Karl Holl
Published: 1977
Total Pages: 136
Get eBook
What did Martin Luther look for in religion? What, indeed, did he consider religion to be? Such a question could not have been put to the Reformer in his own day, for he knew nothing of "religion in general." He knew only the faith established in and by Jesus Christ. Subsequent generations, however, are bound to ask the question - not only as a matter of academic concern, but also as a question of life or death for Reformation Christianity. Karl Holl (1866-1926), during his career as Professor at the University of Berlin, set the pattern for all twentieth-century Luther research. Applying sound historical method, he sought to see and hear Luther not through his interpreters but through his own writings. Was verstand Luther unter Religion? - the essay here presented for the first time in English - stands as one of the landmarks of modern historical and theological scholarship concerning the Reformer and the Reformation. It is a work which not merely reconstructs Luther's thought, but also deals with the origin and development of fundamental positions. This volume also includes a translation of Holl's brief essay, "gogarten's Understanding of Luther," a sharp response to the critique offered by crisis theologian Friedrich Gogarten and a further illumination of his own perception of Luther. -- from back cover.