Martin Luther
340 pages
This two-volume translation of the major texts produced by Luther in the critical years of the Reformation.
Volume I: The Basis of the Protestant Reformation. The four years from the Wittenberg disputation of 1517 to the Diet of Worms in 1521 provide one of the most dramatic stories in human history. In those years a young theological tutor emerged from obscurity to disrupt Western Christendom and to refashion a large part of it. They were years of prodigious activity for Luther himself, and there can be no true understanding of the Reformation apart from the writings, some long, some quite short, which came from his pen during those years. Lee-Woolf has done great service to the study of Luther by translating the most significant of these writings. Introductions and explanatory notes make clear their historical context. The student will find them invaluable. Lee-Woolf's lively and virile translation makes the authentic Luther step out of the pages, and brings the reader close to great events which are still formative in the life of the Church and the world.
Volume II: The Spirit of the Protestant Reformation. In this second volume of the Reformation Writings of Martin Luther there are two focal points of interest - the dramatic event at Worms, 1521, as seen in contemporary accounts as well as mirrored in Luther's own writings, and Luther the pastor, at pains to build up simple folk in the Christian faith and life. Luther's immense Biblical understanding as shown in his Prefaces to the Psalms and the New Testament, and his exposition of the Church's worship contained in the Preface to the Lord's Supper and Order of Service, provide a luminous insight into Luther's mind and purpose. The volume is very aptly sub-titled The Spirit of the Reformation. As before, Lee-Woolf's translation brings to life the writer, his thoughts, and his times.