The Annotated Luther: The Roots of Reform

121 � SUZANNE HEQUET 1. Perhaps as early as June 1518, a summons had been prepared for Luther to appear in Rome within sixty days. For the historical reconstruction here, see Brecht 1:239–65. 2. LW 31:77–252. It also contained a prefatory letter to Johann von Staupitz, the head of the Augustinian Order in Germany, printed in LW 48:64–70. For the letter to Leo X, see WA 1:527–29. The Proceedings at Augsburg 1518 INTRODUCTION Martin Luther’s academic dispute over indulgences, which began with the distribution of the 95 Theses on 31 October 1517, was followed by two kinds of attacks. To begin with, theologians north of the Alps, such as Johann Tetzel (1465– 1519) and Konrad Wimpina (1465–1531), issued countertheses and counterarguments. When Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz (1490–1545) sent the Theses to Rome, however, the academic dispute automatically became an ecclesiastical case, perhaps expanded by a separate brief by Dominicans like Tetzel. First to answer Luther’s Theses in Rome was the papal court theologian, Silvester Prierias (c. 1456–1523), who in July 1518 published the Dialogus, in which he argued that Luther misunderstood his own presuppositions and needed especially to understand papal authority. This publication was an important first step in the papal decision to initiate formal proceedings against Luther.1 Meanwhile, by May 1518 Luther had written a defense of the 95 Theses, the Explanations of the Ninety-Five Theses, dedicated to Pope Leo X (1475–1521) and authorized for publication by Luther’s ordinary, the bishop of Brandenburg, but not published until August.2 Also in early 1518, Luther THE ROOTS OF REFORM 122 published the Sermon on Indulgences and Grace, and in April he was sent to Heidelberg for a meeting of the German chapter of the Augustinian Order. There he defended theses not on indulgences (which were now part of a legal case) but, rather, on questions of justification by faith, law, and gospel, and the “theology of the cross.”a By the end of August, Luther published his response to Prierias, insisting on a coalition of authorities that he would later use in his encounter with Cardinal Cajetan (also known as Tommaso de Vio [1469–1534]): reason, the fathers of the church, the official church decrees (canon law), and, above all, the Bible. In the summer of 1518, an imperial diet (parliament) convened in Augsburg, to which the pope sent his legate Cardinal Cajetan. Already on 7 August, Luther had received a summons to face trial in Rome, based upon charges in the Dialogus. Matters had moved beyond learned debate to something far more serious , and Luther did not hide his alarm. To complicate matters, during Lent 1518 Luther had delivered a sermon on excommunication and its abuse by church authorities. Opponents had composed a distorted set of theses on the subject under Luther’s name and circulated them a For the Sermon on Indulgences and Grace and the Heidelberg Disputation, see pp. 60–65 and 80–120, respectively. Title page of Proceedings at Augsburg, reprinted in 1518 by Valentin Schumann in Leipzig. [74.125.212.201] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 07:58 GMT) 123 The Proceedings at Augsburg b For this letter, see Preserved Smith, ed., Luther’s Correspondence and Other Contemporary Letters, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1913), 105–6. 3. Luther responded by publishing his own Latin version of the Sermon on the Ban (August 1518) in LW 39:3–22. 4. Luther published a copy of this papal summons as part of the Proceedings. See below, p. 158–62. at the diet.3 The emperor, Maximilian I (1459–1519), was outraged and called for action. On 23 August the pope delivered to Cajetan a summons for Luther to appear in Rome to answer charges of heresy.4 On 11 September Cajetan received permission to interrogate Luther in Augsburg and either receive his recantation or condemn him. The pope also sent word to Luther’s prince, Elector Frederick (1463–1525), to assist in such an arrest, if such action was necessary.b Frederick delayed a few weeks, but then, in a shrewd political move, requested that Luther appear in Augsburg in late September under a letter of safe conduct. Thus, in early October, Luther set out for Augsburg. En route, he was joined in Nuremberg by Wenceslaus Linck (1483–1547), a fellow Augustinian. At Augsburg, the proceedings between Luther and Cajetan consisted of three meetings from 12 to 14 October...