Luther's Works - Volume 67

<p><strong style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>About the Volume</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>This volume contains </span><em style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>Annotations on Matthew 1-18</em><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)> (1534-35/1538) and the first chapter of </span><em style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>Sermons on Matthew 18-24</em><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)> (1537-40/1796-1847).</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>In December 1533 a new cycle of preaching on Matthew began in the Wittenberg Castle Church. Luther himself inaugurated the series with three sermons on Matthew 1. Then the preaching on Matthew was assigned to the Wittenberg doctoral student Hieronymus Weller (1499-1572). Behind Weller's sermons however stood Luther who prepared notes to help his student preach. The notes touched both on the interpretation of the scriptural passages and on homiletical strategies for preaching them.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>In annotating Matthew's text for another doctor of theology Luther grappled with questions of the exegesis of the Synoptic Gospels at a high level of technical detail. Luther drew especially on the discipline of rhetoric-the use of language to persuade and move human beings-to interpret Matthew's narrative and Jesus' speech presented there and to identify strategies for the effective homiletical presentation of those texts to Weller's contemporary audience.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>As a modern reader you will want to explore Luther's treatment of the application of rhetoric to the tasks of exegesis and preaching as well as for its exegesis of controverted passages. For Luther trained as a Nominalist and later embracing humanist studies a rhetorical understanding of Christ's speech-and the rhetorical application of His Word in the present-is vitally important for Christians.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>The crucial knowledge about God is not philosophical knowledge about the divine nature in relation to the creation which could be obtained by reason or meditation or observation. Rather it is the knowledge of God's counsel and will which must be revealed in Christ's Word and proclaimed through the continuing ministry preached by His disciples. This was the task Luther sought to model for his timid student in the </span><em style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>Annotations on Matthew</em><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>.</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>About the Series</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(9 11 13 1)>The 28 planned new volumes are intended to reflect both modern and sixteenth-century interests and to expand the coverage of genres underrepresented in the existing volumes such as Luther's sermons and disputations. The primary basis for the translation is the comprehensive Weimar edition.</span></p>