# Thirty-five Years of Luther Research

Thirty-five Years of
Luther Research
By
J. M. REU, D.D.
Professor at Wartburg Seminary
Dubuque, Iowa
With 27 Illustrations
CHICAGO, ILL.
Wartburg Publishing House
1917
Luther in the year 1543.
Engraved by F. W. Bollinger after a painting by Cranach.
INTRODUCTION
EXCEPT the small work of Boehmer, cast in popular form, there is no complete treatment in English of the many problems in the Life of Luther that have been raised and investigated by scholars since the Four Hundredth Anniversary of his Birth in 1883. Hence The Lutheran Church Review requested the brilliant source-scholar, Prof. M. Reu, D.D., of Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, to prepare a Life of Luther in Recent Research, and published it in several special numbers. This work is so thoroughgoing, satisfactory, and important, and has been so enthusiastically received by readers, that the Joint Lutheran Committee on the Celebration of the Quadricentennial of the Reformation was moved to advise its separate publication.
It is the most up-to-date, fresh, and scholarly presentation of the subject in the English language, and will be of invaluable assistance to all Protestants who desire to gain an insight into the present Luther situation, and to become convinced of the justice of the Protestant cause.
                                  Theodore E. Schmauk,
Chairman of the Joint Lutheran Quadricentennial Committee.
FOREWORD
THESE essays make no further pretensions than to afford a comprehensive survey of the immense amount of work done in the field of Luther research since 1883, and thus to serve as a reliable guide through the wealth of Luther literature for any one anxious to examine the whole or to subject this or that phase to intensive study. Since these essays were not to develop into a ponderous volume the author was ofttimes forced to content himself with the mere mention of certain studies instead of detailing their results and outlining the reasons for the same. The chapters: Luther and the Scriptures, Luther and the German Language, and Luther and England, have not appeared in the Lutheran Church Review, but have been written especially for the book-edition; and the chapter, "Rome's Procedure Against Luther," is much enlarged, and many minor additions have taken place.
After the plan for this work had already been sketched and certain sections finished the splendid essay by Kawerau, "Fuenfundzwanzig Jahre Lutherforschung," published in "Theologische Studien und Kritiken," 1908, came under the author's notice. The occasional use of this is herewith gratefully acknowledged.
Though it is a fundamental principle of all scientific work, not to quote anything which has not been personally examined, the wealth of the literary material in question and the remoteness of the author's place of residence from many of the literary treasures, precluded the ​possibility of applying this principle in each and every instance, a fact which is very much regretted. For those who wish to continue further research the remark will not come amiss that the University of Chicago possesses a large part of the literature here mentioned, and that its library includes a splendid collection of German theological magazines.
That these essays are here presented in readable English is due to the labors of the Revs. E. Groth of Casselton, N. D., and Emil H. Rausch of Waverly, Iowa, who kindly furnished the English copy.
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1943, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse