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Nicholas of Cusa · 1445 · Treatise
Nicholas of Cusa wrote this treatise on divine sonship in 1445, during his most productive period as a cardinal and theological innovator. The work emerged from his broader project of reconciling human…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1495 · Letter
Written in 1495 during the height of Savonarola's influence in Florence, this letter emerges from the Dominican friar's passionate campaign to reform both church and society. Savonarola penned this work amid his…
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Girolamo Savonarola · 1496 · Treatise
Written in 1496 during the height of Savonarola's influence in Florence, this treatise emerged from the Dominican friar's urgent conviction that the Christian life had been corrupted by worldly complexity and ecclesiastical…
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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 · 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.
FreeOriginal languageHard
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Martin Luther · 1520 · Treatise
In the summer of 1520, between The Treatise on Good Works and The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Martin Luther published a short German pamphlet with the title Ein Sermon von dem…
Read hereFreeOriginal languageModerate
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Martin Luther · 1523 · Treatise
Luther's 1523 Latin order of service for Wittenberg, keeping the Mass but removing what spoke of it as a sacrifice.
Original languageDemanding
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Martin Luther · 1523–1545 · Poem
For singers and anyone who loves 'A Mighty Fortress': Luther's three dozen hymns, the start of congregational singing in German. Read them aloud, or sing them.
FreeOriginal languageEasy or light
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Martin Luther · 1526 · Treatise
Luther's 1526 answer to a knight's question whether a soldier's calling can be a Christian one, and when war is just.
Original languageModerate
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Martin Bucer · 1529–1532 · Commentary
Martin Bucer's Commentary on the Psalms emerged during the crucial early years of the Protestant Reformation in Strasbourg, where he served as the city's leading reformer. Written between 1529 and 1532, this…
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Martin Luther · 1529 · Treatise
Luther's 1529 book, written as the Ottoman army advanced on Vienna, on who may fight the Turks and in what spirit.
Original languageModerate
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Martin Luther · 1532 · Commentary
For readers of the Gospels: Luther preaching through Matthew 5–7 on the Christian in the world, the two kingdoms and daily life. Practical sermons, not lectures.
FreeOriginal languageModerate
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Johannes Brenz · 1535 · Treatise
Johannes Brenz's Catechismus für die Jugend emerged from the urgent need to establish systematic religious instruction in the Lutheran territories of Württemberg during the 1530s. As one of the leading reformers in…
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Coverdale Bible Biblia: the Bible, that is, the holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn in to Englishe
Miles Coverdale · 1535 · Book
Miles Coverdale's Biblia stands as the first complete Bible printed in English, emerging from the charged atmosphere of early Protestant Reformation in England. Working under the protection of Thomas Cromwell and with…
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Miles Coverdale · 1535 · Book
Miles Coverdale's translation stands as the first complete English Bible to be printed, emerging from the turbulent religious landscape of Henry VIII's England. Working primarily from Martin Luther's German translation and the…
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Martin Luther · 1537–1538 · Sermon
Luther's sermons of 1537 on Christ's farewell discourse in John 14–16, edited by Caspar Cruciger and published in 1538.
FreeOriginal languageModerate
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Miles Coverdale · 1539 · Book
Miles Coverdale's "Ghostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songes" represents one of the earliest attempts to provide English-speaking Protestants with devotional songs in their native tongue. Published in 1539 during the initial phase of…
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Miles Coverdale · 1539 · Book
The Great Bible represents the first authorized English translation of Scripture, commissioned by Thomas Cromwell and published in 1539 during Henry VIII's reign. Miles Coverdale, who had already produced the first complete…
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Martin Luther · 1539 · Treatise
Luther's 1539 study of the early councils and of what makes the church — the 'seven marks' by which it is known.
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Martin Luther · 1543 · Treatise
Luther's 1543 tract on the Jews: an argument against Jewish readings of the Old Testament, ending with proposals to burn synagogues and expel Jews. It was reprinted in Nazi Germany; the Lutheran churches have since repudiated it.
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Martin Luther · 1544 · Sermon
Sermons on the Sunday and festival Gospels that Luther preached in his own house, edited by Veit Dietrich (1544) and later by Andreas Poach.
FreeOriginal languageModerate
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Thomas Cranmer · 1547 · Sermon
The First Book of Homilies emerged from the English Reformation's urgent need to provide doctrinally sound preaching in a church where many clergy lacked theological education or remained uncommitted to reformed teaching.…
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Ignatius of Loyola · 1547–1556 · Treatise
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus emerged from Ignatius of Loyola's decade-long effort to codify the governance, spirituality, and mission of the religious order he founded. Written between 1547 and 1556,…
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Menno Simons · 1550 · Treatise
Written in 1550 during the tumultuous early decades of the Anabaptist movement, Menno Simons' treatise on church discipline emerged from urgent practical controversies dividing the young communities. As former Catholic priest turned…
