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Three Treatises Paper

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Since no one has mention them, here are the three essential Lutheran texts:
1. An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility
2. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church . . . Luther's reorganization of the sacramental system
3. The Freedom of a Christian
Luther takes on the Roman Catholic Church and none too kindly. Important to both the history of Christianity and the history of Germany -- and of course to all practicing Lutherans. It might even be eye-opening to many Lutherans today who only know of Luther from his catechism.

This book is a fine exposition of the central issues of Lutheran doctrine, and reveals three of the major pivot points of the Protestant Reformation: freedom from enforced piety, rejection of hierarchical polity, and rejection of non-Biblical sacraments. In addition, the translation is clear and straightforward while retaining the delightful spirit of Luther's German, shifting effortlessly between the polemical and the comic.

This is a must-read for anyone who calls herself a Lutheran.

This little volume contains three of Luther's most (in)famous treatises. Whether or not you agree with his theology, it is interesting to read his work directly rather than to depend on secondary sources. This inexpensive volume will give readers a glimpse into Luther's thought and a taste for his polemical style. He's not always polite, but never fails to be entertaining!

Yes, Luther had his faults; in all honesty they are well documented and cannot be denied. But if we proceed in this honest assessment, we must admit that if only a small fraction of his case against the Roman papacy were true, it would be a very damning case indeed, enough to forever impeach Rome's claim as the one "true" church and the pope's claim to be Christ's 'stand-in', the 'Vicar of Christ'. After those aspects of Luther's case that can be assailed as being inaccurate are whittled off, what remains is the lion's share of his expositions, a well-argued prosecution of the papal office and its corruption of the western church. The most important of Luther's essays stand with the greatest of Christian commentaries and expositions.

Yes, there are many other voices of Christian (Eastern, Protestant, and Roman) consequence, down to our present day, but in terms of historical impact, few stand with Luther. This volume from Fortress Press, includes English translations of three seminal essays produced in 1520: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and, The Freedom of a Christian. They represent the heart of Luther's case against the Roman papacy, and the heart of the Reformation. His case cites many specific points, is filled with both reverence for God and scripture, and contempt for the self-aggrandizement, politicking, callous money-grubbing, and arrogance of the papal office holders and papist "flatterers":

"If the pope in Rome can grant dispensations and scandalously sell them for money, then every priest may give the same dispensations without price and for the salvation of souls. Would to God that every priest were able to do and remit without payment all those things we have to pay for at Rome, such as indulgences, letters of indulgence, butter letters, mass letters, and all the rest of the confessionalia and skullduggery at Rome and free us from that golden noose the [papal] canon law, by which the poor people are deceived and cheated of their money! If the pope has the right to sell his noose of gold and his spiritual snares (I ought to say 'law') for money, then a priest certainly has more right to tear these nooses and snares apart, and for God's sake tread them underfoot. But if the priest does not have this right, neither has the pope the right to sell them at his disgraceful fair. . . But they have bound us with their canon law and robbed us of our rights so that we have to buy them back again with money. . ."

It is inescapable that many Roman Catholics will continue to find Luther offensive, for the obvious reason that he accuses the popes of his time of extortion and theft, heresy, quickness to repression and violence, lies, arrogance, conspiracy and racketeering, political entanglements and manipulation, influence peddling, disdain for Christ's example and teachings, love of material wealth, disdain for love itself, and so forth. He often uses the name "Avarice" in reference to the papal office. He says that if the pope is not the Anti-Christ, then the Anti-Christ need not be feared, as no one could more damage the world's understanding of Christ's teaching than had the Roman popes. Not the kind of accusations that Catholics bound to doctrines of papal supremacy can comfortably countenance! But it is also inescapable that Luther writes as one expecting that his readers will recognize truth in what he writes, and that indeed a large number did. These essays are among the most necessarily scathing and significant of the story of Christendom. They deserve the attention of all Christians.

Every seminarian should own this - I say should not to make you rush out and buy this volume, but because your professors likely already have. While these are not perhaps the cream of Luther's Works, this little Fortress volume contains two treatises good for railing against Rome, and the Freedom of a Christian, which is a better catechism text than the catechism, despite the fact that everyone thinks they hate it. (But who likes the catechism, either?) It's the fact that these three come from 1520-1521 that makes them important - they are among the first of the writings of Luther's "new perspective". Read the Smalcald Articles in light of the first two treatises, it helps.

Intro text - go fetch yourself Galatians, Bondage of the Will, and keep reading.

This is a great book. It will endow the reader with a better understanding of the Protestant Reformation, how corrupt the Roman Catholic Church really was. And it explains who many Christians since John Wycliffe believed the Antichrist was (is?).