Fortress Press

“As no other comparable series, The Annotated Luther provides the reader, whether lay or ordained, with a collection of the Wittenberg reformer’s most important writings that is at once learned and highly accessible. Here Luther’s works are presented in up-to-date translation with helpful introductions, explanatory notes, and engaging images. A must for the student and scholar of Luther alike!”

“The Annotated Luther series provides a very welcome resource for meeting Luther again in the contemporary world. With language refreshed for our time, we can see more clearly Luther as a man who is actively grappling with a society undergoing dramatic challenges economically, religiously, and socially. By providing skilled commentary from scholars around the world and from diverse theological perspectives, this work will be of great help for modern Christians seeking to adapt and extend the insights from the Reformation to modern challenges.”

“The Annotated Luther series represents a finely crafted synthesis between readable primary texts and some of the best secondary scholarship. A superb editorial team, under the leadership of Hillerbrand, Stjerna, and Wengert, has made seventy-five selections, ranging from major treatises to sermons and letters, and beautifully laid these out in six volumes, together with state-of-the-art analyses and explanatory notes. Luther the theologian, the biblical interpreter, the pastor, the social/political thinker—all are given their due, and the resulting multidimensional portrait combines balance with a newly sharpened focus. In sum, a signal achievement.”

“This Annotated Luther series will facilitate easy access to Luther, especially for those who could not do so in the German or Latin. This will be a great resource likely to be translated into many vernacular languages.”

Praise for Volume 1: The Roots of Reform

“The advent of The Annotated Luther series should be cause for celebration among scholars, pastors, students, and others eager to have easy access to so many of Martin Luther’s key writings. If the appealing layout, rich images, and erudite editorials featured in Volume 1 are an indication of what’s to come, then The Annotated Luther will quickly become the go-to resource for learning about Luther’s work and context.”

Praise for Volume 1: The Roots of Reform

“This fine volume provides fresh translations of a dozen core Luther texts from the period 1517–1520. Public statements, sermons, major treatises, and letters that were previously scattered widely across five different volumes of the American Edition of Luther’s Works (plus the welcome addition of the lesser-known Sermon on Indulgences and Grace, which does not appear in LW) are brought together in a focused way so that the reader sees Luther’s theology develop in a more holistic manner, reflecting his work as a university professor, preacher, and church reformer. The introductions to the volume and to the individual writings combine historical context and theological themes in a thorough yet accessible manner; the annotations are both helpful and (unlike many academic notes) inviting to the eye. Wengert and his colleagues have produced a valuable text for classroom use and personal study. This is an excellent start to what promises to be a fine series.”

Praise for Volume 1: The Roots of Reform

“As congregations and members of congregations face an increasingly more diverse and chaotic world, their struggle for what it means to be Christian in their context increases, not unlike Christians in Luther’s day. I am thrilled that Fortress Press is publishing The Annotated Luther, Volume I: The Roots of Reform. The individual works included in this volume are central to the particular witness Lutherans can share for a life of faith in the world and how it can be a witness of hope in the midst of pluralism and change. The essays and study tools, included alongside the original texts, bring these works to life for us today. I encourage you to include this series in your congregation’s library and use it for group or personal study.”

Praise for Volume 1: The Roots of Reform

“The Roots of Reform is the ideal volume for launching what promises to be a most helpful new series for twenty-first-century readers looking to appropriate the thoughts of someone who wrote for an era five hundred years ago. This first volume deals with the writings that launched the Reformation and whose themes would shape Christian thought for decades—even centuries—to come. 

In the introduction, the editor Timothy Wengert again shows why he is one of the premier Reformation scholars of our generation when it comes to communicating the historical significance and pastoral value of Luther’s writings. Both he and the other editors of Luther’s writings do an outstanding job of providing helpful introductions (beyond a paragraph or two that barely scratches the surface), explanatory annotations, and maps. The layout of the volume deserves special mention for the way that it draws the reader into the text. In brief, this volume will be indispensable to anyone who wishes to understand better the early writings of the reformer, Martin Luther!”

Praise for Volume 2: Word and Faith

"Professor Stjerna and her team of world-leading Reformation scholars have done us all a great service in fixing their eyes for detail and context onto these important writings of Luther. Those new to the Reformation saga and even those familiar with its events and debates will learn very much from these pages. By keeping readers honest to context when approaching Luther's theology, they invite church and academy to remain honest about their own missions, failings, and need for reform. A splendid, and eminently useful, achievement."

Praise for Volume 2: Word and Faith

"This outstanding presentation of the core of Luther’s theology offers eight of his seminal works written over two decades, including those regarded by author as worthy of preserving for posterity. Magisterial introductions by internationally renowned theologians, editorial comments, artworks, prints, and proficient annotations bring forth the distinctiveness of the theology of the Wittenberg Reformer. Careful commentary of the translations adds to the uniqueness of the volume while all-embracing language highlights propriety. With this work, Luther studies have been aided with a consummate edition of the intellectual production of a supreme theological mind."

Praise for Volume 2: Word and Faith

"Luther's writings as contained in this fine collection are as helpful to read today as when he first wrote them to such a profound historical effect. They continue to be fertile for further theological reflection and biblical insight. Introductions and many marginal notes also explain items for better understanding—including those which criticize Luther, making this volume useful for instruction in church and classroom settings."