Schilling Heinz - Martin Luther

Looking back now this book is complete, I recognize above all my debt of gratitude to Detlef Felken, who years ago first tempted me to tackle a biography of Luther and then became an enthusiastic and a knowledgeable reader who unfailingly supported the project and provided his counsel. Without him, this book would not exist. In another way this statement is equally valid for my colleagues on the board of the Verein fr Reformationsgeschichte (Society for Reformation History), of which I have been a member throughout a lifetime of researchfirst deputizing for Bernd Moeller, whose influence as president was so formative, then from 2001 to 2011 as president, and now again as an ordinary member. Without the interdisciplinary discussions that they encouraged, I would not have found my way from my initial home in structural history at Freiburg and Bielefeld to a biography of Luther, and to its theological component in particular. I am also grateful for fruitful contact with Reformation historians in Europe beyond Germany and in North America, facilitated in particular by more than a decade and a half as European editor of the journal Archiv fr Reformationsgeschichte / Archive for Reformation History.

Following on from many generations of research on Luther and on the Reformation, todays biographer of Luther can draw on outstanding source editions and hundreds of articles and monographsan obvious legacy, perhaps, but still deserving of grateful acknowledgement. Two contributions stand out, that of the editors of the Weimar Edition (Weimarer Werkausgabe) of Luthers works and that of Martin Brecht, author of the three-volume biography of Luther. Responsibility for this interpretation of Luther in the context of his own age and as he figures for us today is, however, entirely mine. I hope that this book will inspire interconfessional and interdisciplinary debate about Luthers historical significance and the worldwide impact of the Reformation, much as Brechts work stimulated discussion of the loss of the Reformation, crushed historiographically between research on the late Middle Ages, on one hand, and on confessionalization, on the other. This debate could provide a scholarly platform for the political commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, in 2017.

I thank Karin Heilmann for producing a typescript of the first chapter and for subsequent technical assistance in moving from manuscript to computer. Ruth Slenczka made her expertise available when it came to selecting the images. I wish also to thank Anja Wagner and Claudia Hler, who as they tracked down literature and checked the citations, developed their own enthusiasm for Luther.

My wife read this book closely and critically and in debating how the text should be formulated embodied most effectively the role of a Mr Kthe.

Berlin, early summer 2012