Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings

by Martin Luther, John Dillenberger

The development of Martin Luther's thought was both a symptom and a moving force in the transformation of the Middle Ages into the modern world.

Geographical discovery, an emerging scientific tradition, and a climate of social change had splintered the unity of medieval Christian culture, and these changes provided the background for Luther's theological challenge. His new apprehension of Scripture and fresh understanding of man's relation to God demanded a break with the Church as then constituted and released the powerful impulses that carried the Reformation.

Luther's vigorous, colorful language still retains the excitement it had for thousands of his contemporaries. In this volume, Dr. Dillenberger has made a representative selection from Luther's extensive writings, and has also provided the reader with a lucid introduction to his thought.

A large number of Luther's works are presented in whole or excerpted, including:

• The Freedom of a Christian
• A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians
• The Bondage of the Will
• The Pagan Servitude of the Church [aka Babylonian Captivity]
• Two Kinds of Righteousness
• several Biblical Prefaces
• several sermons
• Secular Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed
• An Appeal to the Ruling Class of German Nationality [aka Address to the German Nobility]
• The Ninety-five Theses
• Theses for the Heidelberg Disputation

Genres: Theology, Religion, History, Christian, Classics, Nonfiction, Philosophy

526 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 1958

About the author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.

Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.

Reviews

[kezzie ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 3 out of 5]

✩ 3.75
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[read for high school ‘freshmen year’ great books class]
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i liked our discussions in class that we had.
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that’s why i rated it so high <3

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe we finally finished this book! Well, I read about 2/3 on my own and the other 1/3 or so with my dad. We both really enjoyed it. I already loved Martin Luther as my favorite historical figure, but I really enjoyed getting to know him through his own writing. He is caustic and funny and stern and extremely intelligent. I love his style. I don't like when he gets too pedantic, and I wish Dillenberger had left out the preachier writings, but I did appreciate Dillenberger's editing for the most part. He chose appropriate sermons and tracts to present a broad overview of Luther's writings for a solid understanding of how the man believed and what he really thought and felt.
I highly recommend this book if you are interested in Reformation writing, Martin Luther, and/or theology. I have a lot of underlines and dog ears in this book. It's something I would definitely look back at. Luther's explanations of Scripture and of foundational theology have definitely clarified issues for me and have increased my understanding of the Bible and given me a fuller idea of certain issues I've wondered about. There have been several conversations recently with my parents or my sister that I've begun with, "Martin Luther said..." And they've replied, "Mmm" or, "Wow, I've never looked at it that way." I've used him to add to spiritual conversations or to explain things that I wanted to get across. His words have come into my head in conjunction with Scripture to comfort me or to remind me of important ideas. So that says a lot because we've all been Christians who read the Bible regularly for over twenty years.
That all being said, I'm really glad I read this.

[Dakota Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luther is brilliant. Many times I stopped to remind myself that this guy actually wrote these essays 500 years ago - I often thought I was reading a modern theologian's arguments. The Freedom of a Christian should be read annually by all devoted followers of Christ.

I wonder how Calvin's writing compares, will dig there next.

[Sherif Gerges · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very long book, but it finally helped me understand why Protestantism emerged as a counter-current to Catholicism. It is easy to read and genuinely informative. In some ways the split echoes Orthodoxy’s break with Rome, though Luther pushed his criticism of the Catholic Church much further. Luther seethes with constant invectives against the Pope, his writing is of striking intensity.

[Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the following selections from the book:

-Translator's Introduction
-Luther's Preface to the Complete Edition
-Selected Biblical Prefaces
-The Freedom of a Christian
-Two Kinds of Righteousness
-Commentary on Galatians
-The Bondage of the Will
-Select Sermons on the Catechism
-Sermon in Pleissenburg
-The Pagan Servitude of the Church

Those selections make up the bulk of the book but only some of Luther's writings. But, I read enough to get the gist.

Interestingly, I, like a few others, found Luther's ideas to be compelling and his arguments to be convincing. I was raised to identify as a Catholic but we did not do anything particularly Catholic. I didn't know anything about Christianity apart from a bare minimum of information. Religion was never a part of my life (and continues to play the same role only I now identify as an atheist) but I had somehow managed to absorb the idea that Luther was a heretic and a nut job.

I'm not saying he wasn't both of those. I'm just saying that he seems right about a lot of things. I mean, if you believe in Christ or suspend disbelief to consider the issue, then it seems to me that his whole faith alone argument is solid. Not sure on the sola scriptura, though. He didn't convince me of that one.

This was a very educational read for me. It rid me of many misconceptions I had about Lutheranism. I'm not all that comfortable with this new perspective so I will comfort myself with the knowledge that I continue to cling to my misconceptions about Anabaptists and Albigensians.

[MADISON EVELYN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a primary source was pretty daunting for me! However, the book mentions that these selections were meant for a general audience; for people interested in learning more about Martin Luther. It makes sense that he would write to the general population--that’s what he was all about! I loved getting to understand Luther’s mind and his shift in beliefs. These chosen works were selected perfectly to convey what Martin Luther believed in, major events in his life, and other interactions that made history. It is a great compilation, not hard to read, and very insightful.

[Emily Stem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally readable. Don't be intimidated by Luther.

[liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this funky little Protestant

[Mark Bennon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luther was an excellent writer and spoke with clarity and authority. The ungodly practices of the Roman Catholic church were-and still are-many and he boldly addressed them. Today, where the practices of the modern evangelical church are being invaded with new and contemporary lies, I ask where are the bold pastors that are able to speak a word like the following:

"I am aware that I have spoken strongly, and suggested much that will be felt impossible, and attacked many subjects too severely. But what am I to do? I cannot but speak. If I were able, I would also act. I would rather that the world were wroth with me than that God were. No man can do more than take away my life. Many times heretofore I have proposed peace with my enemies. But as it seems to me, God has used them to compel me to raise my voice even more insistently; and because they are not satisfied, I must speak, shout, shriek, and write till they have had enough. Oh well! I have still a little song about Rome and about them. Their ears are itching for me to sing it to them, and pitch notes in the treble clef. Do you grasp my meaning, oh worthy Rome?"
-Luther, Wittenberg AD 1520 in "An Appeal to the Ruling Class"

[J. Alfred · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Martin Luther wishes salvation to the earnest reader!"
The first sentence of the text is as unexpected as much of the rest: whatever we think, culturally, of Luther, this sort of stern gregariousness is not it. Nor is the respect for the church fathers and Catholic saints, nor are the occasional references to classical authors, nor is the practical advice on the economy to the ruling class. This is a hard work in several ways; its language has, in many cases, been so often used by the Protestant church that it's hard to keep one's attention on the historical situation, and Luther argues pretty closely on several issues that mean little to us five hundred years later. Yet it's a text that very much rewards the effort one needs to put in to punch one's way through it. In addition to gaining a clearer appreciation of the issues that he writes about, one feels that one has been granted something much closer to a first hand experience of one of history's great characters, a guy who by earnest application grabbed hold of a few life changing ideas and was willing to plead, argue, shout and suffer for them in defiance of anybody alive.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book that gives you an insight into the theology of Luther, this will make a great reference book.

[Eric Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpts of treatises and sermons. Especially powerful: "Secular Authority" and "Freedom of a Christian". Great and godly man who obviously especially loved Paul's writings.

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the book I enjoyed very much. It was just the very end, the appendix actually, that I was disappointed by.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luther is not nearly as bombastic in all his writing as he is portrayed.

[Rachel Shallenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so great to read. I bought it for $1.75 at a used book store, an old, ratty paperback with contents that are pure treasure. It took me a couple years to read because there's a lot packed into those little pages, but it was helpful, refreshing, and pretty funny and sarcastic sometimes. Lots of "burnnnnnnn" moments, haha. Highly recommend, especially the writing about submission to authorities, that one seemed particularly pertinent for the times we are living in. 😬✌️

[Arden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this collection of his writings. He speaks on grace and forgiveness, righteousness and the Christian life, love and service so beautifully and clearly. My favorite writing is The Freedom of a Christian.

[Zee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far more accessible than expected but Luther nonetheless occasionally argues, often pridefully, for the contrived or illogical even as he asserts them to be self-evident. Regardless, it's hard not to admire the extent to which so much of his theological perspective is taken for granted nowadays.

[Tomo Holm]

(Luthers skrifter i udvalg, IV, 1964, s. 158-210)

[Philip Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly accessible translation of key works in Luther's early career, with an almost narrative flow to the placement of the essays. A good snapshot of his maturation into a theologian.

[Jackson Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool stuff love Luther very comprehensible

[ربى عبد الغني · Rating 4 out of 5]

A theses that is really worthy of the humanity goals, at least it's not political, it's aim is a religious reform , I will keep saying : " This book will save a life ".

Starting from the Holly Catholic Romanian Church the only official and the Responsible for the Crusades, which dominated the thoughts of Europeans more than a thousand years lasted in a terrible way, say a very strong dominance including the prevention of any opposition, discussion and finally the consideration of all opposers out of debt.

Martin Luther the great German monk, the greatest husband, the religious leader of the revolutionary comprehensive reform against the Catholic Church ,the one with the pure spiritual direction and the one who asked:
How the Lord is pleased with this tyranny? I think that his regular study of rhetoric, logic,

liberal arts, law and most importantly the Bible was very impressive on his thoughts that adopted freedom from the distractions that have accompanied the Romanian Catholic Church and eventually this ended with him being more comfortable with the Bible .

Martin Luther did not attack the Christian faith, but the distractions that have sprung up in the eras of delusion and it turns out in all his writings as he always says: "Religion is ethics and spirituality which are foremost " and as he pointed out absolute loyalty to the Church and to donate to the church are not salvation in the Hereafter but the good deeds that will .

The 95 theses in which the distractions from the pure debt which is revealed by God, it had a great effect on people and it caused an uproar violent ; thus it was normal for a decision to expel him from the Christian and to present him to the commission of inquiry religious, especially after the translation of the Gospel of Latin into German which is one of his greatest works, it immortalized him He explained that all human beings by nature are mis in addition to attacking the popular unreal piety and the rejection of the embodiment of Christ and Mary - peace be upon her - because the Bible says that within the first commandment of the commandments of God not to make statues.

Oh ... God and Christ are not embodied in the Pope and the Church, as a result , the absence of justice and the church alliance with the emperor complicated the religion for people ...

Religion is very simple

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being born of a Norwegian national, in some official sense I may be a member of the national church. However, I wasn't raised that way unless one counts the occasional Easter when Mother would take me to a Lutheran church to hear an interminable sermon. By coincidence, however, Larry Nolden, my best friend in early grade school being Lutheran and my parents not caring, I did attend Lutheran Sunday School for maybe a year during childhood. Fortunately, the teacher was a liberal, so I actually learned more about world religions than about my own ancestral faith.

It wasn't until attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City that I actually learned very much about Luther and Lutheranism--indeed, about the Reformation in general. There I took the first two courses of a three-part sequence of Church History, Cyril Richardson teaching the ancient portion, David Lotz the medieval and reformation periods.

I took to church history sedulously. I had been a history major during the first three years of college and knew European history pretty well, so I had a cognitive framework for what was taught which made things easier. I had also by that time absorbed the bible and early church history, so it was not hard to apprehend where the reformers were coming from. Lotz liked me. I liked him. The historical readings were fascinating. The original source materials, such as Luther's own work as represented by this collection, were less interesting.

Luther has his moments earlier in his career when he was a true reforming idealist. Later, however, after the hegemony of his brand of the one true faith in parts of northern Europe, after he got in with the ruling class, his writing begins to represent more the interests of his patrons--interests often, as in the peasant wars, very much in opposition to the vast majority of the population. Except as a case study in self-serving corruption, this material makes for depressing reading.

[Earl H · Rating 5 out of 5]

The selected writings of Luther in this collection are placed in topical sections but I read them based on the date they were written to give me insight of Luther's thinking and insights over time. In this way you get a perspective of his views during various situations he was living in and how it impacted his thoughts and faith life. The author here puts Luther's preface for his Latin writings in the beginning of this collection. It should be placed at both the beginning and end. Then when one starts this collection they should annotate their thoughts and at the end make a brief summary then reread their beginning notes to compare their views. How do those views reconcile at completion? Is your faith journey in life like this? Why or what is different? As Luther says, learning, reading, writing, and teaching expanded his faith to the point where he sensed he was “born again”. An awesome story to pass on to humanity.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell us what you really think, Martin Luther:

"Oh, listen to that; you dunce, where is it written in God's Word that Father Pope and Brother Cardinal are the true church? Was it because that was what the fine parrot bird said to the black jackdaw?"

"Hence it is again to be diligently noted how Christ described his church for us; for this description is a strong thunderbolt against the miserable pope and his decretals by which he has made of the church of God a filthy privy."

"But the Leipzig Lecturer, as befits a vigorous and hefty German, uses a great many lines of his title-page to proclaim his name, his life, his sanctity, his knowledge, his fame, his honours, and almost his wooden shoes."

Were he alive today, the news-talk shows would be fighting to have Luther as a guest.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that he was a catalyst for change and he promoted religious freedom but I truly believe he was off on much of his doctrine, such as that salvation is a gift from God by grace in the belief of Jesus Christ. Well that would mean that it doesn't matter what anyone does in their lives, good or bad, because grace will save them in the long run. Good ideas, which spurned the change for better ones.

[Cay Hasselmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book, but you need to understand it from the time being. It is easy to rip it apart and to condemn Luther for his words on Jews, politics or on some reference of things not in the bible as some pointed out. Forgetting that he was the first man in a long time to refer to the bible and also the first to translate it in a modern language.

What I really like is the selection here of all different types of his writing from the young to the old Luther.

[Mohamad Ballan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection and translation of the most significant writings of one of the most important individuals in history. The translations are preceded by a very useful introduction. The index is also quite excellent and will be greatly appreciated by many who are researching Luther or the Reformation. Highly recommended.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disagree with pretty much everything he has to say, but I enjoyed the writing more than I thought I would. He was a fairly articulate guy. I admired this book the way you admire presidential speeches. They're always brilliantly worded, but generally pretty empty.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned for Alan Jacobs's class at Baylor on the Early Modern Age (Spring 2014). From this text, I read only the Preface to Latin Writings (pp. 12), and the selections from Bondage of the Will (pp. 166-203), because I read the other assignments in another volume.

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most books are rated related to their usefulness and contributions to my research.
Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.