Excerpt from The Leipzig Debate in 1519: Leaves From the Story of Luther's Life October 31, 1517, or the Luther of Worms facing the' Emperor Charles V and the great lords from Rome in a solemn and gorgeous assembly. Both events lend them selves easily to dramatization. Let us not reduce the importance of either event. The former certainly did start the movement which we call the Reformation; the latter was the culminating confessional act, which fitly closed the action begun in 1517. However, on the former occasion Luther was to a large extent a searcher after truth, and there was in him the timidity of the inquirer. Forty months later he knew what he wanted to know, and he also knew what he must do because he knew what he knew. The internal or spiritual growth of Luther during those three years and a half is due to the Leipzig Debate and the preparation for it. It was on that occasion that Luther began to clearly understand the issue before him, and took up the gauntlet which Rome had thrown down to him. Therefore July 4, 1519, and the following days must be reckoned not 'only as an important day in the personal story of Luther, but also as a truly great day in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

On the five-hundredth anniversary of the 1519 debate between Martin Luther and John Eck at Leipzig, Luther at Leipzig offers an extensive treatment of this pivotal Reformation event in its historical and theological context. The Leipzig Debate not only revealed growing differences between Luther and his opponents, but also resulted in further splintering among the Reformation parties, which continues to the present day. The essays in this volume provide an essential background to the complex theological, political, ecclesiastical, and intellectual issues precipitating the debate. They also sketch out the relevance of the Leipzig Debate for the course of the Reformation, the interpretation and development of Luther, and the ongoing divisions between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.

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When Martin Luther distributed his 95 Theses on indulgences on October 31, 1517, he set in motion a chain of events that profoundly transformed the face of Western Christianity. The 500th anniversary of the 95 Theses offered an opportunity to reassess the meaning of that event. The relation of the Catholic Church to the Reformation that Luther set in motion is complex. The Reformation had roots in the late-medieval Catholic tradition and the Catholic reaction to the Reformation altered Catholicism in complex ways, both positive and negative. The theology and practice of the Orthodox church also entered into the discussions. A conference entitled “Luther and the Shaping of the Catholic Tradition,” held at The Catholic University of America, with thirteen Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant speakers from Germany, Finland, France, the Vatican, and the United States addressed these issues and shed new light on the historical, theological, cultural relationship between Luther and the Catholic tradition. It contributes to deepening and extending the recent ecumenical tradition of Luther-Catholic studies.

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is often dated to Luther’s Ninety-five Theses in 1517, but those theses might have been forgotten if not for the events that followed. This book begins with the Ninety-five Theses and outlines the subsequent events that shaped the Reformation at least as much as the Ninety-five Theses, and quite possibly more. It provides a trove of primary documents by Luther and his opponents, along with commentary by historians who understand the theological issues at stake. Spanning the major milestones from 1517 to 1521, it concludes with the edicts that excommunicated Luther and the judgment against him with the imperial Edict of Worms. By drawing attention to these texts and events, the book gives a more complete picture of how the Reformation began.