Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel

Front Cover
Regent College Publishing, 2003 - 367 pages
Martin Luther is often thought of as a world-shaking figure who defied papacy and empire to introduce a reformation in the teaching, worship, organization, and life of the Church. Sometimes it is forgotten that he was also a pastor and shepherd of souls. Collected in this volume are Luther's letters of spiritual counsel, which he offered to his contemporaries in the midst of sickness, death, persecution, imprisonment, famine, and political instability. For Luther, spiritual counsel was about establishing, nurturing, and strengthening faith. Freshly translated from the original German and Latin, the letters shed light on the fascinating relationship between his pastoral counsel and his theology. Theodore G. Tappert taught Church History at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also translated Pia Desideria by Philip Jacob Spener and The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
 

Contents

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
13
ABBREVIATIONS
25
CONSOLATION FOR THE BEREAVED
53
CHEER FOR THE ANXIOUS AND DES
82
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE PERPLEXED
109
COURAGE
139
INTERCESSIONS FOR THOSE IN TROUBLE
171
ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PERSECUTED
190
ADVICE IN TIME OF EPIDEMIC AND FAMINE
228
SUGGESTIONS
295
EXHORTATIONS CONCERNING RULERS
318
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
350
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