History of Christianity Commons^™

Luther And The War Against The Turks, George W. Forell

Concordia Theological Monthly

Modern psychoanalysis tells us that disease is the touchstone of the healthy mind. What is true in the realm of psychology is not less true in the realm of ethics. The most terrible disease in the realm of human relations is war, and so we can say that war is the touchstone of a healthy ethical system. In its attitude toward war the weakness of an ethical system is revealed. In the war situation an ethical system is revealed as basically unrealistic if it proves unwilling to face the actual situation and therefore uses the escape of absolute pacifism. It …

Erasmus And The German Reformation, Roland H. Seboldt

Bachelor of Divinity

To understand the attitude of Erasmus, it is necessary to look into the background of his times and to study the early influences upon his life. The life span of Erasmus covered a period of events which was a time of great flux and change. It was in this period that the Middle Ages gave way to modern times. Feudalism and serfdom were losing their prominence. Humanism spread over Europe from its cradle in Italy. Scholastic philosophy was losing its hold, bowing to the efforts of the humanists, mystics, and reformers.

Was Luther Needed?, William Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Where all the world, the great in Church and State, had failed for centuries, Luther succeeded almost instantly. How? Mr. Newman says: "He adopted a doctrine original, specious, fascinating, persuasive, powerful against Rome, and wonderfully adapted, as if prophetically, to the genius of the times which were to follow. He found Christians in bondage to their works and observances; he released them by his doctrine of faith." - Lect. Justif., p. 386. He became a cardinal.

Luther The Reformer, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther would say: I did not reform the Church. He said: "It was God's Word which, while I slept or made merry, accomplished this great thing." (XX: 20.) The gracious and almighty God accomplished this great thing. "What is now going on in the world is not my doing. It is not possible that a mere man should begin and carry forward such a movement. . . . Another man is at the wheel [Ein anderer Mann ist's, der das Raedlein treibt]."

Economic Aspects Of Reformation, Robert Boedecker

Bachelor of Divinity

The economic developments which antedated and accompanied the Reformation are one phase of that movement's history. Their study is not a complete explanation. No Christian could consider such a view. Yet the economic activity of the Europe of that day did have its influence on the Reformation, while the Reformation, at the same time, left its mark on the future course of economic development. Though a minority would disagree, that interaction was inevitable and appears certain to our eyes. Nor did that come by chance. Though with less clarity than in former periods, yet it is apparent that the hand …

Albrecht Durer And The Lutheran Reformation, William Scar

Bachelor of Divinity

This dissertation is a study of Albrecht Dürer's life and work with a theologioa1 interest. This is in no way a complete discussion of the artist's life and works. The selection of works treated in chapter four is not a good cross section of his drawings, woodcuts. copper engravings, etchings, and paintings. They are a careful selection of his works of art showing how he gradually employed true Christian or Biblical teaching in his religious subjects. The author endeavors to show in this paper that Albrecht Dürer made a contribution to the work of Martin Luther and his associates as …

The Marburg Colloquy Of 1529: A Textual Study, George John Beto

Concordia Theological Monthly

The primary sources on the Marburg Colloquy are comparatively numerous. While an official transcript of the proceedings was not kept, certain observers took notes and immediately after the conference supplemented these notes with the material they had retained in their memories. All of the sources are untranslated and are found in either German or Latin.

Nathan Soederblom, Theodore Graebner

Concordia Theological Monthly

Lars Olof Jonathan (Nathan) Soederblom was born in the parish of Troenoe, Sweden, January 15, 1866, the son of Rector Joseph Soederblom and his wife. He received the degree of Candidate of Philosophy at the University of Uppsala in 1886 and the degree of Candidate of Theology in 1892. He was appointed pastor of the Swedish church in Paris in 1894 and also seamen's pastor at Dunkerque, Calais, and Boulogne. While in Paris, he pursued his studies and graduated from the Ecole des hautes etudes, in the section of the science of religion, in 1898, receiving the degree of Doctor …

Background And Beginnings Of Organized Youth Work In The Missouri Synod, Henry E. Simon

Bachelor of Divinity

So that the reader may more easily and more fully understand various details described in the following pages it seems· advisable to offer a few words in explanation, showing the development of this thesis. It will be noted that the first two chapters deal with ·the background •from which our youth societies began to emerge. We have endeavored to picture this background from the various writings and expressions gleaned from different early periodicals and books. Thus the LUTHERANER, DISTRICT SYNODICAL REPORTS, LEHRE UND WEHRE, and other writings up to the turn of the century were thoroughly scanned for any notices …

Kiefl On Luther, Wm. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Luther's (fundamental error of the whole system is that in the work of salvation God does everything and man nothing."

So wrote the late Franz Xaver Kiefl, Dean of the Cathedral of Regensburg and before that professor of dogmatics in Wuerzburg, in Hochland of October, 1917. His article is "Martin Luther's Religious Psyche the Root of a Modem World Picture," reprinted in 1922 as "Catholic World-View and Modern Thought."

That is Luther's fundamental truth of the whole system.

Huldreich Zwingli, The Father Of Reformed Theology, Theo. Dierks

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the doctrine of atonement Zwingli merely repeated the traditional language of the Church. Zwingli tells us that, long before he even heard of Luther, he learned from Thomas Wyttenbach, one of his teachers at Basel, that "the death of Christ is the sole price of the remission of sins" III:544). This was nothing unusual, for such statements can be found in many Catholic writers before Luther.

Huldreich Zwingli, The Father Of Reformed Theology, Theo. Dierks

Concordia Theological Monthly

Huldreich Zwingli (born January 1, 1484, died October 11, 1531) has often been called the forerunner of Calvin; but as Ritschl, Dogmengeschichte des Protestantismus, III:27, point. out, Zwingli is the "real author of the Reformed confession and, together with Bucer, the founder of Reformed theology." It was Bucer who formed the connecting link between Zwingli and Calvin.

The Reformation In The Relation To Elementary Education, E P. Weber

Bachelor of Divinity

While here and there a practical deduction may be drawn, the one aim of this paper is to present from a historical angle the Reformation in its relation to elementary education. In order to limit ourselves to the requirements of a treatise of this sort, we shall refer for the most part only to the educational thoughts of the Reformation author, Martin Luther.

The Doctrine Of Justification By Faith The Leimotif Of The Apology Of The Augsburg Confession, Lorman Petersen

Bachelor of Divinity

The purpose of this thesis is not to present Catholic doctrine and refute it, but, self-evidently, to show that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith is the Leitmotif of the Apology. We make no claim that we have accomplished our purpose, or that we have done justice to this great Christ centered Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. We have only scratched the surface of this document so rich in Christian doctrine. Melanchthon was a master-mind, and it takes a master-mind to follow him.

The Knowledge And Use Of The Bible In The Medieval Age, Martin Bertermann

Bachelor of Divinity

In attempting to show precisely to what extent the new learning pervaded the countries of Europe during the Middle Ages, and, specifically, just in how far the Bible was known among the clergy and laity, one must be careful to strive for the golden mean in interpreting a flood of literature which usually goes to one of two extremes. The first of these divergent opinions is the one mentioned above, that the Bible, as almost wholly unknown by the clergy and laity of the Middle Ages. And this would seem to be substantiated by no less an authority than Luther …

The Influence Of Scholasticism On Luther, Ewald Otto

Bachelor of Divinity

To sketch the influence of scholasticism and of the scholastics on Luther would require much more time for research than is possible for this paper. Moreover, even to make a selection of scholastics and to determine all the points in which they influenced the hero of the Reformation would call for a greater opus than this pretends to be. It is my purpose, therefore, to consider three scholastics only, namely, Occam, Biel, and Gerson, and to take cognizance of just a few of the ways in which their teachings had an effect on the life and teachings of him whom …

Lutheran Hymns In English Translations, W Harry Krieger

Bachelor of Divinity

Nothing makes so forcible and lasting an impression as contrast, nor are truths taught more easily through the employment of another method of presentation. Perhaps, then, in prefacing a study of Luther’s hymns, no better means of evaluating the Reformer’s real worth could be used than a contrast of the German Hymnology of the Medieval Period with that of the Reformation.

The Minor Biblical Prereformers Of The Xv Century, Walter Litke

Bachelor of Divinity

We cannot speak of “Pre-reformers” unless we have a clear conception of the tem “reformation”. Too often we leave the Reformation historically unexplained as if it were a sudden upheaval in the life of the church, a change as sudden as the inversion of an hour glass. But no Reformer just drops from heaven. “In spite of its originality and freshness, the Reformation by no means interrupted the continuity of human affairs - on the contrary, it was, on the one hand, preceded and its way prepared by pious and enlightened men, who preached almost the very doctrines that distinguished …

Erasmus On Luther, Wm. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther's opposition to the Church of Rome was welcomed by many leaders in Church and State who had long chafed under the yoke of Popery. One of these leaders was the renowned Humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. Yet Erasmus, like so many others, had not grasped the fundamental principles of Luther's Reformation. In the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae, that of justification by grace, through faith, without works, Erasmus remained a good Romanist. For many years he refused to take up his pen against Luther in spite of urgent requests and demands on the part of Rome. Finally he yielded.

Erasmus On Luther, Wm. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Erasmus, like Luther, was an Augustinian; like Luther, a priest; like Luther, a preacher-at Paris; like Luther, a Doctor of Theology-of Turin; like Luther, a teacher-at Cambridge 1511-1514.

Andreas Carlstadt declared Erasmus "the prince of theologians," superior to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine.

I do not see among the old theologians any they can legitimately prefer to you," wrote Bude.

Luther, Seine Kaethe Und Seine Kinder, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther, seine Kaethe und seine Kinder (Luther, his Kathe and his children)

Romanism, Calvinism, And Lutheranism On The Authority Of Scripture, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The desire for a large Pan-Protestant union has endeavored to minimize the theological differences between Lutheranism and Calvinism. True, Luther and Calvin had many things in common, e.g., the rejection of Pelagianism and the Roman hierarchical system. But only too often the divergent conceptions of sin and grace, of faith and works, of atonement and justification, of repentance and sanctification, are viewed only as minor differences.

The Blast That Wrecked The Pope's Power, Theo. Hoyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some years ago a writer in the Concordia Theological Monthly (I, 571-581) pointed out that the dynamic of Luther’s Reformation was his clear and powerful preaching of justification by faith alone. By his own experience Luther, by the grace of God, had recognized that the solo fide alone can give positive assurance to the sinner of God's pardon and his own eternal salvation; what he had found he taught and preached to others who were seeking certainty for the eternity beyond the grave and failed to find it in the work-righteousness of the papal teaching; and so Luther became the …

The Greatness Of Luther's Commentary On Galatians, R. T. Du Brau

Concordia Theological Monthly

If some theologians and historians declare to have been disappointed with Luther's Galatians, it is because they looked for a commentary more learned and critical than popular. It was not intended to be a critical study in the present philological sense of the term. Nor does the work hold out the slightest shred of comfort to the Modernist. During the stormy years that gave birth to this commentary Luther had too much practical work of prior importance on his hands to find leisure for comparative and critical exegesis.

Die Bedeutung Der Predigt Bei Luther, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Die Bedeutung der Predigt bei Luther (The importance of preaching in Luther)

King Henry Viii Courts Luther, W. Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

On March 11, 1535, Dr. Barnes, "the king's chaplain and professor of theology," was again in Wittenberg, "treating only- of the second marriage of the king," and trying very hard to get Melanchthon to go to England. Of course, he did not win the Lutherans to approve of the divorce.

Luther, Bucer, And The Wittenberg Concordia, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

May 20 of this year will mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the Wittenberg Concordia, an event which is usually not given the prominence which its significance during a critical period of the Reformation really merits. The occasion deserves attention not only on account of the important positions occupied by the chief participants, Luther, Bugenhagen, Melanchthon, Bucer, Capito, and others, but also on account of the significance of the doctrines concerned in the controversy and the far-reaching influence of the modus operandi employed by the prominent men engaged in the attempt to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond …

The First Three Bibles That Entered The Early Life Of Martin Luther, E. A. Brueggemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

He was surprised that the Bible contained more than the Gospel- and the Epistle-lessons of the church-year. He was pleased with the story of Hanna and Samuel. But he had not had before, nor did he have now or for the next two years, any predilection for the Bible. We know of no instance nor occasion during the years of his adolescence when he ever expressed a desire or eagerness to study the Scriptures.

Luther's Monumental Work: Galatians, R. T. Du Brau

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the year of our Lord 1535, four hundred years ago, Luther published his larger and final Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians after fifteen years of expounding Scripture in general and after an additional fifteen years of expounding Epistola. ad Galatas in particular.

The Church Reform Of Henry Viii A Product Of The Rennissance, Theo. Hoyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper is very frankly on attempt-an attempt to show, by an example taken from history, what kind of reformation the forces of the Renaissance were capable of producing and thus to illustrate, and help to establish, the truth of our assertion, so frequently made and rightly insisted on, that a real and actual reformation of the Church could not be produced by the Renaissance.