Martin Luther

The seven pastoral writings presented in this volume are notable for their lack of polemic. Although his very life was literally at stake, Luther does not allude to his own situation, but subdues himself to the message with which he was committed.

Thoroughly researched and faithfully translated, the Luther's Works series consists of Martin Luther's Bible commentaries, sermons, prefaces, postils, disputations, letters, theology, and polemics, translated and published in English for the first time. In Luther's Works, Volume 6 (Lectures on Genesis Chapters 31-37), the subject is the mature child of God in the school of adversity.

Luther's Works: The American Edition, published by Concordia and Fortress Press between 1955 and 1986, comprises fifty-five volumes. These are a selection representing only about a third of Luther's works in the Latin and German of the standard Weimar Edition, not including the German Bible. Even the modern reader of Luther's notes for these lectures on the Psalms can hardly escape noticing that the message, compared with that of other contemporary lectures, reveals greater individual involvement in the message being expounded. The prime emphasis is constantly on Christ as the center of the whole Psalter. The lecturer is dealing not with idle academic definitions but with the issues of life and salvation that affect the speaker and hearer directly and personally. This is where Luther's theology begins, and so these First Lectures on the Psalms are often called initia theologiae Lutheri. This second volume contains lectures on Psalms 76 through 126.

About the VolumeThis volume brings forth Luther's sermons on Epistle and Gospel texts in the historic one-year lectionary series from the Festival of the Holy Trinity through the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. Additionally, this collection features Luther's sermons on 1 John 4:16-21, never before translated and previously omitted from the Church Postil. Readers will gain new insight from Luther's topics for preaching, including: the time between death and resurrection in his sermon on the Gospel for Trinity 1warnings about impenitence in the Gospel on the destruction of Jerusalem for Trinity 10insightful teaching about the role of God's Law in the lives of believers in the Gospels for Trinity 3 and Trinity 5clear teaching on how to distinguish Law and Gospel in the Gospel for Trinity 5Few other books communicated the Gospel to Luther's contemporaries so powerfully as Luther's Church Postil (sermons for the church year). Now for the first time, Luther's authorized, final edition of the Church Postil, edited originally by Caspar Cruciger for the summer half of the year, is presented here in clear English. In 1535, Luther wrote to a friend, "Concerning the earlier version of the] postil, you have more respect for it than I do. I would like the whole book to be destroyed. And this is what I am doing: I am entrusting to Dr. Caspar Cruciger the work of re-editing the whole into a new and better form, which would be of benefit to the whole Church everywhere. He is the sort of man, unless love deceives me, who will correspond to Elisha, if I were Elijah (if one may compare small things with great), a man of peace and quiet, to whom I shall commend the church after I depart] ..." About the SeriesThe 28 planned new volumes are intended to reflect both modern and sixteenth-century interests and to expand the coverage of genres underrepresented in the existing volumes, such as Luther's sermons and disputations. The primary basis for the translation is the comprehensive Weimar edition.

Luther's Works: The American Edition, published by Concordia and Fortress Press between 1955 and 1986, comprises fifty-five volumes. These are a selection representing only about a third of Luther's works in the Latin and German of the standard Weimar Edition, not including the German Bible. The fifty-three sermons contained in this volume show that Luther was one of the most eloquent preachers since the days of Christ. The Reformer warns his hearers against perversions of Scripture. He speaks boldly and bluntly against sins rampant in his day and sins that will afflict mankind until the end of time. He wields the sword of the Spirit without fear and with telling effectiveness. His mastery of language is evident on every page. These sermons are models in every respect. When reading them in the translation my Martin H. Bertram, one can share the admiration and the edification that must have been felt by the men, women, and children who sat in the pews of the church in Wittenberg and listened intently while the mighty Luther addressed them.