Reformation Bibliography #3: Martin Luther & the Reformation in Germany

1. LUTHER: BIOGRAPHY & THEOLOGY

Few ages have produced personalities as fascinating as those of the Reformation. Perhaps the best way to begin a study of the period is by reading biographies. And Luther, the man who sparked it all, is certainly the one to begin with. There are many, varied interpretations of Luther. This is a sampling of some of the best:

Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, 1483-1521; Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521-1532; and Martin Luther: the Preservation of the Church, 1532-1546 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990-1994) paperback, $30 per volume. This massive 3-volume biography is the current standard. An excellent synthesis of a vast world of scholarship. Brecht brings both balance and precision—and still tells the story well.

Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther’s Theology: Its History and Systematic Development, trans. Roy A. Harrisville (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999) hardcover, $43. Luther was an unusually prolific writer—over 70 volumes—and his theological work is as wide-ranging and as impassioned as that of Augustine. Lohse offers a valuable survey of Luther’s often paradoxical theology. A good place to start.

Donald McKim, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) paperback, $23. A valuable set of up-to-date essays by leading Luther scholars.

Martin E. Marty, Martin Luther, Penguin Lives (New York: Viking, 2004) hardcover, $20. Like other volumes in this series, this is an unusually concise and crisply written volume. For those looking for a brief biography of Luther, this is a good place to start. Marty, though Lutheran, is really a specialist in American church history. So go to Brecht for a more nuanced scholarly treatment.

Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, trans. Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966) paperback, $25.

David V.N. Bagchi, Luther’s Earliest Opponents: Catholic Controversialists, 1518-1525 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991).

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Biography of Martin Luther (1950: reprint: New York: Penguin, 1995) paperback, $14. A vivid, entertaining portrait of Luther—dated and biased in Luther’s favor.

Heinrich Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 1521-1530 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983).

Christopher Boyd Brown, Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation, Harvard Historical Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005) hardcover, $40.

Gerhard Ebeling, Luther: An Introduction to His Thought, trans. R.A. Wilson (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972). A fine survey, but not easy reading.

Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Luther and the False Brethren (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975). A valuable account of Luther’s debate with fellow evangelicals, those one-time allies whom Luther thought had gone over to the devil: Karlstadt, Muntzer, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, and Schwenckfeld.

Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Luther’s Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-1546 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983) paperback.

Eric W. Gritsch, A History of Lutheranism (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002) paperback, $29.

James M. Kittelson, Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career (reprint: Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993) paperback, $19.

William H. Lazareth, Christians in Society: Luther, the Bible, and Social Ethics (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001) paperback, $22.

Walther von Loewenich, Luther’s Theology of the Cross (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1976).

Walther von Loewenich, Martin Luther: the Man and His Work (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986).

Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Thought, trans. Robert C. Schultz (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986) paperback, $23.

Tuomo Mannermaa, Christ Present in Faith: Luther’s View of Justification (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2005) paperback, $18.

Richard Marius, Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press / Harvard University Press, 1999) hardcover, $35. Marius’ account has met with mixed reviews.

Alister E. McGrath, Luther’s Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther’s Theological Breakthrough (reprint: Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990) paperback, $41.

Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2 volumes (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986) paperback, $20 each.

Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, trans. Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart (New York: Image, 1989) paperback, $17.

Franz Posset, ed., Frontrunner of the Catholic Reformation: The Life and Works of Johann van Staupitz, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Ashgate Publishing, 2003) hardcover, $125.

E. Gordon Rupp, Luther’s Progress to the Diet of Worms (New York: Harper & Row, 1964). A classic.

E. Gordon Rupp, The Righteousness of God: Luther Studies (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1953). A series of splendid essays on Luther’s life and thought; see the title essay and the “Luther and ...” essays.

Bryan Spinks, Luther’s Liturgical Criteria and His Reform of the Canon of the Mass, Grover Liturgical Study 30 (Bramcott Notts: Grove Books, 1982).

David C. Steinmetz, Luther in Context, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2002) paperback, $20. A fine collection of essays.

David C. Steinmetz, Luther and Staupitz: An Essay in the Intellectual Origins of the Protestant Reformation (Durham: Duke University Press, 1980).

David C. Steinmetz, Misericordia Dei: The Theology of Johannes von Staupitz in its Late Medieval Setting, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968).

2. LUTHER: TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

The complete writings of Luther are found in the D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, ed. J.K.F. Knaake, et al. (Weimar, 1883)—usually referred to as the “Weimar edition” and abbreviated WA. A superb English translation of Luther’s writings is Luther’s Works, 55 volumes, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia / Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1955-1975)—usually referred to as “the American edition” and abbreviated LW. This translation includes valuable notes. See also:

Timothy Lull, editor, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989) paperback, $30. Luther was a skilled popularist and had a gift for satire and for the well-turned phrase. He is easy and enjoyable to read. This is the most complete anthology of Luther’s works to date, and the translations are first-rate, drawn from the “American edition.” Included: the 95 Theses, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of the Christian, Invocavit Sermons, Confession Concerning the Lord’s Supper.

John Dillenberger, ed., Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings (Anchor Books, 1958) paperback, $15. One of the popular textbook editions of Luther’s works.

Bengt Hoffman, ed., The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1980) paperback, $20. Despite the title, not by Luther himself, but published (and thus recommended) by him.

Martin Luther, Three Treatises, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990) paperback, $17. A helpful edition of the “Reformation Treatises” (The Address to the Christian Nobility, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of the Christian.

E. Gordon Rupp, ed. Luther and Erasmus on Free Will, Library of Christian Classics (reprint: Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1995) paperback, $35.

Eric Lund, Documents from the History of Lutheranism, 1517-1750 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002) paperback, $30.