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Desiderius Erasmus · 1503 · Book
Erasmus composed this spiritual manual in 1503 as a practical guide for Christian living in an age when many found traditional forms of devotion inadequate to the challenges of daily life. Writing…
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Martin Luther · 1507–1546 · Letter
Luther's letters to friends, princes, opponents, his wife and his children, from 1507 to the week of his death, in Latin and German.
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1509 · Essay
Erasmus composed this satirical masterpiece in 1509 while recovering from illness at the home of his friend Thomas More in England. Writing in elegant Latin, he created a mock encomium — a…
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Thomas More · 1513–1518 · Book
Thomas More's unfinished biography of Richard III emerged from the political turbulence of early Tudor England, where the legitimacy of Henry VII's dynasty depended partly on vilifying the Yorkist king he had…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1514 · Treatise
Julius exclusus is a satirical dialogue written by Erasmus around 1514, presenting the recently deceased Pope Julius II attempting to gain entry to heaven only to be turned away by Saint Peter.…
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Martin Luther · 1515–1516 · Commentary
Luther's Wittenberg lectures on Romans of 1515–16, rediscovered in manuscript around 1900, in which his teaching on justification takes shape.
Original languageHard
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Commentary
Erasmus's Novum Instrumentum omne stands as the first published edition of the Greek New Testament, appearing in Basel in 1516 at a moment when humanist scholarship was reshaping Christian learning. Working from…
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Novum Instrumentum Erasmus — Novum Instrumentum / Novum Testamentum
Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Scripture
First published under the title Novum Instrumentum and in later editions as Novum Testamentum, this pivotal Greek-Latin New Testament directly enabled Reformation-era vernacular translation. Its scope is the New Testament, translated from…
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Selected Works Selected Works of Huldreich Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli · 1516–1531 · Book
The selected works of Huldrych Zwingli emerged from the tumultuous early decades of the Swiss Reformation, when the humanist-trained priest found himself at the center of religious and political upheaval in Zurich.…
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1516 · Treatise
Erasmus wrote this treatise on Christian governance in 1516 as an educational manual for the young Charles V, who would soon become Holy Roman Emperor. The work emerged during a pivotal moment…
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Thomas More · 1516 · Book
Thomas More's Utopia emerged from the intellectual ferment of early sixteenth-century humanism, written during More's diplomatic mission to Flanders in 1515. The work responds to the social upheavals of his time—enclosure of…
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Martin Luther · 1517 · Treatise
Ninety-seven theses of September 1517, a month before the indulgence theses, attacking Aristotle's place in theology and the scholastic teaching on the will and grace.
Original languageHard
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Martin Luther · 1517 · Treatise
For anyone who wants to see where the Reformation began: short numbered propositions against the sale of indulgences. Read it with a note on what indulgences were; it is a debate paper, not a full statement of Luther's faith.
Read hereFreeOriginal languageDemanding
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1517 · Treatise
The Complaint of Peace stands as Erasmus's most sustained meditation on war and Christian governance, written in 1517 as Europe teetered on the brink of renewed conflict. With the major powers of…
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Martin Luther · 1518 · Sermon
Twenty short points in German on indulgences, written in 1518 for lay readers; it spread far more widely than the Latin theses.
Original languageEasy or light
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Colloquies The Colloquies of Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus · 1518–1533 · Other
The Colloquies began as simple Latin conversation exercises for Erasmus's pupils but evolved over fifteen years into a sophisticated collection of satirical dialogues that held up a mirror to sixteenth-century European society.…
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Martin Luther · 1518 · Treatise
Luther's own long commentary on each of the Ninety-Five Theses, sent to Pope Leo X in 1518 with a letter submitting them to his judgment.
Original languageHard
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1518 · Other
The Familiar Colloquies began as a modest collection of Latin phrases and dialogues designed to help students at the University of Paris improve their conversational Latin. Erasmus initially compiled these exercises around…
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Martin Luther · 1518 · Treatise
Twenty-eight theological and twelve philosophical theses for the Augustinian chapter at Heidelberg, April 1518, where Luther set the 'theologian of the cross' against the 'theologian of glory'.
Original languageHard
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Martin Luther · 1519 · Sermon
A short sermon of 1519 on facing death — sin, death and hell set against Christ, the sacraments and the saints — written at the request of a court official.
Original languageEasy or light
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Martin Luther · 1519 · Treatise
In the closing weeks of 1519, Luther published three short German sermons on the sacraments, one each on penance, baptism, and the body of Christ. This treatise is the third of them.…
Read hereFreeOriginal languageModerate
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Martin Luther · 1519 · Treatise
A Treatise on Baptism is a short vernacular sermon Luther published in late 1519, one of three German treatments of the sacraments he issued that year alongside companion pieces on penance and…
Read hereFreeOriginal languageModerate
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Martin Luther · 1519 · Treatise
Luther's 1519 explanation of the Lord's Prayer, petition by petition, written for lay people from sermons he had preached.
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Martin Luther · 1519–1521 · Commentary
For serious students of the Psalms and of the young Luther: his second lectures, where the theology of the cross takes shape. Dense, long and in an old translation.
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