1. Luther: Biography & Theology

2. Luther: Texts

1. LUTHER: BIOGRAPHY & THEOLOGY.

Few ages have produced personalities as fascinating as those of the Reformation. Perhaps the best way to begin a study of the period is by reading biographies. And Luther, the man who sparked it all, is certainly the one to begin with.

• Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation and Martin Luther: the Preservation of the Church, 1532-1546 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990-1994) volumes 1 & 2 are now in paperback, $25; volume 3 is in hardback, $40). NEW. A massive 3-volume biography that has been widely acclaimed and should serve as the new standard.
  
  
• Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Biography of Martin Luther (New York: New American Library, 1950) paperback, $7. A vivid, entertaining portrait of Luther—certainly it’s dated and it’s biased in Luther's favor; but it is written with a journalist's flair by a great Lutheran scholar. A good place to start.
  
  
• Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil (New York: Image / Doubleday, 1989) paperback, $15. A new and brilliant set of essays on aspects of Luther's life and world. Because it jumps around from period to period in Luther's life, it may be best to read a basic biography first.
  
  
• Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966) paperback, $18. Luther was an unusually prolific writer—over 50 volumes—and his theological work is as wide-ranging and as impassioned as that of Augustine. Althaus offers a first-rate survey of Luther's often paradoxical theology. A good place to start. But be sure and read Luther himself.
  
  
• James Atkinson, Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981; reprint of 1968 edition).
• Heinrich Bornkamm, Luther in Mid-Career, 1521-1530 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983).
• Gerhard Ebeling, Luther: An Introduction to His Thought, trans. R.A. Wilson (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972) paperback, $7. A fine survey of Luther's theology, but certainly not easy reading.
• Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Luther and the False Brethren (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975). A superb account of Luther's pitched debate with fellow evangelicals, those one-time allies whom Luther thought had gone over to the devil: Karlstadt, Muntzer, Zwingli, Oecolampadius, and Schwenckfeld.
• Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics, 1531-1546 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983), paperback, $16.
• Harry Gerald Haile, Luther: An Experiment in Biography (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983).
• Walther von Loewenich, Luther's Theology of the Cross (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1976). Luther's so-called theology of the cross is what gave his thought its paradoxical character. This is the classic study.
• Walther von Loewenich, Martin Luther: the Man and His Work (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986).
• Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Thought, trans., Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986) paperback, $17. A terse summary of recent research on Luther's life and work.
• Alister E. McGrath, Luther's Theology of the Cross (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1985) paperback, $20.
• Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2 volumes (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986) paperback, $20 each.
• H.J. McSorley, Luther—Right or Wrong?: An Ecumenical Theological Study of Luther’s Major Work, The Bondage of the Will (New York: Newman Press, 1969).
• E. Gordon Rupp, Luther's Progress to the Diet of Worms (New York: Harper & Row, 1964). A classic.
• E. Gordon Rupp, The Righteousness of God: Luther Studies (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1953). A series of splendid essays on Luther's life and thought; see the title essay and the "Luther and ..." essays.
• David C. Steinmetz, Luther in Context (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986) paperback, $8.
• David C. Steinmetz, Luther and Staupitz: an Essay in the Intellectual Origins of the Protestant Reformation (Durham: Duke University Press, 1980).
• David C. Steinmetz, Misericordia Dei: The Theology of Johannes von Staupitz in its Late Medieval Setting, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968).
• Jared Wicks, Luther and His Spiritual Legacy (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1983).

• Timothy Lull, editor, Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings, Fortress (paperback, $20). Luther was a skilled popularist and had a gift for satire and for the well-turned phrase. He is easy and enjoyable to read. This is the most complete anthology of Luther's works to date, and the translations are first-rate. Included are: The 95 Theses, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of the Christian, The Invocavit Sermons, Confession Concerning the Lord's Supper.
  
  
• Jaroslav Pelikan, ed., Luther's Works, 55 volumes (St. Louis: Concordia / Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1955-1975). Also known as "The American Edition." A fine translation of Luther's complete works. Excellent notes.
  
  
• E. Gordon Rupp, ed. Luther and Erasmus on Free Will, Library of Christian Classics (Nashville: Westminster / John Knox, 19__).
• Martin Luther, Three Treatises (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 19__), paperback, $5. This edition is from the American Edition of the three Reformation treatises: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of the Christian.