The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther
Overview
Written around 1350 by an anonymous author, this is a simple yet profound book about life in God as it translates into life in the world. This translation was based on Luther’s German edition of 1518. Modern readers will benefit from this celebrated text, so valued by Martin Luther that he translated it himself.
For a massive collection including over a hundred and twenty of the volumes in this series, see the Classics of Western Spirituality Bundle (126 vols.).
- A traditional presentation of a classic German work in an accessible form
- Fully integrates and cross references with other resources from your Logos library
- A resource perfect for advancing Lutheran scholarship
Top Highlights
“This hidden sorrow over man’s sinful condition is an attribute of God’s that He has chosen and that He is pleased to see in man. But it is God’s attribute above all. Sorrow over sin does not finally belong to man; man is not himself capable of it. Wherever God can bring it about in us, it is the most pleasing and most appropriate but at the same time the most bitter and heavy undertaking on which we can enter.” (Page 110)
“Fourth, we have the illumined ones, guided by the true Light. They do not practice the ordered life in expectation of reward. For they do not want to acquire anything with the aid of it, nor do they hope that something will accrue on account of it. No, they do what they do in the ordered life out of love.” (Page 113)
“When I claim something good as my own achievement, in the belief that I am good, or that I can do the good of myself, or that I know the good, or that I am the one that carries out the good as though it came from me, belongs to me, or is my due, and things along this line, when this happens I usurp merit and honor and commit two evils.” (Pages 63–64)
“But he fell at the moment his presumption occurred and that could have happened even if he had not bitten into a single apple.” (Page 62)
“It is a sign of a hireling that he wishes his work would soon end.” (Page 112)
- Title: The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther
- Author: Martin Luther
- Series: The Classics of Western Spirituality
- Publisher: Paulist Press
- Print Publication Date: 1980
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Pages: 224
- Era: era:reformation
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Christian life › Early works to 1800; Mysticism › History--Middle Ages, 600-1500; Christian life
- ISBN: 080912291
- Resource ID: LLS:LGGRMNCMRTNLTHR
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:13:38Z
Martin Luther (1483–1546), one of the most significant figures in Western history, was a key figure in the Protestant Reformation. Over the course of his life, Luther was a monk, a priest, a professor of biblical literature, a Reformer, a husband, and a father.
Luther is most noted for his Ninety-Five Theses (1517), in which he argued that indulgences were not acts of penance which could replace true repentance. His refusal to retract all his writings, demanded by Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521, resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
Luther has been both praised and vilified for what he preached and wrote. Luther’s translation of the Christian Bible into the vernacular greatly influenced the church. His works continue to impact all Christians and animate the movement that bears his name. Luther’s Works (55 vols.) contains many of Luther’s writings, including commentaries, sermons, and lectures.