Dorina costras biography of martin luther

A BIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER: WITH BRIEF REFERENCES TO HIS CONTEMPORARIES

A BIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER: WITH BRIEF REFERENCES TO HIS CONTEMPORARIES JAN A. SCHLEBUSCH M.A. Philosophy (UFS); B.A. (Hons) Latin (UFS); B.A. Theology (UFS). Ph.D. Candidate at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Farmer and Rancher. INTRODUCTION Writing a short biographical article on a figure like Martin Luther in the contemporary context of celebrating years of the Reformation this year, is a particularly daunting challenge. It provides a particularly tricky task to produce something valuable for a Protestant audience obviously familiar with the great reformer, a man ranked by Time Magazine in as the 17th most influential human being in history Luther is renowned as the great church reformer, the theologian, the hymnist and Christian philosopher. However, his personal life, i.e. his existence as a man and his self-reflection upon his existence as an object of divine providence in his given historical context is one aspect that has always intrigued me of the great German Reformer. What kind of things was he really passionate about, what drove him, e

10 Very Good Books on the Reformation and Martin Luther

As we anticipate the celebration of the th year anniversary of the Reformation, I put together a “top ten list” of some of the best (and mostly recent) books on the history, theology, and legacy of the Reformation.

This list is, perhaps predictably, tilted a bit heavily to Luther and the Reformation in Germany. A different or supplementary list could be provided that gives the best books on Calvin, Zwingli, the Radical Reformers, etc. This list includes some books that cover the full breadth of the Reformation, but some are certainly Luther-centric.

Without further ado, here’s the list (not ranked by order of “best to least-best”).

1.Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation by Peter Marshall (Yale University Press, ). This book is a terrific resource for understanding the English tributaries of the Reformation, beginning with John Wycliffe, the “Lollards” (those heretical “mumblers!”), and William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament. The prose is lively and the storytelling is rich–though reader beware: it gets dense at times in the historical weeds. With so many books focused on

Martin Luther

Image Source: Wikipedia

Martin Luther was born to peasant stock on November 10, in Eisleben in the Holy Roman Empire – in what is today eastern Germany. Soon after Luther’s birth, his family moved from Eisleben to Mansfeld. His father was a relatively successful miner and smelter and Mansfeld was a larger mining town. Martin was the second son born to Hans and Magarete (Lindemann) Luther. Two of his brothers died during outbreaks of the plague. One other brother, James, lived to adulthood.

Luther’s father knew that mining was a cyclical occupation, and he wanted more security for his promising young son. Hans Luther decided that he would do whatever was necessary to see that Martin could become a lawyer. Hans saw to it that Martin started school in Mansfeld probably around seven. The school stressed Latin and a bit of logic and rhetoric. When Martin was 14 he was sent to Magdeburg to continue his studies. He stayed only one year in Magdeburg and then enrolled in Latin school in Eisenach until In he enrolled in the University of Erfurt where he studied the basic course for a Master of Arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, metaphysics, etc.). Significant to his sp

ProjectWittenberg

Welcome to Project Wittenberg's Web Site!

Project Wittenberg is home to works by and about Martin Luther and other Lutherans. Here you will find all manner of texts from short quotations to commentaries, hymns to statements of faith, theological treatises to biographies, and links to other places where words and images from the history of Lutheranism live.

Project Wittenberg was the first step towards an international electronic library of Lutheranism. As such, we are always adding and changing our sites. This site contains Project Wittenberg texts in final form. For the latest versions of our texts, many of which are still being assembled and refined, drop in at Project Wittenberg's Electronic Lutheran Web.

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Reverend Bob Smith
Kroemer Library
Concordia Theological Seminary

II. SELECTED WORKS OF MARTIN LUTHER, -

III. SELECTED HISTORIC WORKS FROM OTHERS:

Jakob Andreae ()
Johann Wilhalm Baier ()
Gerhard Friedrich Bente ()
Johannes Bugenhagen ()