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Luther Bible

The Luther Bible (German: Lutherbibel) is a German language Bible translation by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. A New Testament translation by Luther was first published in September 1522, and the completed Bible, containing a translation of the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha, in 1534. Luther continued to make improvements to the text until 1545. It was the first full translation of the Bible into German that used not only the Latin Vulgate but also the Greek.[5]

Luther Bible
Martin Luther's 1534 Bible
Full nameBiblia / das ist / die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch
AbbreviationLUT
OT published1534
NT published1522
Complete Bible
published
1534[1]
Apocrypha
Authorship
Textual basis
Version revision1984 (last official revision)
PublisherHans Lufft
CopyrightPublic domain due to age
Religious affiliation
Am anfang schuff Gott Himel vnd Erden. Vnd die Erde war wüst und leer / und es war finster auff der Tieffe / Vnd der Geist Gottes schwebet auff dem Wasser. Und Gott sprach / Es werde Liecht / Und es ward Liecht.
(1545 revised 5th edition)[3]
Also hat Gott die Welt geliebet / das er seinen eingeboren Son gab / Auff das alle die an jn gleuben / nicht verloren werden / sondern das ewige Leben haben.
(1545 revised 5th edition)[4]

Luther did not translate the entire Bible by himself; he relied on a team of translators and helpers that included Philip Melanchthon, a scholar of Koine Greek who motivated and assisted Luther's New Testament translation from Greek, and Matthäus Aurogallus, a linguist and scholar of Hebrew. One of the textual bases of the New Testament translation was the Latin and Greek versions, and its philological annotations, recently published by the Dutch Catholic humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam and called the Novum Testamentum omne (1519).

The project absorbed Luther's later years.[6] The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany,[1] promoting the development of non-local forms of language and exposing all speakers to forms of German from outside their own areas.[7] Thanks to the then recently invented printing press,[8] the result was widely disseminated and contributed significantly to the development of today's modern High German language.[1]

Previous German translations edit

A number of Bible translations into German, both manuscript and printed, were produced prior to Luther's birth. Starting around the year 1460 at least eighteen complete German Bible editions, ninety editions in the vernacular of the Gospels and the readings of the Sundays and Holy Days, and some fourteen German Psalters were printed, sometimes in multiple editions. These were all translations from the Latin Vulgate not influenced by the emerging Hebrew and Greek scholarship.[9]

Luther's New Testament translation edit

While he was sequestered in the Wartburg Castle for three months (Dec 8, 1521–early March 1522),[10] Luther began to translate the New Testament from Latin and Greek[11][12] into German in order to make it more accessible to all the people of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German nation".[This quote needs a citation]

Luther used Erasmus' second edition (1519) of the Latin New Testament with Greek (later developed into the Textus Receptus) and annotations. After leaving the castle, he revised passages obscure to him with the assistance of Greek specialist Phillip Melanchthon.[13]: 56  Like Erasmus, Luther had learned some Greek at the Latin schools led by the Brethren of the Common Life (Erasmus in Deventer, the Netherlands; and Luther in Magdeburg, Germany). These lay brothers had added Greek as a new subject to their curriculum in the late 15th century.[14] At that time Greek was seldom taught even at universities.

Known as the "September Bible", this translation included only the New Testament and was printed in September 1522. Luther also published the Bible in the small octavo format.

To help him in translating into contemporary German, Luther made forays into nearby towns and markets to listen to people speaking.[citation needed] He wanted to ensure their comprehension by translating as closely as possible to their contemporary language usage. This translation, known as the "September Bible", was published in September 1522, six months after he had returned to Wittenberg.[citation needed] In the opinion of the 19th-century theologian and church historian Philip Schaff,

The richest fruit of Luther's leisure in the Wartburg, and the most important and useful work of his whole life, is the translation of the New Testament, by which he brought the teaching and example of Christ and the Apostles to the mind and heart of the Germans in life-like reproduction. It was a republication of the gospel. He made the Bible the people's book in church, school, and house.[15]

The same writer notes

He adapted the words to the capacity of the Germans, often at the expense of accuracy.

— § 63. A Critical Estimate of Luther's Version

For example, he translated δίκαιος -forms with gerecht -words to refer to divine righteousness, but with frum -words in contexts which refer to human goodness, with billig for what is fitting or appropriate, and with recht -words when referring to lawful conduct, to create distinctions that reflected his theological view.[16]

Old Testament translation edit

The Old Testament was translated using a Masoretic text of Soncino, the Vulgate of Jerome, the Septuagint, and, later, Latin versions by Santes Pagnino and by Sebastian Münster.[15]: § 63 

Publication of the complete Bible translation edit

The translation of the entire Bible into German was published in a six-part edition in 1534, a collaborative effort of Luther and many others such as Johannes Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, Caspar Creuziger, Philipp Melanchthon, Matthäus Aurogallus, and Georg Rörer. Luther worked on refining the translation up to his death in 1546; he had worked on the edition that was printed that year.

The 1534 edition issued by the Hans Lufft press in Wittenberg included 117 original woodcuts. This reflected the recent trend (since 1522) of including artwork to reinforce the textual message.[17]

Luther's Bible was a bestseller in its time. About 200,000 copies in hundreds of reprinted editions appeared before Luther died in 1546. However, the book remained too expensive for most people; an unbound copy of the complete 1534 Bible cost the equivalent of a month's wages for the average laborer. Instead, the Bible was bought by churches, pastors, and schools.[18]

Johannes Bugenhagen published a Middle Low German version in 1534.

Editions and revisions edit

Revisions were made during and after Luther's lifetime, sometimes with multiple editions in a single year. The 1530 edition is regarded as his most thoroughgoing revision of the New Testament. The successive revisions were less constrained by Latin and Greek.[19]

In 2017, a revised version was published for the 500th anniversary of the posting of the Ninety-five Theses.[20]

Books of the Luther Bible edit

The complete 1534 edition of the Luther Bible contains a total of 75 books, including 39 books of the Old Testament, 9 books of the Apocrypha, and 27 books of the New Testament:[21]

Mistranslations and controversies edit

Luther controversially added the word "alone" (allein in German) to Romans 3:28 so that it read: "So now we hold, that man is justified without the help of the works of the law, alone through faith".[24] The word "alone" does not appear in the Greek texts,[25] but Luther defended his translation by maintaining that the adverb "alone" was required both by idiomatic German and the apostle Paul's intended meaning according to his interpretation,[26] and that sola had been used in Western theological tradition before him.

Many Protestant scholars have noted the bias in Luther's translation, including Anglican apologist Alister McGrath:[27]

Luther insisted that Paul's doctrine of "justification by faith" was definitive for Christianity. And to make sure that there was no understandings about this, he added the word "alone" lest anyone see faith as one among a number of causes of justification-including works. This addition caused a furor. Catholics pointed out that the NT nowhere taught "justification by faith alone"; indeed, the Letter of James explicitly condemned the idea. Luther responded by making the point that his slogan encapsulated neatly the substance of the NT even if it did not use precisely its original words. And as for the letter of James, was it not "an epistle of straw" that ought not to be in the NT anyway? This second argument caused considerable unease within Protestant circles and was not maintained by Luther's successors.

— Alister Mcgrath

The 2017 version has added footnotes on Romans 1:17, Romans 2:13, Romans 3:21, and Romans 3:28 that warn about the deliberate mistranslations Luther committed. For example, while the text of the 2017 version retains the disputed word "alone" (So halten wir nun dafür, dass der Mensch gerecht wird ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben), the footnote gives a "literal" translation (Wörtlich: »dass der Mensch aus Glauben gerechtfertigt wird, ohne Werke des Gesetzes«) for the second half of the verse.[28]

Another controversial translation in the 1522 New Testament is 1 Timothy 2:4, which translates that God wills that all men "be helped" (German: geholfen werden) rather than the expected "be saved" for Greek: σωθῆναι.[29]: 484 

Karl-Heinz Göttert, a professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Cologne, in reference to his book Luther's Bible - History of a Hostile Takeover noted:[30]

Luther developed a certain theology and now he wants to prove this theology. He wants to show it... You can call that awesome and you can call it wrong. In any case, it does not offer a philologically clean translation of the Bible.

— Karl-Heinz Gottert

Luther did not know ancient Greek well, and when he referenced the Greek New Testament, he relied on his friend Melanchthon and a number of other philologists. Significant changes correcting Luther's translations were made in the 2017 version of the Luther Bible.[citation needed]

Luther also added German legal terminology which is not found in the original text, for example Denkzettel in Matthew 23:5.[31] There were also many understandable mistranslations due to a lack of knowledge, such as in Psalms 104 where he mistranslated chamois as "rabbit" because he did not know what a chamois was.[citation needed]

View of canonicity edit

 
Luther's first study of the Bible

Initially Luther had a low view of the Old Testament book of Esther and of the New Testament books of Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation of John. He called the Letter of James "an epistle of straw", finding little in it that pointed to Christ and his saving work. He also had harsh words for the Revelation of John, saying that he could "in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it".[32] In his translation of the New Testament, Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order, to join Jude and the Revelation at the end, and differentiated these from the other books which he considered "the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation."[33] His views on some of these books changed in later years, and became more positive.[34]

Luther chose to place the books he considered Biblical apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. These books and addenda to Biblical canon of the Old Testament are found in the ancient Greek Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text. Luther left the translating of them largely to Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas.[35] Though included, they were not numbered in the table of contents of his 1532 Old Testament, and in the 1534 Bible they were given the well-known title: "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read".[35] See also Development of the Christian Biblical canon.

Influence edit

A large part of Luther's significance was in his influence on the emergence of the German language and national identity. This stemmed predominantly from his translation of the Bible into the vernacular, which was potentially as revolutionary as canon law and the burning of the papal bull.[36]

Publishing success edit

The Luther Bible was not the first translation or printing of the Bible into German.[37] There are still approximately 1,000 manuscripts or manuscript fragments of Medieval German Bible translations extant, mainly from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.[38]: 116  In total, there were at least eighteen complete printed German Bible editions, ninety editions in the vernacular of the Gospels and the readings of the Sundays and Holy Days, and some fourteen German Psalters by the time Luther first published his own New Testament translation.[38]: 116  However, a previous word-for-word German translation from 1350 translated exclusively from the Vulgate, printed by Johann Mentelin in 1466, has been called linguistically clumsy and partially incomprehensible.[37]

Luther's goal was to equip every German-speaking Christian with the ability to hear the Word of God, and his completing his translation of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular by 1534 was one of the most significant acts of the Reformation.[39]

Although Luther was not the first to attempt such a translation, his has been called superior to all its predecessors, as a thought-by-thought translation. Previous translations had contained poor German, and had been from the Latin Vulgate versions only without reference to any Greek versions.[36] However, at least some passages can be explained as translations from the Vulgate.[12]: 230, 231 

Luther sought to translate as closely to the original text as possible, and adopted the officially-promoted bureaucratic dialect Saxon Chancery.[40] Some writers claim his translation was guided by how people spoke (presumably in the Upper Saxon dialect),[36] and that Luther's faithfulness to the language spoken by the common people was to produce a work which they could relate to.[41] This led later German writers such as Goethe and Nietzsche to praise Luther's Bible.[42]

Moreover, because Luther's Bible was printed, it could spread rapidly and could be read by or to all. Hans Lufft, the Bible printer in Wittenberg, printed over 100,000 copies between 1534 and 1574, and these were read by or to millions.[43] Luther's vernacular Bible came to be present in virtually every German-speaking Protestant's home, and increased the Biblical knowledge of the German common masses.[44] Luther even had large-print Bibles made for those who had failing eyesight.[42] Catholic German humanist Johann Cochlaeus complained that

Luther's New Testament was so much multiplied and spread by printers that even tailors and shoemakers, yea, even women and ignorant persons who had accepted this new Lutheran gospel, and could read a little German, studied it with the greatest avidity as the fountain of all truth. Some committed it to memory, and carried it about in their bosom. In a few months such people deemed themselves so learned that they were not ashamed to dispute about faith and the gospel not only with Catholic laymen, but even with priests and monks and doctors of divinity."[45]

Emergence of modern German edit

Luther's German Bible and its widespread circulation facilitated the emergence of a standard, modern German language for the German-speaking people throughout the Holy Roman Empire, an empire extending through and beyond present-day Germany. It is also considered a landmark in German literature, with Luther's vernacular style often praised by modern German sources for the forceful vigor ("kraftvolles Deutsch")[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] with which he translated the Holy Scripture.

The spread of Luther's Bible translation had implications for the German language. The German language had developed into so many dialects that German speakers from different regions could barely understand each other. This led Luther to conclude that "I have so far read no book or letter in which the German language is properly handled. Nobody seems to care sufficiently for it; and every preacher thinks he has a right to change it at pleasure and to invent new terms."[55] Scholars preferred to write in the Latin which they all understood.

Luther's Bible translation, based primarily on Saxon Chancery language used in royal courts and his native Upper Saxon dialect[56] and enriched with the vocabulary of German poets and chroniclers, was a step on the path to a standardized German language,[55] as Early New High German developed into modern "neuhochdeutsch." A contemporary of Luther's, Erasmus Alberus, labeled him the German Cicero, as he reformed not only religion but the German language also.

Luther's Bible has been hailed as the first German "classic", comparable to the English King James Version of the Bible. German-speaking Protestant writers and poets such as Klopstock, Herder, and Lessing owe stylistic qualities to Luther's vernacular Bible.[57] Luther adapted words to the capacity of the German public and through the pervasiveness of his German Bible, created and spread the modern German language.[57]

National identity edit

Luther's vernacular Bible also had a role in the creation of a German national identity. Because it penetrated every German-speaking Protestant home, the language of his translation became part of a German national heritage.[58] Luther's program of exposure to the words of the Bible was extended into every sphere of daily life and work, illuminating moral considerations for Germans. It gradually became infused into the culture of the whole nation and occupied a permanent space in a German history.[58]

According to some hagiographers, the popularity and influence of his translation gave Luther confidence to act as a spokesperson of a nation and as the leader of an anti-Roman movement throughout Germany.[59] It made it possible for him to be a prophet of a new German national identity[60] and helped form the spirit of a new epoch in German history.[61] The existence of the vernacular Bible was a public affirmation of empowerment and reform, such as might deprive any elite or priestly class of exclusive control over words, as well as over the word of God.[36]

Through the translation, Luther was intending to make it easier for "simple people" to understand what he was teaching. In some major controversies of the time, even some evangelicals, let alone the commoners, did not understand the reasons for disagreement; and Luther wanted to help those who were confused to see that the disagreement between himself and the Roman Catholic Church was real and had significance. So the translation of the Bible would allow the common people to become aware of the issues at hand and develop an informed opinion.[62] The common individual would thus be given the right to have a mind, spirit, and opinion, to exist not as an economic functionary but as subject to complex and conflicting aspirations and motives. In this sense, Luther's vernacular Bible acted as a force towards the liberation of the German people.

Luther's vernacular Bible broke the domination and unity of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. He had claimed Holy Scripture to be the sole authority, and through his translation every individual would be able to abide by its authority, and might nullify his or her need for a monarchical pope. As Bishop John Fisher put it, Luther's Bible had "stirred a mighty storm and tempest in the church".[63]

Literacy and order edit

 
New Testament titlepage from a Luther Bible printed in 1769

Although not as significantly as on German linguistics, Luther's Bible also made a large impression on educational reform throughout Germany. Luther's goal of a readable, accurate translation of the Bible became a stimulus towards universal education, since everyone should be able to read in order to understand the Bible.[36] At the time, only 5% of Germans had good literacy, 30% in the cities,[64] though estimates vary from 1% to 17%.[65] Luther followed Erasmus, who followed Thomas More, on the benefits of educating girls.[66]

Luther believed that mankind had fallen from grace and was ruled by selfishness, but had not lost moral consciousness: all were sinners and needed to be educated. Thus his vernacular Bible could become a means of establishing a form of law, order, and morality which everyone could abide by, if all could read and understand it. The possibility of understanding the vernacular Bible allowed Luther to found a State Church and educate his followers into a law-abiding community.[67] The Protestant states of Germany became educational states, which encouraged the spirit of teaching which was ultimately fueled by Luther's vernacular Bible.

Used as basis of other translations edit

Finally, Luther's translated Bible also had international significance in the spread of Christianity. Luther's translation influenced the English translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale, who in turn inspired many other translations of the Bible such as the Bishops' Bible of 1568, the Douay–Rheims Bible of 1582–1609, and the King James Version of 1611.[42] It also inspired translations in Scandinavia and the Netherlands.[citation needed] In a metaphor, it was Luther who 'broke the walls' of translation in western Europe and once such walls had fallen, the way was open to all, including some who were quite opposed to Luther's beliefs.[68] Luther's Bible spread its influence for the remolding of Western European culture in the ferment of the sixteenth century. The worldwide implications of the translation far surpassed the expectations of even Luther himself.[69]

Excerpted examples edit

Verse Luther Bible Translation English versions Notes
Gen 2:23 "[...] Man wird sie Männin heißen, darum daß sie vom Manne genommen ist." "One will call her she-man, based on this[:] that she was taken out of the man." "[...] She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Here Luther tried to preserve the resemblance of Hebrew ish (man) and ishah (woman) by adding the female German suffix -in to the masculine word Mann, because the correct word (at that time), Weib, does not resemble it (as neither does the modern Frau). As with adding she- to man in English, adding -in to Mann in German is considered grammatically awkward.
Matthew 12:34 "[...] Wes das Herz voll ist, des geht der Mund über." "What the heart is full of, of that the mouth overflows." "[...] For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Emphasis on conveyance of meaning.
John 11:35 "Und Jesus gingen die Augen über." "And Jesus' eyes overflowed." "Jesus wept." Poetic emphasis.
John 19:5 "[...] Sehet, welch ein Mensch!" "Behold what a man (this is)!" "[...] Behold the man!" Emphasis on Jesus' glory in spite of an ignoble situation; now considered an incorrect translation. See also: Ecce Homo.
Matthew 23:5 "[...] Sie machen ihre Denkzettel breit und die Säume an ihren Kleidern groß." "They make their slips wide and the hems of their garments large." "[...] "They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long" Luther used the German legal term Denkzettel in Matthew 23:5 for the translation of the Greek word φυλακτήριον. This Legalistic language does not exist in the Vulgate or any ancient text.

See also edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c Lobenstein-Reichmann, Anja (29 March 2017). "Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.382. ISBN 9780199340378.
  2. ^ a b c Mathesius, Johannes (1906). "Die dreyzehnde predig, vom viertzigsten jare in Doctor Luthers historien. [Thirteenth Sermon: About the Fortieth Year of Doctor Luthers Biography]". In Georg Loesche (ed.). Ausgewählte Werke [Selected Works]. (in Early New High German). Vol. Dritter Band: Luthers Leben in Predigten [Third Volume: Luthers Life in Sermons] (2nd ed.). Prague: J.G. Calvesche k.u.k. Hof- u. Universitäts-Buchhandlung (Joseph Koch). p. 316. OCLC 12595454. Wenn nun Doctor [Luther] zuvor die außgangen Bibel vbersehen und darneben bey Juden vnnd frembden sprachkündigen sich erlernet vnd sich bey alten Deutschen von guten worten erfragt hatte, Wie er ihm etlich Schöps abstechen ließ, damit jn ein Deutscher Fleischer berichtet, wie man ein jedes am Schaf nennete, kam Doctor in das Consistorium mit seiner alten Lateinischen und newen Deutschen Biblien, darbey er auch stettigs den Hebreischen text hatte. Herr Philippus bracht mit sich den Greckischen text, Doctor Creuziger neben dem Hebreischen die Chaldeische Bibel. Die Professores hatten bey sich jre Rabinen, D. Pommer het auch ein Lateinischen text für sich, darinn er sehr wol bekant war. Zuvor hat sich ein jeder auff den text gerüst, davon man rathschlagen solte, Greckische unnd Lateinische neben den Jüdischen außlegern vbersehen. Darauff proponirt diser President [Luther] ein text und ließ die stimm herumb gehen und höret was ein jeder darzu zu reden hette, nach eygenschaft der sprache oder nach der alten Doctorn außlegung.
    [Rough translation: After Doctor Luther had translated the original Bible, learning from Jews, from foreign language scholars, and from old Germans in the process (for example, he asked a German butcher to slaughter some wethers for him so he could tell him how the different entrails are called), he came to the consistory with his old Latin Bible and with his new German Bible. He also always carried the Hebrew text with him. Herr Philippus contributed the Greek text, Doctor Creuziger contributed the Hebrew text and the Chaldaic Bible. The Professors also brought their Rabbinic Bibles, and Doctor Pommer had a Latin text which he knew very well. Before the meetings, everyone of them studied the text that was to be translated, to discuss the translation of the Greek and Latin version along with the Hebrew exegesis. Luther then proposed a text and asked and listened to what everyone had to say concerning the language or the interpretation.]
  3. ^ Luther, Martin (1545). . Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch [The German Holy Scriptures]. (in Early New High German) (5th ed.). Wittenberg: Hans Lufft. ISBN 978-3-933070-56-2. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  4. ^ Luther, Martin (1545). . Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch [The German Holy Scriptures]. (in Early New High German) (5th ed.). Wittenberg: Hans Lufft. ISBN 978-3-933070-56-2. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
  5. ^ C. Burger, "Luther's Thought Took Shape in Translation of Scripture and Hymns", in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology (Oxford University Press, 2014).
  6. ^ Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521–1532, Minneapolis: Fortress, p. 46.
  7. ^ Birgit Stolt, "Luther's Translation of the Bible." Lutheran Quarterly 28.4 (2014): 373–400.
  8. ^ Mark U. Edwards, Jr., Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther (1994).[page needed]
  9. ^ C. Burger, "Luther's Thought Took Shape in Translation of Scripture and Hymns", in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology (Oxford University Press, 2014).
  10. ^ 21. Luther the Translator of the Bible, Dau, W. H. T. (William Herman Theodore). "Luther Examined and Reexamined / A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation". www.gutenberg.org.
  11. ^ Vedder, Henry Clay (1914). The Reformation in Germany. Macmillan.. Vedder also notes (p170) the implausibility of Luther completing the initial New Testament draft in only "10 weeks" without reference to existing vernacular translations.
  12. ^ a b Luther had in the immediate six months been writing his Christmas Postil (German: Weihnachtspostille), which included many free translations of the Vulgate into German. Such plenaria were printed free translations of the church readings and fairly common around this time; they were read out in services after the Latin had been read out.Bluhm, Heinz (1965). "The Rendering of Galatians 3:23-4:2 in the Printed High German "Plenaria" and in Luther's Christmas Postil"". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 64 (2): 213–231. ISSN 0363-6941. JSTOR 27714632.
  13. ^ Life of Philip Melanchthon. Pilger publishing house. 1897.
  14. ^ "Alexander Hegius". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  15. ^ a b Schaff, Philip, "4. Luther's Translation of the Bible", History of the Christian Church, vol. 7, New York: CCEL, p. xxx, 8 vols.
  16. ^ Jones, Howard (2 October 2018). "The Vocabulary of Righteousness in Martin Luther's New Testament Translations". Oxford German Studies. 47 (4): 381–416. doi:10.1080/00787191.2019.1548122.
  17. ^ Carl C. Christensen, "Luther and the Woodcuts to the 1534 Bible," Lutheran Quarterly, Winter 2005, Vol. 19 Issue 4, pp 392–413
  18. ^ Lyons, Martyn (2011). Books: A Living History (1 ed.). Getty Publications. p. 69. ISBN 9781606060834.
  19. ^ Bluhm, Heinz (October 1969). "An "Unknown" Luther Translation of the Bible". PMLA. Cambridge University Press. 84 (6): 1537–1544. doi:10.2307/1261499. JSTOR 1261499.
  20. ^ "Lutherbibel 2017 (LU17)". www.die-bibel.de. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  21. ^ a b Luther, Martin; Füssel, Stephan (1534). Bible de Luther de 1534, Réimpression Intégral. Taschen. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-8228-2470-2.
  22. ^ a b Bücher des Alten Testaments. Taschen. 1535.
  23. ^ Die Bucher des Newen Testaments. Taschen. 1535.
  24. ^ "Romans 3:28", Testament, 1522, So halten wyrs nu, das der mensch gerechtfertiget werde, on zu thun der werck des gesetzs, alleyn durch den glawben (emphasis added to the German word for 'alone.').
  25. ^ (in Greek), York, archived from the original on 2008-07-02, retrieved 2008-05-21, λογιζόμεθα γάρ δικαιоῦσθαι πίστει ἄνθρωπον χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου ("for we reckon a man to be justified by faith without deeds of law").
  26. ^ Martin Luther, On Translating: An Open Letter (1530), Luther's Works, 55 vols. (St. Louis and Philadelphia: Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press), 35:187–189, 195; cf. also Heinz Bluhm, Martin Luther Creative Translator (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1965), 125–137.
  27. ^ McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution--A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-186474-2.
  28. ^ "Römer 3 - Lutherbibel 2017 (LU17) - die-bibel.de". www.die-bibel.de. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  29. ^ Scheck, Thomas P. (2013). "Bishop John Fisher's Response To Martin Luther". Franciscan Studies. 71: 463–509. ISSN 0080-5459. JSTOR 43855981.
  30. ^ "Luther-Übersetzung - "Unsere Kultur ist ohne die Bibel nicht wirklich zugänglich"". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  31. ^ However, Luther complained about neologisms by other writers, such as German: beherzigen, behandigen, erspriesslich, erschiesslich, bethoren, ernarren. Luther, Martin. Introduction to New Testament, in Works of Martin Luther, Vol 6 (PDF).: 273  despite making his own, such as German: Schwärmer, knabenschender Wirrig, Adam L. (4 April 2022). Trial of Translation: An Examination of 1 Corinthians 6:9 in the Vernacular Bibles of the Early Modern Period. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-7252-7755-7.
  32. ^ . Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Archived from the original on 2009-04-15.
  33. ^ "Luther's Antilegomena".
  34. ^ Montgomery, John Warwick (1974). "Chapter 3". God's Inerrant Word. Canadian Institute for Law, Theology & Public Policy, Inc. pp. 79–80.
  35. ^ a b Martin Brecht, Martin Luther, James L. Schaaf, trans., 3 vols., (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1985-1993), 3:98.
  36. ^ a b c d e Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1996), 91
  37. ^ a b Volz, H.; Greenslide, S.L., eds. (1963). The Cambridge History of the Bible. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 94, 102, 104, 106. ISBN 9781139055512.
  38. ^ a b Arblaster, Paul; Juhász, Gergely; Latré, Guido (2002). Tyndale's testament. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-51411-6.
  39. ^ A.G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1974), 206
  40. ^ "My language is based on that of the Saxon Chancery, which is followed by all the princes and kings in Germany." (Ich rede nach der sächsischen Canzley, welcher nachfolgen alle Fürsten und Könige in Deutschland.)" Luther, Martin (1566). Tischreden 1040
  41. ^ Mark Antliff, The Legacy of Martin Luther (Ottawa, McGill University Press, 1983), 11
  42. ^ a b c Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1996), 92
  43. ^ Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 5
  44. ^ A.G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1974), 134
  45. ^ Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 6
  46. ^ Schreiber, Mathias (2006). Deutsch for sale, Der Spiegel, no. 40, October 2, 2006 ("So schuf er eine Hochsprache aus Volkssprache, sächsischem Kanzleideutsch (aus der Gegend von Meißen), Predigt und Alltagsrede, eine in sich widersprüchliche, aber bildhafte und kraftvolle Mischung, an der die deutschsprachige Literatur im Grunde bis heute Maß nimmt.")
  47. ^ Köppelmann, K. (2006) . Zwischen Barock und Romantik: Mendelssohns kirchliche Kompositionen für Chor 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine ("Between Baroque and Romanticism: Mendelssohn's ecclesiastic choir compositions"), Mendelssohn-Programm 2006, p. 3 ("Martin Luthers kraftvolle deutsche Texte werden durch Mendelssohns Musik mit emotionalen Qualitäten versehen, die über die Zeit des Bachschen Vorbildes weit hinaus reicht und das persönlich empfindende romantische Selbst stark in den Vordergrund rückt.")
  48. ^ Werth, Jürgen. Die Lutherbibel ("The Luther Bible"), in Michaelsbote: Gemeindebrief der Evangelischen Michaeliskirchengemeinde 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine ("St. Michael's Messenger: Parish newsletter of the Protestant Community of St. Michael's Church"), no. 2, May/June/July, 2007, p. 4. ("Gottes Worte für die Welt. Kaum einer hat diese Worte so kraftvoll in die deutsche Sprache übersetzt wie Martin Luther.")
  49. ^ Lehmann, Klaus-Dieter (2009). Rede von Klaus-Dieter Lehmann zur Ausstellungseröffnung von "die Sprache Deutsch" ("Speech held by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann upon the opening of the exposition 'The German language'"), Goethe-Institut ("Und so schuf der Reformator eine Sprache, indem er, wie er selbst sagt, 'dem Volk auf's Maul schaut', kraftvoll, bildhaft und Stil prägend wie kein anderes Dokument der deutschen Literatur.")
  50. ^ Weigelt, Silvia (2009). Das Griechlein und der Wagenlenker - Das kommende Jahr steht ganz im Zeichen Philip Melanchtons ("The Greek writer and the charioteer: 2010 to be the official Philipp Melanchthon year"), mitteldeutsche-kirchenzeitungen.de, online portal of the two print church magazines Der Sonntag and Glaube und Heimat ("Wenn auch die kraftvolle und bilderreiche Sprache des Bibeltextes zu Recht als Luthers Verdienst gilt, so kommt Melanchthon ein gewichtiger Anteil am richtigen sprachlichen Verständnis des griechischen Urtextes und an der sachlichen Genauigkeit der Übersetzung zu.")
  51. ^ Hulme, David (2004). Die Bibel - ein multilinguales Meisterwerk 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine ("The Bible: A multi-lingual masterpiece"), visionjournal.de, no. 2, 2006, the German version of the spiritual magazine Vision: Insights and New Horizons published by Church of God, an International Community available in English at www.vision.org ("Luthers Bibelübersetzung mit ihrer kraftvollen, aus ostmitteldeutschen und ostoberdeutschen Elementen gebildeten Ausgleichssprache hatte auf die Entwicklung der neuhochdeutschen Sprache großen Einfluss.")
  52. ^ Salzmann, Betram; Schäfer, Rolf (2009). Bibelübersetzungen, christliche deutsche ("Bible translations, Christian and German"), www.wibilex.de: Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikom im Internet ("die Orientierung an der mündlichen Volkssprache, die zu besonders kräftigen und bildhaften Formulierungen führt")
  53. ^ Schmitsdorf, Joachim (2007). Deutsche Bibelübersetzungen: Ein Überblick ("German Bible translations: An overview") ("Kraftvolle, melodische Sprache, die gut zum Auswendiglernen geeignet, aber auch oft schwer verständlich und altertümelnd ist")
  54. ^ Lutherdeutsch ("Luther's German") ("Luthers Sprache ist saft- und kraftvoll.")
  55. ^ a b Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 12
  56. ^ Borchardt, F. (1996). "German Language." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 May. 2019, from https://www-oxfordreference-com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195064933.001.0001/acref-9780195064933-e-0570 .
  57. ^ a b Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 13
  58. ^ a b Gerhard Ritter, Luther: His life and Work ( New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963), 216
  59. ^ Hartmann Grisar, Luther: Volume I (London: Luigi Cappadelta, 1914), 402
  60. ^ V.H.H. Green. Luther and the Reformation (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1964), 193
  61. ^ Gerhard Ritter, Luther: His life and Work ( New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963), 213
  62. ^ Mark Edwards, Luther and the False Brethren (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975), 193
  63. ^ V.H.H. Green. Luther and the Reformation (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1964), 10
  64. ^ Edwards, Mark U. Jr. (1994). Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 37.
  65. ^ Eskelson, Tyrel C. (2021). "States, Institutions, and Literacy Rates in Early-Modern Western Europe". Journal of Education and Learning. Canadian Center of Science and Education. 10 (2): 109. doi:10.5539/jel.v10n2p109. eISSN 1927-5269. ISSN 1927-5250.
  66. ^ Becker, Sascha O.; Wößmann, Ludger (November 2008). Luther and the Girls: Religious Denomination and the Female Education Gap in 19th Century Prussia (PDF) (Report). Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  67. ^ Gerhard Ritter, Luther: His life and Work ( New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963), 241
  68. ^ B.A. Gerrish, Reformers in Profile (Philadelphia: Fortpress Press, 1967), 112
  69. ^ Gerhard Ritter, Luther: His life and Work ( New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1963), 212

Further reading edit

  • Antliff, Mark. The Legacy of Martin Luther. Ottawa, McGill University Press, 1983
  • Atkinson, James. Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism. Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1968
  • Bindseil, H.E. and Niemeyer, H.A. Dr. Martin Luther's Bibelübersetzung nach der letzten Original-Ausgabe, kritisch bearbeitet. 7 vols. Halle, 1845–55. [The N. T. in vols. 6 and 7. A critical reprint of the last edition of Luther (1545). Niemeyer died after the publication of the first volume. Comp. the Probebibel (the revised Luther-Version), Halle, 1883. Luther's Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen und Fürbitte der Heiligen (with a letter to Wenceslaus Link, Sept. 12, 1530), in Walch, XXI. 310 sqq., and the Erl. Frkf. ed., vol. LXV. 102–123.] Free open access edition with new English translation by Howard Jones for the Taylor Institution Reformation Pamphlet Series with an introduction by Henrike Lähnemann.
  • Bluhm, Heinz. Martin Luther: Creative Translator. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1965.
  • Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. 3 Volumes. James L. Schaaf, trans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–1993. ISBN 0-8006-2813-6, ISBN 0-8006-2814-4, ISBN 0-8006-2815-2.
  • Dickens, AG (1974), The German Nation and Martin Luther, New York: Harper & Row.
  • Edwards, Mark (1975), Luther and the False Brethren, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Gerrish, B.A. Reformers in Profile. Philadelphia: Fortpress Press, 1967
  • Green, V.H.H. Luther and the Reformation. London: B.T. Batsford, 1964
  • Grisar, Hartmann. Luther: Volume I. London: Luigi Cappadelta, 1914
  • Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996
  • Lyons, Martin. Books: A Living History. Thames and Hudson: 2011.
  • Reu, [John] M[ichael]. Luther and the Scriptures. Columbus, OH: The Wartburg Press, 1944. [Reprint: St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1980].
  • ——— (1984) [Columbus, OH: The Lutheran Book Concern, 1934], Luther's German Bible: An Historical Presentation Together with a Collection of Sources, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
  • Ritter, Gerhard. Luther: His life and Work. New York: Harper & Row, 1963

External links edit

  • Luther Bible (1912 Edition).
  • Luther's Translation of the Bible in Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church.
  • Works by or about Luther Bible at Internet Archive
  • Works by Luther Bible at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)  
  • Standard German Bible at World Bibles 2021-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
  • 1912 Luther Bible at Word Project

luther, bible, german, lutherbibel, german, language, bible, translation, protestant, reformer, martin, luther, testament, translation, luther, first, published, september, 1522, completed, bible, containing, translation, testaments, with, apocrypha, 1534, lut. The Luther Bible German Lutherbibel is a German language Bible translation by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther A New Testament translation by Luther was first published in September 1522 and the completed Bible containing a translation of the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha in 1534 Luther continued to make improvements to the text until 1545 It was the first full translation of the Bible into German that used not only the Latin Vulgate but also the Greek 5 Luther BibleMartin Luther s 1534 BibleFull nameBiblia das ist die gantze Heilige Schrifft DeudschAbbreviationLUTOT published1534NT published1522Complete Biblepublished1534 1 ApocryphaDeuterocanonical booksPrayer of ManassehAuthorshipMartin LutherPhilipp MelanchthonCaspar CreuzigerJustus JonasJohannes Bugenhagenothers 2 Textual basisNT Textus Receptus Luther Vulgate Bugenhagen 2 OT Septuagint Melanchthon 2nd Bomberg Edition Creuziger 2 Version revision1984 last official revision PublisherHans LufftCopyrightPublic domain due to ageReligious affiliationLutheran churchesSeveral Reformed churchesGenesis 1 1 3Am anfang schuff Gott Himel vnd Erden Vnd die Erde war wust und leer und es war finster auff der Tieffe Vnd der Geist Gottes schwebet auff dem Wasser Und Gott sprach Es werde Liecht Und es ward Liecht 1545 revised 5th edition 3 John 3 16Also hat Gott die Welt geliebet das er seinen eingeboren Son gab Auff das alle die an jn gleuben nicht verloren werden sondern das ewige Leben haben 1545 revised 5th edition 4 Luther did not translate the entire Bible by himself he relied on a team of translators and helpers that included Philip Melanchthon a scholar of Koine Greek who motivated and assisted Luther s New Testament translation from Greek and Matthaus Aurogallus a linguist and scholar of Hebrew One of the textual bases of the New Testament translation was the Latin and Greek versions and its philological annotations recently published by the Dutch Catholic humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam and called the Novum Testamentum omne 1519 The project absorbed Luther s later years 6 The publication of Luther s Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany 1 promoting the development of non local forms of language and exposing all speakers to forms of German from outside their own areas 7 Thanks to the then recently invented printing press 8 the result was widely disseminated and contributed significantly to the development of today s modern High German language 1 Contents 1 Previous German translations 2 Luther s New Testament translation 3 Old Testament translation 4 Publication of the complete Bible translation 4 1 Editions and revisions 4 2 Books of the Luther Bible 5 Mistranslations and controversies 6 View of canonicity 7 Influence 7 1 Publishing success 7 2 Emergence of modern German 7 3 National identity 7 4 Literacy and order 7 5 Used as basis of other translations 8 Excerpted examples 9 See also 10 References 10 1 Notes 11 Further reading 12 External linksPrevious German translations editA number of Bible translations into German both manuscript and printed were produced prior to Luther s birth Starting around the year 1460 at least eighteen complete German Bible editions ninety editions in the vernacular of the Gospels and the readings of the Sundays and Holy Days and some fourteen German Psalters were printed sometimes in multiple editions These were all translations from the Latin Vulgate not influenced by the emerging Hebrew and Greek scholarship 9 Luther s New Testament translation editWhile he was sequestered in the Wartburg Castle for three months Dec 8 1521 early March 1522 10 Luther began to translate the New Testament from Latin and Greek 11 12 into German in order to make it more accessible to all the people of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation This quote needs a citation Luther used Erasmus second edition 1519 of the Latin New Testament with Greek later developed into the Textus Receptus and annotations After leaving the castle he revised passages obscure to him with the assistance of Greek specialist Phillip Melanchthon 13 56 Like Erasmus Luther had learned some Greek at the Latin schools led by the Brethren of the Common Life Erasmus in Deventer the Netherlands and Luther in Magdeburg Germany These lay brothers had added Greek as a new subject to their curriculum in the late 15th century 14 At that time Greek was seldom taught even at universities Known as the September Bible this translation included only the New Testament and was printed in September 1522 Luther also published the Bible in the small octavo format To help him in translating into contemporary German Luther made forays into nearby towns and markets to listen to people speaking citation needed He wanted to ensure their comprehension by translating as closely as possible to their contemporary language usage This translation known as the September Bible was published in September 1522 six months after he had returned to Wittenberg citation needed In the opinion of the 19th century theologian and church historian Philip Schaff The richest fruit of Luther s leisure in the Wartburg and the most important and useful work of his whole life is the translation of the New Testament by which he brought the teaching and example of Christ and the Apostles to the mind and heart of the Germans in life like reproduction It was a republication of the gospel He made the Bible the people s book in church school and house 15 The same writer notes nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Philip Schaff on Luther s Bible He adapted the words to the capacity of the Germans often at the expense of accuracy 63 A Critical Estimate of Luther s Version For example he translated dikaios forms with gerecht words to refer to divine righteousness but with frum words in contexts which refer to human goodness with billig for what is fitting or appropriate and with recht words when referring to lawful conduct to create distinctions that reflected his theological view 16 Old Testament translation editThe Old Testament was translated using a Masoretic text of Soncino the Vulgate of Jerome the Septuagint and later Latin versions by Santes Pagnino and by Sebastian Munster 15 63 Publication of the complete Bible translation editThe translation of the entire Bible into German was published in a six part edition in 1534 a collaborative effort of Luther and many others such as Johannes Bugenhagen Justus Jonas Caspar Creuziger Philipp Melanchthon Matthaus Aurogallus and Georg Rorer Luther worked on refining the translation up to his death in 1546 he had worked on the edition that was printed that year The 1534 edition issued by the Hans Lufft press in Wittenberg included 117 original woodcuts This reflected the recent trend since 1522 of including artwork to reinforce the textual message 17 Luther s Bible was a bestseller in its time About 200 000 copies in hundreds of reprinted editions appeared before Luther died in 1546 However the book remained too expensive for most people an unbound copy of the complete 1534 Bible cost the equivalent of a month s wages for the average laborer Instead the Bible was bought by churches pastors and schools 18 Johannes Bugenhagen published a Middle Low German version in 1534 Editions and revisions edit Revisions were made during and after Luther s lifetime sometimes with multiple editions in a single year The 1530 edition is regarded as his most thoroughgoing revision of the New Testament The successive revisions were less constrained by Latin and Greek 19 In 2017 a revised version was published for the 500th anniversary of the posting of the Ninety five Theses 20 Books of the Luther Bible edit The complete 1534 edition of the Luther Bible contains a total of 75 books including 39 books of the Old Testament 9 books of the Apocrypha and 27 books of the New Testament 21 Old Testament 22 GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuthSamuelKingsChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SolomonIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiApocrypha 22 21 JudithWisdomTobitSirachBaruch including the Letter of Jeremiah 1 Maccabees2 MaccabeesAdditions to EstherAdditions to DanielNew Testament 23 Saint MatthewSaint MarkSaint LukeSaint JohnActs of the ApostlesRomansFirst Epistle to the CorinthiansSecond Epistle to the CorinthiansEpistle to the GalatiansEpistle to the EphesiansEpistle to the PhilippiansEpistle to the ColossiansFirst Epistle to the ThessaloniansSecond Epistle to the ThessaloniansFirst Epistle to TimothySecond Epistle to TimothyEpistle to TitusEpistle to PhilemonFirst Epistle of PeterSecond Epistle of PeterFirst Epistle of JohnSecond Epistle of JohnThird Epistle of JohnEpistle to the HebrewsEpistle of JamesEpistle of JudeBook of RevelationMistranslations and controversies editLuther controversially added the word alone allein in German to Romans 3 28 so that it read So now we hold that man is justified without the help of the works of the law alone through faith 24 The word alone does not appear in the Greek texts 25 but Luther defended his translation by maintaining that the adverb alone was required both by idiomatic German and the apostle Paul s intended meaning according to his interpretation 26 and that sola had been used in Western theological tradition before him Many Protestant scholars have noted the bias in Luther s translation including Anglican apologist Alister McGrath 27 Luther insisted that Paul s doctrine of justification by faith was definitive for Christianity And to make sure that there was no understandings about this he added the word alone lest anyone see faith as one among a number of causes of justification including works This addition caused a furor Catholics pointed out that the NT nowhere taught justification by faith alone indeed the Letter of James explicitly condemned the idea Luther responded by making the point that his slogan encapsulated neatly the substance of the NT even if it did not use precisely its original words And as for the letter of James was it not an epistle of straw that ought not to be in the NT anyway This second argument caused considerable unease within Protestant circles and was not maintained by Luther s successors Alister Mcgrath The 2017 version has added footnotes on Romans 1 17 Romans 2 13 Romans 3 21 and Romans 3 28 that warn about the deliberate mistranslations Luther committed For example while the text of the 2017 version retains the disputed word alone So halten wir nun dafur dass der Mensch gerecht wird ohne des Gesetzes Werke allein durch den Glauben the footnote gives a literal translation Wortlich dass der Mensch aus Glauben gerechtfertigt wird ohne Werke des Gesetzes for the second half of the verse 28 Another controversial translation in the 1522 New Testament is 1 Timothy 2 4 which translates that God wills that all men be helped German geholfen werden rather than the expected be saved for Greek sw8ῆnai 29 484 Karl Heinz Gottert a professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Cologne in reference to his book Luther s Bible History of a Hostile Takeover noted 30 Luther developed a certain theology and now he wants to prove this theology He wants to show it You can call that awesome and you can call it wrong In any case it does not offer a philologically clean translation of the Bible Karl Heinz Gottert Luther did not know ancient Greek well and when he referenced the Greek New Testament he relied on his friend Melanchthon and a number of other philologists Significant changes correcting Luther s translations were made in the 2017 version of the Luther Bible citation needed Luther also added German legal terminology which is not found in the original text for example Denkzettel in Matthew 23 5 31 There were also many understandable mistranslations due to a lack of knowledge such as in Psalms 104 where he mistranslated chamois as rabbit because he did not know what a chamois was citation needed View of canonicity edit nbsp Luther s first study of the BibleInitially Luther had a low view of the Old Testament book of Esther and of the New Testament books of Hebrews James Jude and the Revelation of John He called the Letter of James an epistle of straw finding little in it that pointed to Christ and his saving work He also had harsh words for the Revelation of John saying that he could in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it 32 In his translation of the New Testament Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order to join Jude and the Revelation at the end and differentiated these from the other books which he considered the true and certain chief books of the New Testament The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation 33 His views on some of these books changed in later years and became more positive 34 Luther chose to place the books he considered Biblical apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments These books and addenda to Biblical canon of the Old Testament are found in the ancient Greek Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text Luther left the translating of them largely to Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas 35 Though included they were not numbered in the table of contents of his 1532 Old Testament and in the 1534 Bible they were given the well known title Apocrypha These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures but Are Useful and Good to Read 35 See also Development of the Christian Biblical canon Influence editA large part of Luther s significance was in his influence on the emergence of the German language and national identity This stemmed predominantly from his translation of the Bible into the vernacular which was potentially as revolutionary as canon law and the burning of the papal bull 36 Publishing success edit The Luther Bible was not the first translation or printing of the Bible into German 37 There are still approximately 1 000 manuscripts or manuscript fragments of Medieval German Bible translations extant mainly from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 38 116 In total there were at least eighteen complete printed German Bible editions ninety editions in the vernacular of the Gospels and the readings of the Sundays and Holy Days and some fourteen German Psalters by the time Luther first published his own New Testament translation 38 116 However a previous word for word German translation from 1350 translated exclusively from the Vulgate printed by Johann Mentelin in 1466 has been called linguistically clumsy and partially incomprehensible 37 Luther s goal was to equip every German speaking Christian with the ability to hear the Word of God and his completing his translation of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular by 1534 was one of the most significant acts of the Reformation 39 Although Luther was not the first to attempt such a translation his has been called superior to all its predecessors as a thought by thought translation Previous translations had contained poor German and had been from the Latin Vulgate versions only without reference to any Greek versions 36 However at least some passages can be explained as translations from the Vulgate 12 230 231 Luther sought to translate as closely to the original text as possible and adopted the officially promoted bureaucratic dialect Saxon Chancery 40 Some writers claim his translation was guided by how people spoke presumably in the Upper Saxon dialect 36 and that Luther s faithfulness to the language spoken by the common people was to produce a work which they could relate to 41 This led later German writers such as Goethe and Nietzsche to praise Luther s Bible 42 Moreover because Luther s Bible was printed it could spread rapidly and could be read by or to all Hans Lufft the Bible printer in Wittenberg printed over 100 000 copies between 1534 and 1574 and these were read by or to millions 43 Luther s vernacular Bible came to be present in virtually every German speaking Protestant s home and increased the Biblical knowledge of the German common masses 44 Luther even had large print Bibles made for those who had failing eyesight 42 Catholic German humanist Johann Cochlaeus complained that Luther s New Testament was so much multiplied and spread by printers that even tailors and shoemakers yea even women and ignorant persons who had accepted this new Lutheran gospel and could read a little German studied it with the greatest avidity as the fountain of all truth Some committed it to memory and carried it about in their bosom In a few months such people deemed themselves so learned that they were not ashamed to dispute about faith and the gospel not only with Catholic laymen but even with priests and monks and doctors of divinity 45 Emergence of modern German edit See also New High German Luther s German Bible and its widespread circulation facilitated the emergence of a standard modern German language for the German speaking people throughout the Holy Roman Empire an empire extending through and beyond present day Germany It is also considered a landmark in German literature with Luther s vernacular style often praised by modern German sources for the forceful vigor kraftvolles Deutsch 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 with which he translated the Holy Scripture The spread of Luther s Bible translation had implications for the German language The German language had developed into so many dialects that German speakers from different regions could barely understand each other This led Luther to conclude that I have so far read no book or letter in which the German language is properly handled Nobody seems to care sufficiently for it and every preacher thinks he has a right to change it at pleasure and to invent new terms 55 Scholars preferred to write in the Latin which they all understood Luther s Bible translation based primarily on Saxon Chancery language used in royal courts and his native Upper Saxon dialect 56 and enriched with the vocabulary of German poets and chroniclers was a step on the path to a standardized German language 55 as Early New High German developed into modern neuhochdeutsch A contemporary of Luther s Erasmus Alberus labeled him the German Cicero as he reformed not only religion but the German language also Luther s Bible has been hailed as the first German classic comparable to the English King James Version of the Bible German speaking Protestant writers and poets such as Klopstock Herder and Lessing owe stylistic qualities to Luther s vernacular Bible 57 Luther adapted words to the capacity of the German public and through the pervasiveness of his German Bible created and spread the modern German language 57 National identity edit Luther s vernacular Bible also had a role in the creation of a German national identity Because it penetrated every German speaking Protestant home the language of his translation became part of a German national heritage 58 Luther s program of exposure to the words of the Bible was extended into every sphere of daily life and work illuminating moral considerations for Germans It gradually became infused into the culture of the whole nation and occupied a permanent space in a German history 58 According to some hagiographers the popularity and influence of his translation gave Luther confidence to act as a spokesperson of a nation and as the leader of an anti Roman movement throughout Germany 59 It made it possible for him to be a prophet of a new German national identity 60 and helped form the spirit of a new epoch in German history 61 The existence of the vernacular Bible was a public affirmation of empowerment and reform such as might deprive any elite or priestly class of exclusive control over words as well as over the word of God 36 Through the translation Luther was intending to make it easier for simple people to understand what he was teaching In some major controversies of the time even some evangelicals let alone the commoners did not understand the reasons for disagreement and Luther wanted to help those who were confused to see that the disagreement between himself and the Roman Catholic Church was real and had significance So the translation of the Bible would allow the common people to become aware of the issues at hand and develop an informed opinion 62 The common individual would thus be given the right to have a mind spirit and opinion to exist not as an economic functionary but as subject to complex and conflicting aspirations and motives In this sense Luther s vernacular Bible acted as a force towards the liberation of the German people Luther s vernacular Bible broke the domination and unity of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe He had claimed Holy Scripture to be the sole authority and through his translation every individual would be able to abide by its authority and might nullify his or her need for a monarchical pope As Bishop John Fisher put it Luther s Bible had stirred a mighty storm and tempest in the church 63 Literacy and order edit nbsp New Testament titlepage from a Luther Bible printed in 1769This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Although not as significantly as on German linguistics Luther s Bible also made a large impression on educational reform throughout Germany Luther s goal of a readable accurate translation of the Bible became a stimulus towards universal education since everyone should be able to read in order to understand the Bible 36 At the time only 5 of Germans had good literacy 30 in the cities 64 though estimates vary from 1 to 17 65 Luther followed Erasmus who followed Thomas More on the benefits of educating girls 66 Luther believed that mankind had fallen from grace and was ruled by selfishness but had not lost moral consciousness all were sinners and needed to be educated Thus his vernacular Bible could become a means of establishing a form of law order and morality which everyone could abide by if all could read and understand it The possibility of understanding the vernacular Bible allowed Luther to found a State Church and educate his followers into a law abiding community 67 The Protestant states of Germany became educational states which encouraged the spirit of teaching which was ultimately fueled by Luther s vernacular Bible Used as basis of other translations edit Finally Luther s translated Bible also had international significance in the spread of Christianity Luther s translation influenced the English translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale who in turn inspired many other translations of the Bible such as the Bishops Bible of 1568 the Douay Rheims Bible of 1582 1609 and the King James Version of 1611 42 It also inspired translations in Scandinavia and the Netherlands citation needed In a metaphor it was Luther who broke the walls of translation in western Europe and once such walls had fallen the way was open to all including some who were quite opposed to Luther s beliefs 68 Luther s Bible spread its influence for the remolding of Western European culture in the ferment of the sixteenth century The worldwide implications of the translation far surpassed the expectations of even Luther himself 69 Excerpted examples editVerse Luther Bible Translation English versions NotesGen 2 23 Man wird sie Mannin heissen darum dass sie vom Manne genommen ist One will call her she man based on this that she was taken out of the man She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man Here Luther tried to preserve the resemblance of Hebrew ish man and ishah woman by adding the female German suffix in to the masculine word Mann because the correct word at that time Weib does not resemble it as neither does the modern Frau As with adding she to man in English adding in to Mann in German is considered grammatically awkward Matthew 12 34 Wes das Herz voll ist des geht der Mund uber What the heart is full of of that the mouth overflows For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Emphasis on conveyance of meaning John 11 35 Und Jesus gingen die Augen uber And Jesus eyes overflowed Jesus wept Poetic emphasis John 19 5 Sehet welch ein Mensch Behold what a man this is Behold the man Emphasis on Jesus glory in spite of an ignoble situation now considered an incorrect translation See also Ecce Homo Matthew 23 5 Sie machen ihre Denkzettel breit und die Saume an ihren Kleidern gross They make their slips wide and the hems of their garments large They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long Luther used the German legal term Denkzettel in Matthew 23 5 for the translation of the Greek word fylakthrion This Legalistic language does not exist in the Vulgate or any ancient text See also editElector Bible German Bible translations Protestant Bible Permanent Exhibition Luther and the Bible at Lutherhaus EisenachReferences editNotes edit a b c Lobenstein Reichmann Anja 29 March 2017 Martin Luther Bible Translation and the German Language Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion Oxford Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 acrefore 9780199340378 013 382 ISBN 9780199340378 a b c Mathesius Johannes 1906 Die dreyzehnde predig vom viertzigsten jare in Doctor Luthers historien Thirteenth Sermon About the Fortieth Year of Doctor Luthers Biography In Georg Loesche ed Ausgewahlte Werke Selected Works in Early New High German Vol Dritter Band Luthers Leben in Predigten Third Volume Luthers Life in Sermons 2nd ed Prague J G Calvesche k u k Hof u Universitats Buchhandlung Joseph Koch p 316 OCLC 12595454 Wenn nun Doctor Luther zuvor die aussgangen Bibel vbersehen und darneben bey Juden vnnd frembden sprachkundigen sich erlernet vnd sich bey alten Deutschen von guten worten erfragt hatte Wie er ihm etlich Schops abstechen liess damit jn ein Deutscher Fleischer berichtet wie man ein jedes am Schaf nennete kam Doctor in das Consistorium mit seiner alten Lateinischen und newen Deutschen Biblien darbey er auch stettigs den Hebreischen text hatte Herr Philippus bracht mit sich den Greckischen text Doctor Creuziger neben dem Hebreischen die Chaldeische Bibel Die Professores hatten bey sich jre Rabinen D Pommer het auch ein Lateinischen text fur sich darinn er sehr wol bekant war Zuvor hat sich ein jeder auff den text gerust davon man rathschlagen solte Greckische unnd Lateinische neben den Judischen ausslegern vbersehen Darauff proponirt diser President Luther ein text und liess die stimm herumb gehen und horet was ein jeder darzu zu reden hette nach eygenschaft der sprache oder nach der alten Doctorn ausslegung Rough translation After Doctor Luther had translated the original Bible learning from Jews from foreign language scholars and from old Germans in the process for example he asked a German butcher to slaughter some wethers for him so he could tell him how the different entrails are called he came to the consistory with his old Latin Bible and with his new German Bible He also always carried the Hebrew text with him Herr Philippus contributed the Greek text Doctor Creuziger contributed the Hebrew text and the Chaldaic Bible The Professors also brought their Rabbinic Bibles and Doctor Pommer had a Latin text which he knew very well Before the meetings everyone of them studied the text that was to be translated to discuss the translation of the Greek and Latin version along with the Hebrew exegesis Luther then proposed a text and asked and listened to what everyone had to say concerning the language or the interpretation Luther Martin 1545 Genesis 1 1 3 Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch The German Holy Scriptures in Early New High German 5th ed Wittenberg Hans Lufft ISBN 978 3 933070 56 2 Archived from the original on 2008 12 04 Retrieved 2012 01 15 Luther Martin 1545 John 3 16 Die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch The German Holy Scriptures in Early New High German 5th ed Wittenberg Hans Lufft ISBN 978 3 933070 56 2 Archived from the original on 2008 12 04 Retrieved 2012 01 15 C Burger Luther s Thought Took Shape in Translation of Scripture and Hymns in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther s Theology Oxford University Press 2014 Martin Brecht Martin Luther Shaping and Defining the Reformation 1521 1532 Minneapolis Fortress p 46 Birgit Stolt Luther s Translation of the Bible Lutheran Quarterly 28 4 2014 373 400 Mark U Edwards Jr Printing Propaganda and Martin Luther 1994 page needed C Burger Luther s Thought Took Shape in Translation of Scripture and Hymns in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther s Theology Oxford University Press 2014 21 Luther the Translator of the Bible Dau W H T William Herman Theodore Luther Examined and Reexamined A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation www gutenberg org Vedder Henry Clay 1914 The Reformation in Germany Macmillan Vedder also notes p170 the implausibility of Luther completing the initial New Testament draft in only 10 weeks without reference to existing vernacular translations a b Luther had in the immediate six months been writing his Christmas Postil German Weihnachtspostille which included many free translations of the Vulgate into German Such plenaria were printed free translations of the church readings and fairly common around this time they were read out in services after the Latin had been read out Bluhm Heinz 1965 The Rendering of Galatians 3 23 4 2 in the Printed High German Plenaria and in Luther s Christmas Postil The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 64 2 213 231 ISSN 0363 6941 JSTOR 27714632 Life of Philip Melanchthon Pilger publishing house 1897 Alexander Hegius Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 1 May 2023 a b Schaff Philip 4 Luther s Translation of the Bible History of the Christian Church vol 7 New York CCEL p xxx 8 vols Jones Howard 2 October 2018 The Vocabulary of Righteousness in Martin Luther s New Testament Translations Oxford German Studies 47 4 381 416 doi 10 1080 00787191 2019 1548122 Carl C Christensen Luther and the Woodcuts to the 1534 Bible Lutheran Quarterly Winter 2005 Vol 19 Issue 4 pp 392 413 Lyons Martyn 2011 Books A Living History 1 ed Getty Publications p 69 ISBN 9781606060834 Bluhm Heinz October 1969 An Unknown Luther Translation of the Bible PMLA Cambridge University Press 84 6 1537 1544 doi 10 2307 1261499 JSTOR 1261499 Lutherbibel 2017 LU17 www die bibel de Retrieved 2023 07 10 a b Luther Martin Fussel Stephan 1534 Bible de Luther de 1534 Reimpression Integral Taschen p 41 ISBN 978 3 8228 2470 2 a b Bucher des Alten Testaments Taschen 1535 Die Bucher des Newen Testaments Taschen 1535 Romans 3 28 Testament 1522 So halten wyrs nu das der mensch gerechtfertiget werde on zu thun der werck des gesetzs alleyn durch den glawben emphasis added to the German word for alone New testament in Greek York archived from the original on 2008 07 02 retrieved 2008 05 21 logizome8a gar dikaioῦs8ai pistei ἄn8rwpon xwrὶs ἔrgwn nomoy for we reckon a man to be justified by faith without deeds of law Martin Luther On Translating An Open Letter 1530 Luther s Works 55 vols St Louis and Philadelphia Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press 35 187 189 195 cf also Heinz Bluhm Martin Luther Creative Translator St Louis Concordia Publishing House 1965 125 137 McGrath Alister 2009 10 13 Christianity s Dangerous Idea The Protestant Revolution A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty First Harper Collins ISBN 978 0 06 186474 2 Romer 3 Lutherbibel 2017 LU17 die bibel de www die bibel de Retrieved 2023 07 01 Scheck Thomas P 2013 Bishop John Fisher s Response To Martin Luther Franciscan Studies 71 463 509 ISSN 0080 5459 JSTOR 43855981 Luther Ubersetzung Unsere Kultur ist ohne die Bibel nicht wirklich zuganglich Deutschlandfunk in German Retrieved 2021 04 17 However Luther complained about neologisms by other writers such as German beherzigen behandigen erspriesslich erschiesslich bethoren ernarren Luther Martin Introduction to New Testament in Works of Martin Luther Vol 6 PDF 273 despite making his own such as German Schwarmer knabenschender Wirrig Adam L 4 April 2022 Trial of Translation An Examination of 1 Corinthians 6 9 in the Vernacular Bibles of the Early Modern Period Wipf and Stock Publishers ISBN 978 1 7252 7755 7 Martin Luther Questions and Answers Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Archived from the original on 2009 04 15 Luther s Antilegomena Montgomery John Warwick 1974 Chapter 3 God s Inerrant Word Canadian Institute for Law Theology amp Public Policy Inc pp 79 80 a b Martin Brecht Martin Luther James L Schaaf trans 3 vols Minneapolis Fortress Press 1985 1993 3 98 a b c d e Carter Lindberg The European Reformations Oxford Blackwell Publishing 1996 91 a b Volz H Greenslide S L eds 1963 The Cambridge History of the Bible Vol 3 Cambridge University Press pp 94 102 104 106 ISBN 9781139055512 a b Arblaster Paul Juhasz Gergely Latre Guido 2002 Tyndale s testament Turnhout Brepols ISBN 978 2 503 51411 6 A G Dickens The German Nation and Martin Luther New York Harper and Row Publishers 1974 206 My language is based on that of the Saxon Chancery which is followed by all the princes and kings in Germany Ich rede nach der sachsischen Canzley welcher nachfolgen alle Fursten und Konige in Deutschland Luther Martin 1566 Tischreden 1040 Mark Antliff The Legacy of Martin Luther Ottawa McGill University Press 1983 11 a b c Carter Lindberg The European Reformations Oxford Blackwell Publishing 1996 92 Philip Schaff History of the Christian Church New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1910 5 A G Dickens The German Nation and Martin Luther New York Harper and Row Publishers 1974 134 Philip Schaff History of the Christian Church New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1910 6 Schreiber Mathias 2006 Deutsch for sale Der Spiegel no 40 October 2 2006 So schuf er eine Hochsprache aus Volkssprache sachsischem Kanzleideutsch aus der Gegend von Meissen Predigt und Alltagsrede eine in sich widerspruchliche aber bildhafte und kraftvolle Mischung an der die deutschsprachige Literatur im Grunde bis heute Mass nimmt Koppelmann K 2006 Zwischen Barock und Romantik Mendelssohns kirchliche Kompositionen fur Chor Archived 2011 07 19 at the Wayback Machine Between Baroque and Romanticism Mendelssohn s ecclesiastic choir compositions Mendelssohn Programm 2006 p 3 Martin Luthers kraftvolle deutsche Texte werden durch Mendelssohns Musik mit emotionalen Qualitaten versehen die uber die Zeit des Bachschen Vorbildes weit hinaus reicht und das personlich empfindende romantische Selbst stark in den Vordergrund ruckt Werth Jurgen Die Lutherbibel The Luther Bible in Michaelsbote Gemeindebrief der Evangelischen Michaeliskirchengemeinde Archived 2011 07 19 at the Wayback Machine St Michael s Messenger Parish newsletter of the Protestant Community of St Michael s Church no 2 May June July 2007 p 4 Gottes Worte fur die Welt Kaum einer hat diese Worte so kraftvoll in die deutsche Sprache ubersetzt wie Martin Luther Lehmann Klaus Dieter 2009 Rede von Klaus Dieter Lehmann zur Ausstellungseroffnung von die Sprache Deutsch Speech held by Klaus Dieter Lehmann upon the opening of the exposition The German language Goethe Institut Und so schuf der Reformator eine Sprache indem er wie er selbst sagt dem Volk auf s Maul schaut kraftvoll bildhaft und Stil pragend wie kein anderes Dokument der deutschen Literatur Weigelt Silvia 2009 Das Griechlein und der Wagenlenker Das kommende Jahr steht ganz im Zeichen Philip Melanchtons The Greek writer and the charioteer 2010 to be the official Philipp Melanchthon year mitteldeutsche kirchenzeitungen de online portal of the two print church magazines Der Sonntag and Glaube und Heimat Wenn auch die kraftvolle und bilderreiche Sprache des Bibeltextes zu Recht als Luthers Verdienst gilt so kommt Melanchthon ein gewichtiger Anteil am richtigen sprachlichen Verstandnis des griechischen Urtextes und an der sachlichen Genauigkeit der Ubersetzung zu Hulme David 2004 Die Bibel ein multilinguales Meisterwerk Archived 2011 07 19 at the Wayback Machine The Bible A multi lingual masterpiece visionjournal de no 2 2006 the German version of the spiritual magazine Vision Insights and New Horizons published by Church of God an International Community available in English at www vision org Luthers Bibelubersetzung mit ihrer kraftvollen aus ostmitteldeutschen und ostoberdeutschen Elementen gebildeten Ausgleichssprache hatte auf die Entwicklung der neuhochdeutschen Sprache grossen Einfluss Salzmann Betram Schafer Rolf 2009 Bibelubersetzungen christliche deutsche Bible translations Christian and German www wibilex de Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikom im Internet die Orientierung an der mundlichen Volkssprache die zu besonders kraftigen und bildhaften Formulierungen fuhrt Schmitsdorf Joachim 2007 Deutsche Bibelubersetzungen Ein Uberblick German Bible translations An overview Kraftvolle melodische Sprache die gut zum Auswendiglernen geeignet aber auch oft schwer verstandlich und altertumelnd ist Lutherdeutsch Luther s German Luthers Sprache ist saft und kraftvoll a b Philip Schaff History of the Christian Church New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1910 12 Borchardt F 1996 German Language In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation Edited by Hans J Hillerbrand Oxford University Press Retrieved 29 May 2019 from https www oxfordreference com view 10 1093 acref 9780195064933 001 0001 acref 9780195064933 e 0570 a b Philip Schaff History of the Christian Church New York Charles Scribner s Sons 1910 13 a b Gerhard Ritter Luther His life and Work New York Harper and Row Publishers 1963 216 Hartmann Grisar Luther Volume I London Luigi Cappadelta 1914 402 V H H Green Luther and the Reformation London B T Batsford Ltd 1964 193 Gerhard Ritter Luther His life and Work New York Harper and Row Publishers 1963 213 Mark Edwards Luther and the False Brethren Stanford Stanford University Press 1975 193 V H H Green Luther and the Reformation London B T Batsford Ltd 1964 10 Edwards Mark U Jr 1994 Printing Propaganda and Martin Luther Berkeley University of California Press p 37 Eskelson Tyrel C 2021 States Institutions and Literacy Rates in Early Modern Western Europe Journal of Education and Learning Canadian Center of Science and Education 10 2 109 doi 10 5539 jel v10n2p109 eISSN 1927 5269 ISSN 1927 5250 Becker Sascha O Wossmann Ludger November 2008 Luther and the Girls Religious Denomination and the Female Education Gap in 19th Century Prussia PDF Report Retrieved October 8 2023 Gerhard Ritter Luther His life and Work New York Harper and Row Publishers 1963 241 B A Gerrish Reformers in Profile Philadelphia Fortpress Press 1967 112 Gerhard Ritter Luther His life and Work New York Harper and Row Publishers 1963 212Further reading editAntliff Mark The Legacy of Martin Luther Ottawa McGill University Press 1983 Atkinson James Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism Middlesex Penguin Books 1968 Bindseil H E and Niemeyer H A Dr Martin Luther s Bibelubersetzung nach der letzten Original Ausgabe kritisch bearbeitet 7 vols Halle 1845 55 The N T in vols 6 and 7 A critical reprint of the last edition of Luther 1545 Niemeyer died after the publication of the first volume Comp the Probebibel the revised Luther Version Halle 1883 Luther s Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen und Furbitte der Heiligen with a letter to Wenceslaus Link Sept 12 1530 in Walch XXI 310 sqq and the Erl Frkf ed vol LXV 102 123 Free open access edition with new English translation by Howard Jones for the Taylor Institution Reformation Pamphlet Series with an introduction by Henrike Lahnemann Bluhm Heinz Martin Luther Creative Translator St Louis Concordia Publishing House 1965 Brecht Martin Martin Luther 3 Volumes James L Schaaf trans Philadelphia Fortress Press 1985 1993 ISBN 0 8006 2813 6 ISBN 0 8006 2814 4 ISBN 0 8006 2815 2 Dickens AG 1974 The German Nation and Martin Luther New York Harper amp Row Edwards Mark 1975 Luther and the False Brethren Stanford Stanford University Press Gerrish B A Reformers in Profile Philadelphia Fortpress Press 1967 Green V H H Luther and the Reformation London B T Batsford 1964 Grisar Hartmann Luther Volume I London Luigi Cappadelta 1914 Lindberg Carter The European Reformations Oxford Blackwell 1996 Lyons Martin Books A Living History Thames and Hudson 2011 Reu John M ichael Luther and the Scriptures Columbus OH The Wartburg Press 1944 Reprint St Louis Concordia Publishing House 1980 1984 Columbus OH The Lutheran Book Concern 1934 Luther s German Bible An Historical Presentation Together with a Collection of Sources St Louis Concordia Publishing House Ritter Gerhard Luther His life and Work New York Harper amp Row 1963External links edit nbsp German Wikisource has original text related to this article Luther Bible nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luther Bible Luther Bible 1912 Edition Luther s Translation of the Bible in Philip Schaff s History of the Christian Church Works by or about Luther Bible at Internet Archive Works by Luther Bible at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Standard German Bible at World Bibles Archived 2021 11 29 at the Wayback Machine 1912 Luther Bible at Word Project Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Luther Bible amp oldid 1194872778, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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