Copyright Page
2016 by Robert Kolb
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 495166287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0430-8
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
I am grateful for permission to reproduce sections of previously published materials (listed below) in the following chapters:
Chapter 3: Nowhere More Present and Active Than in the Holy Letters: Luthers Understanding of Gods Presence in Scripture. Lutheran Theological Journal 49 (2015): 417.
Chapter 11: Did Luthers Students Hide the Hidden God? Deus Absconditus among Luthers First Followers. In Churrasco: A Theological Feast in Honor of Vtor Westhelle , edited by Mary Philip, John Arthur Nunes, and Charles M. Collier, 116. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013; and The Three Kingdoms of Simon Musaeus: A Wittenberg Student Processes Luthers Terminology. In Collaboration, Conflict, and Continuity in the Reformation: Essays in Honour of James M. Estes on His Eightieth Birthday , edited by Konrad Eisenbichler, 297321. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2014.
Chapters 11, 13, and 14: Bibelauslegung in der Via Wittenbergensis: Die Volkshermeneutik von Johann Mathesius als Vertreter von Luthers Homiletik. Lutherische Theologie und Kirche 33 (2009): 93110.
Chapters 12 and 13: Georg Major as Preacher. In Georg Major (15021574): Ein Theologe der Wittenberger Reformation , edited by Irene Dingel and Gnther Wartenberg, 93121. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2005; and Paul Eber as Preacher. In Paul Eber (15111569): Humanist und Theologe der zweiten Generation der Wittenberger Reformation , edited by Daniel Gehrt and Volker Leppin, 375400. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2014.
Chapter 13: Jakob Andreaes Preaching in the Public Arena (Augsburg 1559). LQ 29 (2015): 1032.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Abbreviations
Introduction: Gods Word Endures Forever: The Wittenberg School of Exegesis
1. The Bible in the World of Luthers Childhood and Youth
2. In the Beginning God Said: Luthers Understanding of the Word of God
3. Nowhere More Present Than in Scripture: Luthers Perception of What the Bible Is
4. Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: Luthers Hermeneutical Framework
5. Search the Scriptures: Luther as Professor
6. Faith Comes by Hearing: Luther the Preacher
7. Teaching All Nations: Luther as Translator
8. Instruction in Sound Teaching: The Wittenberg Curriculum, the Wittenberg Commentary, the Wittenberg Colleagues
9. Searching the Scriptures the Wittenberg Way: Sixteenth-Century Tools for Study of the Bible
10. Biographical Interlude: The Later Wittenberg Commentators
11. Formulas for Speaking Circumspectly and Avoiding Offense: Hermeneutics for Exegesis and Preaching among Luthers Students
13. In Season, Out of Season: The Forms and Methods of Late Reformation Preaching in the Wittenberg Circle
14. With a Firm Grasp of the Word: The Message of Late Reformation Proclamation
The Enduring Word of God: Concluding Reflection
Bibliography
Subject Index
Scripture Index
Author Index
Back Cover
Abbreviations
AP | Auctoritas Patrum: Neue Beitrge zur Rezeption der Kirchenvter im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert [New contributions on the reception of the church fathers in the 15th and 16th centuries]. Edited by Leif Grane, Alfred Schindler, and Markus Wriedt. 2 vols. Mainz: Zabern, 199398 |
ARG | Archiv fr Reformationsgeschichte |
BC | The Book of Concord . Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000 |
BSELK | Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche . Edited by Irene Dingel. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014 |
BSELK: QuM2 | Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche : Quellen und Materialien . Band 2, Die Konkordienformel . Edited by Irene Dingel. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014 |
CP | The Sermons of Martin Luther [the Church Postil]. Edited and translated by John Nicholas Lenker. 1905. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983 |
CR | Philipp Melanchthon. Corpus Reformatorum: Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia . Edited by C. G. Bretschneider and H. E. Bindweil. Halle and Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 183460 |
EA | Dr. Martin Luthers smmtliche Werke . Erlangen Ausgabe. 2nd ed. Frankfurt am Main and Erlangen: Heyder & Zimmer, 186285 |
LEC | Lutheran Ecclesiastical Culture, 15501675 . Edited by Robert Kolb. Leiden: Brill, 2008 |
LuJ | Lutherjahrbuch |
LQ | Lutheran Quarterly |
LW | Luthers Works. Philadelphia: Fortress; St. Louis: Concordia, 195886, 2008 |
MBWR/MBWT | Melanchthons Briefwechsel . Edited by Heinz Scheible. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1977. R = Register vols., T = Text vols. |
MSA | Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl [Studien-Ausgabe]. Edited by Robert Stupperich. 6 vols. Gtersloh: Bertelsmann, 1955 |
OHMLT | The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luthers Theology . Edited by Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel, and Lubomir Batka. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 |
PG | Patrologia Graeca. Patrologiae Cursus Completus : Series Graeca. Edited by J. P. Migne. 162 vols. Paris: Petit-Montroye, 185766 |
PL | Patrologia Latina. Patrologiae Cursus Completus : Series Latina. Edited by J. P. Migne. 217 vols. Paris & Turnhout: Gamer Fratres, 184464 |
Sehling, EKO | Emil Sehling et al., eds. Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts . Leipzig; Reisland; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1902 |
SCJ | Sixteenth Century Journal |
TRE | Theologische Realenzyklopdie . Edited by Gerhard Krause and Gerhard Mller. Berlin: de Gruyter, 19772004 |
VD 16 | Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts [Bibliography of books printed in the German-speaking countries of the sixteenth century] is a project to make a retrospective German national bibliography for the sixteenth century. |
WA | D. Martin Luthers Werke [Weimar Ausgabe]. Weimar: Bhlau, 18831993. [Outlined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_edition_of_Martin_Luthers_works] |
WA BR | Briefwechsel [Correspondence]. 18 vols. |
WA DB | Die deutsche Bibel [The German Bible]. 15 vols. |
WA TR | Tischreden [Table Talk]. 6 vols. |
Introduction
Gods Word Endures Forever: The Wittenberg School of Exegesis
The maxim Gods Word remains forever not only adorned the title page of Martin Luthers translation of the Bible, published in 1534. It also served as the motto of the Smalcald League, the alliance of Evangelical princes and municipalities formed in 1531. This assertion had by that time become the foundation of a new worldview, a new definition of what it means to be Christian, formulated by Luther and his colleagues at the University of Wittenberg.