Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church 1532-1546

Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church 1532-1546 by Brecht, Martin. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780800627041.

The third volume of Brechts magnificent biography describes the final fourteen years of Luthers life, beginning with the accession of Elector John Frederick in 1532. The period is often treated briefly because some Reformation developments continued without him, his Catholic opponents paid only partial attention to him, his personality displayed great tensions, and his judgment, errors. Yet the preservation of the church---those confessing the Reformation gospel being identical, according to Luther, with the true church---dominated Luthers concerns. A work of immense and engaging scholarship, gracefully translated by James Schaaf, this volume offers comprehensive and original interpretations of Luthers private life, his congregation and the church in Saxony, his professorial lectures and theological controversies, Bible translations, Luther and the Council of Trent, and his later writings about the Jews and Turks. Includes thirty-four illustrations.