A Year in the Gospels With Martin Luther-2 volume set

by Martin Luther, Paul McCain (Editor)

Of all the books that Martin Luther wrote, none was more widely read and used by common, everyday people than the books containing his sermons. No collection of Luther's sermons was printed in more editions, and distributed and read more widely during Martin Luther's lifetime, than the sermons in this collection.

The sermons in A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther are aimed directly at the whole church. This two-volume set contains Luther's sermons on the Gospel lessons featured in the five volumes of the Church Postils. Because Luther's sermons for the Church Year are among his most popular works, readers will have the "best of" Luther's commentary available as they daily read God's Word.

Genres: Christian

1085 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

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

[Kyle Tomlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a glimpse into Luther the preacher, there’s no better place to go than this two volume set.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the second volume more than the first. The first seemed to have multiple sermons that were relevant then but not at the current time.