Luther's Works, Companion Volume, (Sixteenth-Century Biographies of Martin Luther)

Résumé du livre

"During Luther's lifetime, his friends tried to enlist him in their projects to tell his story and publish his works. Luther's 1533 preface to the 'Catalog or Index of All the Books and Writings' show Luther overcoming his reluctance and offering an estimation of his writings as a historical witness to the progress of God's Word. After Luther's death in February 1546, Justus Jones and Michael Coelius published their 'Report on the Christian Departure of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, describing Luther's last days in Eisleben and emphasizing his faith and prayers. In Melanchthon's 1546 'Preface to the Second Volume of the Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Writings,' Luther's colleague offered the first complete narrative of Luther's childhood, education, and spiritual trials as an Augustinian friar, based partly on interviews with surviving witnesses. The most comprehensive, influential, and enduring sixteenth-century biography of Luther was Johann Mathesius's collection of seventeen sermons: 'History of the Origins, Doctrine, Life, and Death of Dr. Martin Luther (1566).' Taking a chronological approach, Mathesius--Luther's student and table companion--sought to portray the progress of God's Word throughout Germany and Europe as it spread from the "water tower" of Wittenberg. Mathesius also documented the history of the University of Wittenberg and the collaboration of Luther, Melanchthon, and others in the translation of the Bible and the reformation of the Church."--