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Thomas Aquinas · 1265–1273 · Treatise
The Summa Theologica stands as Thomas Aquinas's masterwork of systematic theology, composed between 1265 and 1273 during his mature teaching years in Paris and Naples. Aquinas conceived this comprehensive treatise as a…
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Thomas Aquinas · 1269–1273 · Treatise
Thomas Aquinas wrote this theological compendium in the final years of his life, between 1269 and 1273, as a comprehensive yet accessible summary of Christian doctrine. Unlike his massive Summa Theologica with…
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Angela de Foligno · 1285–1309 · Other
The Liber de vere fidelium experientia, or Book of the True Experience of the Faithful, emerges from the extraordinary spiritual journey of Angela de Foligno, a thirteenth-century Italian mystic who experienced profound…
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Ramon Llull · 1287–1289 · Book
Ramon Llull's Felix, written between 1287 and 1289, stands as one of medieval Christianity's most ambitious attempts to demonstrate the reasonableness of faith through narrative. Composed in Catalan during Llull's mature period,…
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Angela de Foligno · 1292–1296 · Treatise
The Memorial stands as one of the most vivid and psychologically complex spiritual autobiographies of the medieval period. Angela de Foligno, a Franciscan tertiary from Umbria, dictated her mystical experiences to her…
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Meister Eckhart · 1294–1327 · Sermon
The Latin sermons of Meister Eckhart are the preaching of a Dominican master of theology to hearers trained in Latin — fellow friars, students, clergy gathered at chapters and synods — and…
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Ramon Llull · 1305 · Treatise
The Ars magna stands as Ramon Llull's most ambitious and systematic work, representing the culmination of his lifelong project to create a universal method for discovering and demonstrating truth. Written in 1305…
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Ramon Llull · 1308 · Treatise
The Ars brevis is Ramon Llull's condensed presentation of his revolutionary method for discovering and demonstrating truth through systematic reasoning. Written in 1308 as a shortened version of his larger Ars generalis…
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Jan van Ruusbroec · 1335–1381 · Treatise
The Book of the Highest Truth stands as one of Jan van Ruysbroeck's most philosophically rigorous mystical treatises, written during his mature period at the Augustinian monastery of Groenendaal outside Brussels. Composed…
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Jan van Ruusbroec · 1335–1350 · Treatise
Van den rike der ghelieven (The Realm of the Lovers) stands as one of Jan van Ruysbroeck's most profound explorations of the mystical life, written during his mature period at the Augustinian…
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Jan van Ruusbroec · 1350–1365 · Treatise
Jan van Ruysbroeck's "Van den kerstenen ghelove" ("On the Christian Faith") stands as his most systematic theological work, written during his mature period as prior of the Augustinian canonry at Groenendaal. Unlike…
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Jan Hus · 1407–1409 · Commentary
Jan Hus composed this extensive commentary on Peter Lombard's Four Books of Sentences during his years as a master of theology at the University of Prague, completing it between 1407 and 1409.…
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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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Nicholas of Cusa · 1462 · Treatise
Written in 1462 during Nicholas of Cusa's final years as cardinal-bishop of Brixen, De li non aliud (On the Not-Other) represents the culmination of his philosophical theology. The treatise emerged from Cusanus's…
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Martin Luther · 1528 · Treatise
Luther's 1528 book on the Lord's Supper against Zwingli, ending with a confession of his whole faith 'which I will take before the judgment seat of Christ'.
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Desiderius Erasmus · 1528 · Treatise
Erasmus wrote this satirical dialogue in response to a literary movement that had grown obsessive in its devotion to classical Latin style. Renaissance humanists, particularly in Italy, had developed an extreme form…
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Huldrych Zwingli · 1530 · Treatise
Huldrych Zwingli composed this theological treatise in 1530 as his final systematic statement of Reformed doctrine, written in the shadow of mounting political tensions between Protestant and Catholic cantons in Switzerland. Originally…
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Philip Melanchthon · 1530 · Treatise
The Augsburg Confession stands as the foundational doctrinal statement of Lutheran Christianity, written by Philip Melanchthon and presented to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. The Protestant territories…
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Heinrich Bullinger · 1534 · Treatise
Heinrich Bullinger's treatise on God's single and eternal testament emerged from the heated theological debates of the 1530s, particularly disputes over the relationship between the Old and New Testaments that divided Reformed…
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John Calvin · 1536–1559 · Treatise
Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion stands as the most comprehensive and influential work of Reformed systematic theology. First published in 1536 as a brief manual for Protestant believers facing persecution in…
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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.
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Martin Luther · 1537 · Treatise
For readers who want Luther's own summary of what could and could not be conceded to Rome, written when he thought he was dying. Short, blunt and confessional; it assumes the debates of the 1530s.
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Ignatius of Loyola · 1544–1545 · Other
The Spiritual Diary records Ignatius of Loyola's interior experiences during a pivotal period of discernment about the constitutions of the Society of Jesus, particularly regarding the question of whether Jesuit churches should…
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Johannes Brenz · 1551 · Treatise
The Confessio Virtembergica stands as one of the most significant Lutheran confessional documents of the sixteenth century, crafted by Johannes Brenz in 1551 for presentation at the Council of Trent. When Emperor…
