The Gruber Rare Books Collection and Other Rare Books
Luther's Works
Publications by Luther 1518
Theologia Germanica
Gruber 174 Eyn deutsch Theologia, das ist Eyn edles Buchleyn, von rechtem vorstand, was Adam und Christus sey, und wie Adam yn uns sterben, und Christus ersteen sall. Printed at Wittenberg by Johann Grünenberg. Aland 719; Benzing 160; WA 1.375-379; Luther's Works, 31.71-76 Preface to the Complete Edition of a German Theology
Luther found a more complete manuscript of the item he had published in 1516 and published it in June 1518 under the title A German Theology. When it was republished in Augsburg in September it was called Theologia Deutsch, and this became its popular title. "Luther rejected the mystic conception of love as essentially 'the sweetness' of the loved one and stressed the active love which suffers and labors for the loved one. This emphasis upon the moral activity of a child of faith stands in sharp contrast to mystical passivity (Gelassenheit), contemplation, and ectasy." Luther's Works 31:74. More than 170 printed editions of this work have been identified. A translation of the Preface appears in Luther's Works 31:75-76. Luther wrote about this mystical book: "No book except the Bible and St. Augustine has come to my attention from which I have learned more about God, Christ, man, and all things."
See Bengt Hoffman, The Theologia Germanica of Martin Luther. Translation, Introduction, and Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 1980. BV4831.D47
Pamphlets to Pope Leo X
AD LEONEM X.//PONTIFICEM MAXIMUM,//...Basel: Froben, October, 1518 Benzing 3; Maywood BR330.A401 (49123). (To Pope Leo X, 1518) In October 1518 the Basel printer John Froben published eight Latin tracts of Luther (and one by Prierias and one by Karlstadt) in a 488-page volume. An incomplete edition came out first, however, lacking two of the tracts. This is a copy of that incomplete edition. In the preface the anonymous editor (Wolfgang Capito) lauds Luther as "a Daniel sent to correct abuses and restore the theology of the gospel and of Paul."
Worthy Preparation of the Heart for the Eucharist
Sermo de digna//Praeparatione cordis//pro suscipiendo Sacramento Eucha-//ristiae... Leipzig: Valentin Schumann, 1518 (Worthy Preparation of the Heart for Receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist, 1518) Aland 209; Benzing, 136; WA 1.319-34; not in Luther's Works; Maywood BX 8073.L7S (42605).
This tract was written in Latin--addressed therefore to the educated. Christians should not rely on their devout preparatory exercises to make them worthy to receive communion; faith alone makes them pure and worthy. The papal bull Exsurge Domine condemned this opinion (Article 15).
The Gruber Collection was assembled by L. Franklin Gruber, President of Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary, Maywood, Illinois.
Annotation prepared by Ralph W Klein