New Releases by Martin Luther

Martin Luther, pivotal figure of the sixteenth-century Reformation, continues to exercise a powerful influence in the affairs of the twentieth century, not just in the area of religion but also in the political sphere. The direction and desirability of that influence is a matter of dispute. J. M. Porter, a political scientist, here presents revealing selections from nine of Luther''s more important writings, all excerpted from the American Edition of ''Luther''s Works.'' His texts suggest the complexity of the Reformer''s thinking, its theological base, and the situational focus of his political utterances. Professor Porter also provides a helpful introduction in which he clarifies the meaning and implications of Luther''s famous Òtwo kingdomsÓ theory, whereby the state is freed both from domination by the church and from the temptation to dominate the conscience of its citizens. Here are to be found generous excerpts from the seminal writings which shaped the Reformation and continue to influence the course of events in our time. They illustrate Luther''s innovative ideas about the nature of temporal authority, political obligation and its limits, church-state relations, and political resistance, Luther''s plain and often pungent words will be of interest to students of history, religion, political science, and ethics - to everyone concerned about the issues of freedom and authority, ideology and politics, violence and nonviolence, war and freedom.

A 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.

"We''ve got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis''s Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn''t matter to me now because I''ve been to the mountaintop. . . . And I''ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." These prohetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life. These words and other are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet''s writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections. A Testament of Hope contains Martin Luther King, Jr.''s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more.

''He place and significance of Martin Luther in the long history of Christian anti-Jewish polemic has been and continues to be a contested issue. It is true that Luther''s anti-Jewish rhetoric intensified toward the end of his life, but reading Luther with a careful eye toward "the Jewish question," it becomes clear that Luther''s theological presuppositions toward Judaism and the Jewish people are a central, core component of his thought throughout his career, not just at the end. It follows then that it is impossible to understand the heart and building blocks of Luther''s theology without acknowledging the crucial role of "the Jews" in his fundamental thinking. Luther was constrained by ideas, images, and superstitions regarding the Jews and Judaism that he inherited from medieval Christian tradition. But the engine in the development of Luther''s theological thought as it relates to the Jews is his biblical hermeneutics. Just as "the Jewish question" is a central, core component of his thought, so biblical interpretation (and especially Old Testament interpretation) is the primary arena in which fundamental claims about the Jews and Judaism are formulated and developed.'' -- Publisher.

In the Large Catechism Luther set out to inculcate the centrality of the Gospel. Whether Luther is dealing with the Ten Commandments or the Lord''s Supper, the dynamic of the Word of God as Gospel provides the cutting edge for what he says. The Large Catechism is a primary source for an understanding of the Christian ethos in action in Reformation Christianity.

As a pastor he had noted the bad effects of indulgences upon the members of his won congregation, many of whom were going to nearby Juterbog and Zerbst in Brandenburg to by indulgence slips from Johann Tetzel. This practical question raised for him a deeper one, the question of their efficacy.