The first bestseller in world history
The ultimate, epic saga of love, war, death, destruction, hope, power and faith. Excerpts from Stephan Füssel`s introduction to 'The Luther Bible of 1534'
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The Book of Books
"You'll be surprised, the Bible", was Bertolt Brecht's answer when asked what he considered the most important book in German. To anyone interested in literature and culture, theology or European history of the past 2000 years, the historical narrative of the Old Testament, its rich allegories and metaphors, as well as the New Testament tales of miracles and the salvation story are the focus of literary orientation. It is not just a matter of pure chance that the so-called Christian West has its foundations in the myths and tales of the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic versions of the Bible, and neither is it a coincidence that the "Book of Books", in St Jerome's 4th-century Latin translation (the Vulgate), became the cornerstone of European culture.
Handed down, commented on and interpreted mostly in Latin for over 1000 years, the Bible had been increasingly read in German-language translations since the invention of printing around 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz. The absolute pinnacle is Luther's extraordinary translation dating from the early 16th century. It is still appreciated today for its innovative, theologically bold and vivid language. Within the German-speaking community, Luther's translation holds a unique position from both a theological and a linguistic point of view and has influenced the German language down to this day, even in everyday usage. This facsimile edition pays tribute to his millenary achievement by presenting the first complete Lutheran version of both the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Apocrypha (the Greek word "apocrypha", meaning "hidden", signifies the books not -regarded as canonical by the medieval church).
"Doctor Martinus Luther said: Printing is Summum et postremum donum by which God promotes the spreading of the Gospel. It is the last flame before the extinction of the World ...". This enthusiastic judgement of the art of book printing stands at the end of Johannes Aurifaber's 1566 edition of Tischreden oder Colloquia Doctor Martin Luthers (Table Talks or Colloquia of Dr Martin Luther), in which he recounts the reformer's ideas with clear examples and in popular form. By using this catchy dictum of Luther's, Aurifaber (1519-1575) acknowledges the importance of the printed book, above all the Holy Bible, for the dissemination of Reformation thought. The quotation also refers indirectly to bilingualism in 15th and 16th-century literature, because, despite numerous efforts to spread information in the vernacular language, most of the works published were still written in Latin. Nevertheless, compared to the period from 1501 to 1517, German-language literature had almost tripled in volume in the early years of the Reformation, from 1518 to 1526.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The Book of Books
"You'll be surprised, the Bible", was Bertolt Brecht's answer when asked what he considered the most important book in German. To anyone interested in literature and culture, theology or European history of the past 2000 years, the historical narrative of the Old Testament, its rich allegories and metaphors, as well as the New Testament tales of miracles and the salvation story are the focus of literary orientation. It is not just a matter of pure chance that the so-called Christian West has its foundations in the myths and tales of the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic versions of the Bible, and neither is it a coincidence that the "Book of Books", in St Jerome's 4th-century Latin translation (the Vulgate), became the cornerstone of European culture.
Handed down, commented on and interpreted mostly in Latin for over 1000 years, the Bible had been increasingly read in German-language translations since the invention of printing around 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz. The absolute pinnacle is Luther's extraordinary translation dating from the early 16th century. It is still appreciated today for its innovative, theologically bold and vivid language. Within the German-speaking community, Luther's translation holds a unique position from both a theological and a linguistic point of view and has influenced the German language down to this day, even in everyday usage. This facsimile edition pays tribute to his millenary achievement by presenting the first complete Lutheran version of both the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Apocrypha (the Greek word "apocrypha", meaning "hidden", signifies the books not -regarded as canonical by the medieval church).
"Doctor Martinus Luther said: Printing is Summum et postremum donum by which God promotes the spreading of the Gospel. It is the last flame before the extinction of the World ...". This enthusiastic judgement of the art of book printing stands at the end of Johannes Aurifaber's 1566 edition of Tischreden oder Colloquia Doctor Martin Luthers (Table Talks or Colloquia of Dr Martin Luther), in which he recounts the reformer's ideas with clear examples and in popular form. By using this catchy dictum of Luther's, Aurifaber (1519-1575) acknowledges the importance of the printed book, above all the Holy Bible, for the dissemination of Reformation thought. The quotation also refers indirectly to bilingualism in 15th and 16th-century literature, because, despite numerous efforts to spread information in the vernacular language, most of the works published were still written in Latin. Nevertheless, compared to the period from 1501 to 1517, German-language literature had almost tripled in volume in the early years of the Reformation, from 1518 to 1526.
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