Robert Kolb

"In conversations about the Reformation, the name Martin Luther towers above all others. And rightly so. His work, vision, and writings set Christianity on a course of events that would forever change the way that most believers live and understand their faith. And yet, the Reformation was far more than Martin Luther. Around Luther were hundreds of people - fellow teachers and priests, politicians, artists, printers, and spouses - without whose activity...

"Martin Luther read and preached the biblical text as the record of God addressing real, flesh-and-blood people and their daily lives. He used stories of the faithful as depicted in biblical narratives to drive home his vision of the Christian life, a life that includes struggling against temptation, enduring suffering, praising God in worship and prayer, and serving one's neighbor in response to God's callings and commands ... Leading Lutheran scholar...

Martin Luther called him "a theologian by nature." He was Luther's close friend and contemporary-born three weeks after Luther but living two decades longer. He was the only nobleman in Luther's inner circle and one of the first Evangelical bishops. Known by his colleagues as a "fierce enemy of all corruption and adulteration of true Lutheran, Evangelical truth," his contributions during the theological controversies after Luther's death shaped numerous...

"Luther's development of a 'Wittenberg way' of practicing theology is seen reflected in a deep personal commitment to pastoral care of common Christians as well as his reading of the biblical text. Crucially, at the heart of all interpretation of the Bible, Luther placed the distinction between the 'gospel' God's unmerited gift of identity as his children, and the 'law', the expression of God's expectations for the performance of his children in good...

This book analyzes Luther's treatise On Christian Freedom and its revolutionary re-definition of what it means to be Christian as one freed by Christ from sin, the accusation of God's law, and death in order to be bound or bonded to the neighbor. Placing the treatise in its historical context, Robert Kolb examines its impact to the present day.

In the five hundred years since the publication of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, a rich set of traditions have grown up around that action and the subsequent events of the Reformation. This up-to-date dictionary by leading theologians and church historians covers Luther's life and thought, key figures of his time, and the various traditions he continues to influence. Prominent scholars of the history of Lutheran traditions have brought together...