views, has been over-stated. Tyndale, like many early sixteenth century religious reformers, made much use of Luther's name, fame, and works but without becoming a follower of those distinctive ideas of the German reformer which set him off from the other advocates of reform at the time. Tyndale's greatest debt was first to Christian humanism and then to the German-Swiss reformers of Zurich and Basel.

A Luther for 2017

2017 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-634
Author(s):  
Ralph Keen
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Religious History ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Religious Reform ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of

The history of the Reformation begins, and often ends, with Martin Luther. The history of Luther's biography is a chronicle of the perspectives from which Luther has been approached. Throughout the twentieth century, with few exceptions, his greatness was accepted as being beyond question, with each interpreter offering a new explanation for the Reformer's heroic place in European religious history. Scott Hendrix has been contributing to Luther studies since Luther and the Papacy (1981); his Short Introduction (2010) and an earlier biography (2009) are marked by lucidity and accuracy. His careful work on the little-known Urbanus Rhegius (1489–1541) and other Reformers has brought these significant participants in the expansion of religious reform out of the shadows of historical oblivion. For care with material and clarity of exposition, Hendrix is well positioned to write the American Luther biography of this anniversary year.

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