Thirty-five Years of Luther Research

By Johann Michael Reu

"Thirty-five Years of Luther Research" by Johann Michael Reu. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 4064066066369

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Johann Michael Reu

Thirty-five Years of Luther Research

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4064066066369

Table of Contents

Factors Which Brought About a New Period in Luther Research

Fields in Which New Material Was Discovered

New Editions of Luther's Works

Researches on Particular Phases of the Life and Theology of Luther

Important Luther Biographies

Luther in the year 1543 Frontispiece.png

Luther in the year 1543.

Engraved by F. W. Bollinger after a painting by Cranach.

INTRODUCTION

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EXCEPT the small work of Boehmer, cast in popular form, there is no complete treatment in English of the many problems in the Life of Luther that have been raised and investigated by scholars since the Four Hundredth Anniversary of his Birth in 1883. Hence The Lutheran Church Review requested the brilliant source-scholar, Prof. M. Reu, D.D., of Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, to prepare a Life of Luther in Recent Research, and published it in several special numbers. This work is so thoroughgoing, satisfactory, and important, and has been so enthusiastically received by readers, that the Joint Lutheran Committee on the Celebration of the Quadricentennial of the Reformation was moved to advise its separate publication.

It is the most up-to-date, fresh, and scholarly presentation of the subject in the English language, and will be of invaluable assistance to all Protestants who desire to gain an insight into the present Luther situation, and to become convinced of the justice of the Protestant cause.

Theodore E. Schmauk,

Chairman of the Joint Lutheran Quadricentennial Committee.

FOREWORD

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THESE essays make no further pretensions than to afford a comprehensive survey of the immense amount of work done in the field of Luther research since 1883, and thus to serve as a reliable guide through the wealth of Luther literature for any one anxious to examine the whole or to subject this or that phase to intensive study. Since these essays were not to develop into a ponderous volume the author was ofttimes forced to content himself with the mere mention of certain studies instead of detailing their results and outlining the reasons for the same. The chapters: Luther and the Scriptures, Luther and the German Language, and Luther and England, have not appeared in the Lutheran Church Review, but have been written especially for the book-edition; and the chapter, Rome's Procedure Against Luther, is much enlarged, and many minor additions have taken place.

After the plan for this work had already been sketched and certain sections finished the splendid essay by Kawerau, Fuenfundzwanzig Jahre Lutherforschung, published in Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1908, came under the author's notice. The occasional use of this is herewith gratefully acknowledged.

Though it is a fundamental principle of all scientific work, not to quote anything which has not been personally examined, the wealth of the literary material in question and the remoteness of the author's place of residence from many of the literary treasures, precluded the ​possibility of applying this principle in each and every instance, a fact which is very much regretted. For those who wish to continue further research the remark will not come amiss that the University of Chicago possesses a large part of the literature here mentioned, and that its library includes a splendid collection of German theological magazines.

That these essays are here presented in readable English is due to the labors of the Revs. E. Groth of Casselton, N. D., and Emil H. Rausch of Waverly, Iowa, who kindly furnished the English copy.

Dubuque, Iowa, March, 1917.

M. Reu.

ILLUSTRATIONS

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Factors Which Brought About a New Period in Luther Research

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THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF LUTHER RESEARCH

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I. FACTORS WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT A NEW PERIOD IN LUTHER RESEARCH

In connection with the preparation for the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of Luther's birth there began in the early eighties a period of research into the life of the great reformer which continues even today. In point of thoroughness, unflagging zeal, comprehensive and scientific character, this period has outdistanced every previous effort in the same direction.

This can hardly be explained by the fact that Lutheran theology and learning possesses an inherent instinct to investigate, an instinct that may lie dormant at times, only ever to be revived to greater action. A revival of this nature generally responds either to the intensification of the Christian life or to external conditions. The first can hardly be assumed at that time, and as for the second, it is just these external conditions that we have to consider. Even the anniversary of Luther's birth and the preparation for the coming jubilee of 1917 do not fully explain it. Otherwise the research into the life of Luther would have been marked by a similar intensity during the period from 1783 to 1817. We shall hardly go amiss if we assume that there were primarily two factors, working hand in hand, which made possible this period and gave it its singular character.

​In the first place, entirely new methods and principles of research had been established in the study of history. Historians were no longer content to develop the commonly accepted