Martin Luther

Setting: Lutheran Reformation; associated with the Augsburg Confession and the Wittenberg reform.

Martin Luther was an Augustinian friar, Wittenberg professor, preacher, polemicist, and translator whose controversy over indulgences developed into a broad evangelical reform. At Worms, in preaching, in university work, and in translation, Scripture served as the governing norm of reform. His September Testament of 1522 and complete German Bible of 1534 profoundly shaped both German language and Protestant reading.

A Research Center biography must present more than a heroic outline. Luther revised his translation repeatedly, worked with colleagues, ranked some New Testament books differently in his prefaces, and could speak sharply and inconsistently. His doctrine of Scripture, his translation method, and his canonical judgments must therefore be drawn from dated texts rather than harmonized by later admirers or opponents.

Bibliological positions

The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures bind conscience and judge church authorities. Translation should render sense faithfully in living German while remaining answerable to the original languages and doctrinal context.

Qualifications and disputes

Luther’s prefaces to Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation and his distinction among biblical books must be represented. His translation was collaborative and repeatedly revised.

Debate concerns the exact force of sola Scriptura in Luther, his canon judgments, the rendering of Romans 3:28, and how his later statements relate to early polemics.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Martin Luther — Biographical orientation
• PRDL — Martin Luther — Extensive digital works catalogue

Principal works

• Biblia, das ist: Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch (1534); legacy WRK-0008; WRK+EDT; Blocked pending translation-work/edition decomposition
• De Servo Arbitrio (The Bondage of the Will) (1525); legacy WRK-0009; WRK; Ready after permanent-ID allocation and duplicate scan