SERMON ON INDULGENCES & GRACE /
95 THESES
Treasures of the Taylorian
Series One: Reformation Pamphlets 2
By Martin Luther, edited by Howard Jones,
Martin Keßler, Henrike Lähnemann and
Christina Ostermann.
Taylor Institution Library, Oxford.
Lxxviii + 67 pages. £4.50 on Amazon, or the
content is available free online at http://
editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/editions/ablassgnade6/
ISBN 978 0 995 456 426
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses are famous as representing the beginning of the Reformation, but they can seem somewhat impenetrable to the modern reader. This book serves us by helping readers understand Luther’s arguments in the Theses.
The heart of the book is the transcription and translation of Luther’s 1518 Sermon on Indulgences & Grace, and the 95 Theses themselves. Luther produced the sermon in German to popularise the argument of the Theses for a wider audience.
Waggling on the tee
This edition begins with several introductions orientating readers to the sermon and the Theses. Keßler explains the theological and historical background of the indulgences debate. Lähnemann and Ostermann describe the original copies of the sermon held by Oxford’s Taylor Institute, including how some of the first readers in Luther’s day annotated the sermon. Lähnemann then gives advice on how to read the sermon, especially its punctuation and spelling. Finally, Jones discusses Luther’s language and style, noting for example Luther’s directness which would have immediately made his first readers sit up and listen.
The sermon itself not only aids the reader’s understanding of the Theses, but also provides insight into Luther’s thinking at this key stage in his theological development. In 1517 and 1518 his theology was very much a work in progress, but the sermon and the Theses contain some of the seeds of his later clearer exposition of justification by faith alone. For example, Luther insists that ‘it is a grave error for anyone to think that they should aim to make satisfaction for their sins, when in fact God in his unfathomable grace always forgives those sins for free’ (p.21).
Key to the Theses
I would not recommend this book as a starting point for engaging with Luther’s writings. Better to begin with his 1521 On the Freedom of a Christian or the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation, which give a fuller presentation of Luther’s theology of the cross. This book, with its narrower focus on the issue of indulgences, will however be of significant interest to those who have already read some Luther and want to understand more about his theological development and the 95 Theses themselves.
