The Bondage of the Will, 1525 (abridged): The Annotated Luther Study Edition - Softcover

Stjerna, Kirsi I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1506413455 ISBN 13: 9781506413457

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2016

Synopsis

In autumn 1525, Luther wrote The Bondage of the Will as a response to humanist and theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam's On Free Will.

Luther's treatise is important on four accounts: First, Luther wanted to show his own humanist education. Second, against Erasmus, who had maintained that the question of free will could not be decided just on the basis of the Bible, Luther stressed the clarity imbedded in Scripture. Third, Luther stressed that his denial of the free will pertained to the issue of salvation, while in other areas of life not relevant for this fundamental existential matter, free will could be acknowledged. Finally, he introduces the distinction of the revealed and the hidden God to make clear that a Christian must focus on God as shown in Jesus Christ rather than speculating about God's potency in general. Luther's argument on the matter of the bound and free will poses a challenge and an invitation for construc¬tive contemporary theology.

This volume is excerpted from The Annotated Luther series, Volume 2. Each volume in the series contains annotations, illustrations, and notes to help shed light on Luther's context and to interpret his writings for today.

About this title

About the Author:

Volker Leppin is professor for church history in the department for Evangelical Lutheran theology at the University of Tubingen and member of the scientific advisory committee of the Luther Decade.

Kirsi I. Stjerna is First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor of Lutheran History and Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University. A docent at the University of Helsinki, she is the author or editor of eight books, including Women and the Reformation (2008) and Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People, with Brooks Schramm (Fortress Press, 2012).

About this edition

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1506413455
• ISBN 13: 9781506413457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 116