Introduction

By almost any reckoning, the Ninety-Five Theses ranks as the most important text of the Reformation, if not in substance at least in impact. As the anniversary of their posting on the church door in Wittenberg approaches, what better way to remember and recognize the occasion than to make this important text more easily understood by twenty-first-century readers?

About the Book

Timothy J. Wengert, one of the best-known interpreters of Luther and Lutheranism active today, sets his newly translated Ninety-Five Theses in its historical context with a detailed introduction and illuminating study notes. To help the reader understand the context and the import of the Ninety-Five Theses more deeply, Wengert provides two more related and essential documents: Luther’s Letter to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz (to which he appended a copy of the Theses) and Luther’s 1518 Sermon on Indulgences and Grace (written to inform the German-speaking public of his view of indulgences).

Structure

The book is simply constructed with introductions and notes for each of the writings, as well as a study guide with questions for individual or group reflection and conversation.