Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel

Martin Luther, Theodore G. Tappert

• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789122190
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Martin Luther is often thought of as a world-shaking figure who defied papacy and empire to introduce a reformation in the teaching, worship, organization, and life of the church. Sometimes it is forgotten that he was also a pastor and shepherd of souls. Collected in this volume are Luther's letters of spiritual counsel, which he offered to his contemporaries in the midst of sickness, death, persecution, imprisonment, famine, and political instability. For Luther, spiritual counsel was about establishing, nurturing, and strengthening faith. Freshly translated from the original German and Latin, these letters shed light on the fascinating relationship between his pastoral counsel and his theology.
"Since spiritual direction is not the wholesale application of general principles, but the painstaking working out of spirituality in specific situations, the personal letter is one of its best expressions. Luther knew the holy gospel and the human heart, and the double knowledge is evident on the pages of these letters."—Eugene H. Peterson, Regent College

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{1} Luther’s letter to Archbishop Albert of Mayence, Oct. 31, 1517, with which he enclosed the Ninety-five Theses, posted the same day. WA, Br, I, 111; English translation in Works of Martin Luther, Philadelphia ed., I, 26.

{2} See letters of Feb. 7 and 10, 1546, in Chapter III.

{3} For example, the sermon of Dec. 1, 1538, reported by Anthony Lauterbach, in Chapter VIII.

{4} For example, his lectures on Isaiah (1532-1534), WA, XXV, 229-235.

{5} For example, “for weak and timid and doubting consciences” Luther wrote the tract “Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved” (1526), (Works of Martin Luther, Philadelphia ed., V, 32), and he wrote his tract “On Trading and Usury” (1524) in order that “some, if only a few, may yet be delivered from the gaping jaws of avarice” (op. cit., IV, 12).

{6} Commentary on Galatians (1535), WA, XLI, 607-609.

{7} WA, Xi, 25.

{8} WA, III,...

Table of contents

• Title page
• GENERAL EDITORS
• GENERAL EDITORS’ PREFACE
• GENERAL INTRODUCTION
• ABBREVIATIONS
• I - Comfort for the Sick and Dying
• II - Consolation for the Bereaved
• III - Cheer for the Anxious and Despondent
• IV - Instructions to the Perplexed and Doubting
• V - Admonitions to Steadfastness and Courage
• VI - Intercessions for Those in Trouble or Need
• VII - Encouragement to the Persecuted and Imprisoned
• VIII - Advice in Time of Epidemic and Famine
• IX - Counsel in Questions of Marriage and Sex
• X - Suggestions for Problems Facing Clergymen
• XI - Exhortations Concerning Rulers and the State
• BIBLIOGRAPHIES
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER