Brecht here describes the years in which the distinctive aspects of the Reformation took shape. During this time four difficult conflictsthe Peasants' War, the interchange between Luther and Erasmus, debates on the Lord's Supper, and the rise of Anabaptist groupsstrengthened the need to fashion new orders for govering the church and the need to develop new patterns for worship and the instruction of youth. Luther the theologian was occupied wi...
This first volume in Martin Brecht's three-volume biography recounts Luther's youth and young adulthood up to the period of the Diet of Worms. Brecht, in a clear, eloquent translation by James Schaaf, discusses Luther's education at the University of Erfurt, his monastic life, his canonical trial in 1519, the Leipzig debate, and his earliest contributions to the beginning of the Reformation. Illustrations enrich the text.
