Documents - Part III: Section A – Before the Reform

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1.	Teaching a Mystical Theology – The German Theology [Theologia Deutsch] (14th Century, published in 1516 and 1518) The following passages were taken from The German Theology [Theologia Deutsch], an anonymous fourteenth-century tract written in vernacular German. The author may have been a priest....
2.	Preaching a Practical Spirituality – A Sermon by Johannes Tauler (14th Century, published in 1515/16) Many of the sermons of Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-61), a German Dominican from Strasbourg, were preached to nuns and Beguines in the city of Basel. His teaching is more concrete and practical than....
3.	Following Christ's Example in the World – Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (c. 1418) Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471), a native of the Lower Rhenish region, was the author of The Imitation of Christ, a uniquely popular book that codified the ideals of the movement called “the....
4.	Preaching to Laymen in their Own Language – Johannes Geiler von Keysersberg, Sermon on the Ants (March 20, 1508) Johannes Geiler von Keysersberg (1445-1510) was the most influential preaching theologian of the generation before Martin Luther. For thirty years, he used his pulpit in Strasbourg’s cathedral to....
5.	Preaching Future Security – Johann Tetzel, Sermon on Indulgences (c. 1517) As Luther’s prime target, Johann Tetzel (1465-1519) became the most famous preacher of indulgences of his time. Although the Church taught otherwise – since the forgiveness of sins requires contrition,....
6.	Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses (October 31, 1517) Whether Martin Luther really nailed these theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, where he was a professor....
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