Martin Brecht

Der aus Wurttemberg stammende Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654) hat zwar in seinen jungeren Jahren als Reformer und Schriftsteller Aufsehen erregt, von seinem Alterswerk war aber bislang nur wenig bekannt. Mit der Erforschung seines umfangreichen Nachlasses, der in der Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel liegt, wird Andreae nunmehr erkennbar als intensiver und vielseitiger Dialogpartner Herzog Augusts zu Braunschweig-Luneburg, als besorgter Kriegsberichterstatter, als Kenner und Sammler von Literatur, bildender Kunst und Musik sowie als Bucherliebhaber, besonders aber als fuhrende Gestalt des Luthertums in Suddeutschland, als Agent der von Johann Arndt ausgelosten Frommigkeitsbewegung. Die Erschliessung des Materials fuhrt vielfach zu einer Modifizierung der Kultur-, Geistes- und Kirchengeschichte der damaligen Epoche. Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654) caused quite a stir in his younger years as a reformer and writer. Until now, however, his late work has been little known. Research into Andreaes extensive literary legacy (preserved by the Herzog-August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel) has contributed to clarifying Andreaes manifold personas: he was an intense and versatile conversation partner to Duke August zu Braunschweig-Luneburg; he was also a perceptive observer of the Thirty Year War, a connoisseur and collector of literature, fine arts and music as well as a book lover; but most importantly, Andreae was the leading figure of Lutheranism in southern Germany as well as a follower of Pietism as it was initiated by Johann Arndt. An analysis of this material adds a new dimension to the cultural, intellectual and Church history of the period.

Exacting scholarship and balanced judgement of this biography will help ensure its place as the definitive work of its kind.

This first volume in Martin Brecht's three-volume biography recounts Luther's youth and young adulthood up to the period of the Diet of Worms. Brecht, in a clear, eloquent translation by James Schaaf, discusses Luther's education at the University of Erfurt, his monastic life, his canonical trial in 1519, the Leipzig debate, and his earliest contributions to the beginning of the Reformation. Illustrations enrich the text.