A two-volume translation of the major texts produced by Luther in the critical years of the Reformation.

Volume I: The Basis of the Protestant Reformation
The four years from the Wittenberg disputation of 1517 to the Diet of Worms in 1521 provide one of the most dramatic stories in human history. In those years a young theological tutor emerged from obscurity to disrupt Western Christendom and to refashion a large part of it. They were years of prodigious activity for Luther himself, and there can be no true understanding of the Reformation apart from the writings, some long, some quite short, which came from his pen during those years.

Bertram Lee-Woolf has done great service to the study of Luther by translating the most significant of these writings. Introductions and explanatory notes make clear their historical context. The student will find them invaluable. Lee-Woolf's lively and virile translation makes the authentic Luther step out of the pages, and brings the reader close to great events which are still formative in the life of the Church and the world.

Preface
General Introduction

1. The Ninety-five Theses
2. A Short Exposition of the Decalogue, Apostles' Creed, and Lord's Prayer
3. An Appeal to the Ruling Class of German Nationality
     as to the Amelioration of the State of Christendom
4. The Pagan Servitude of the Church: A First Enquiry
     (De Captivitae Babylonica Ecclesiae Praeludium)
5. An Open Letter to Pope Leo X (1520)
6. The Freedom of a Christian

Appendix: Chronological Table of Luther's Writings and of Contemporary Events
Index of Scripture References and Allusions
Index of Personal Names
Index of Subjects

• General Introduction (PDF, 503 KB)
• Preface to Volume I (PDF, 205 KB)
• Extract from Chapter 3: An Appeal to the Ruling Class of German Nationality (PDF, 455 KB)