Fortress Press

Luther's Wittenberg World: The Reformer's Family, Friends, Followers, and Foes

Luther's Wittenberg World

The Reformer's Family, Friends, Followers, and Foes

Robert Kolb (Author)

$8.50

$34.00Save 75%

Interested in a gratis copy?

How do you plan on using your gratis copy? Review requests are for media inquiries. Exam requests are for professors, teachers, and librarians who want to review a book for course adoption.

ReviewExam
  • In stock

In conversations about the Reformation, the name Martin Luther towers above all others. And rightly so. His work, vision, and writings set Christianity on a course of events that would forever change the way that most believers live and understand their faith. And yet, the Reformation was far more than Martin Luther. Around Luther were hundreds of people—fellow teachers and priests, politicians, artists, printers, and spouses—without whose activity and work the Reformation would have progressed much differently. These women and men make up Luther’s Wittenberg world, and there is much to be learned from engaging their work. In this monumental work, Robert Kolb introduces us to those individuals. Engaging and informative essays on the social, political, and economic realities of the sixteenth century frame brief introductions to over two hundred supporting “cast members” whose lives played out around Martin Luther. Comprehensively illustrated, with maps, bibliographies, and other resources, Luther’s Wittenberg World is a treasure.  

  • Format Hardcover
  • ISBN 9781451490077
  • eBook ISBN 9781506446400
  • Dimensions 6 x 9
  • Pages 312
  • Publication Date May 1, 2018

Contents

Maps
Introduction: Luther’s Wittenberg World
1. Child, Pupil, Student, Monk: From Manfeld to Magdeberg, Eisnach, and Erfurt
2. Gown and Town: Luther’s Wittenberg Neighbors
3. The Wittenberg Team: Luther’s Family, Colleagues, and Early Students
4. German Reformers: Luther’s Supporters across German-Speaking Lands
5. German Students: Wittenberg Educates a Generation
6. International Students: Wittenberg Educates Reformers from Afar
7. Princes Friendly and Hostile: Luther’s Engagement with Political Leadership
8. Luther’s Foes: Luther’s Critics from All Corners
Glossary
Bibliography

Endorsements

Readers of this book will be rewarded with a much richer understanding of the upheavals that convulsed sixteenth-century Europe. 

"Robert Kolb has written widely and imaginatively on the Lutheran Reformation. In this text, he challenges the false idea that Martin Luther was a solitary hero who worked independently of church and society. While acknowledging Luther's genius, Kolb presents a much more accurate picture of the period by providing incisive biographical sketches of the many men and women–supporters, resistors, and those in the middle–who were swept up in the reform. Readers of this book will be rewarded with a much richer understanding of the upheavals that convulsed sixteenth-century Europe."

Mark Tranvik | Augsburg University

This work will broaden significantly the reader’s understanding of Martin Luther.

"This work will broaden significantly the reader’s understanding of Martin Luther and of the varied people who helped shape him and his movement. Providing a concise yet comprehensive overview of persons linked to Luther, this work ranges widely, discussing those who associated with Luther, influenced Luther, were influenced by him, carried on his teachings (in often varied ways), or opposed them. Short biographies, grouped according to the ways in which people related to Luther, aid the understanding of the often complex links between Luther and his fellow reformers, academic colleagues, ruling authorities, students, friends, and foes. The reader may even experience the happy surprises that come from discovering previously unconsidered connections."

Mary Jane Haemig | Luther Seminary

A verbal photo album of the reformer’s life.

"Both informative and fun to read, Luther’s Wittenberg World is a verbal photo album of the reformer’s life, presenting brief portraits of his family, friends, colleagues, opponents, and successors. It highlights Luther’s many contacts with both men and women, fellow reformers and foreign scholars, political figures and printers. The book is a handy reference for students, pastors, and anyone interested in the many individuals whose names appear in Luther’s letters and published works."

Amy Nelson Burnett | University of Nebraska, Lincoln
2