The Library
1277 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1501–1600
148 works
1503
Latin
Enchiridion Militis Christiani
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
A layman's guide to the interior Christian life, arguing that ceremonies without charity are worthless and that a weaver at his loom may be holier than a monk in choir.
1511
Latin
Moriae Encomium
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
Folly delivers her own oration in praise of herself, working steadily through scholars, lawyers, monks, bishops, and popes before turning to the folly of the cross.
1512–1513
Armenian
Hakob Meghapart · 16th century
A book of prayers for healing and protection, printed at Venice — the first book ever printed in Armenian.
1516
Latin
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
A preface wishing that the gospels were translated into every tongue, so that the farmer might sing them at the plough and the weaver hum them at the shuttle.
1516
Greek
Novum Instrumentum Omne
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
The Greek text printed alongside a fresh Latin translation and annotations, produced in haste from a handful of late manuscripts.
1516
Latin
Thomas More · 1478–1535
A traveller describes an island commonwealth with no private property, six-hour working days, married priests, euthanasia, and toleration of every religion but atheism.
printed 1514–1517; issued 1520
Latin
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros and his team · 1436–1517
The Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin in parallel columns, with grammars and a Hebrew dictionary, produced at a Spanish university by Jewish converts and Greek scholars.
1517
Latin
Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Ninety-five propositions for academic debate, questioning what indulgences can actually do, what the pope's power over purgatory amounts to, and whether a Christian's whole life is not meant to be repentance.
1518, expanded to 1533
Latin
Colloquia Familiaria
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
Dialogues written to teach schoolboys Latin, which grew into satires on pilgrimages, relics, monastic vows, soldiering, and arranged marriage.
April 1518
Latin
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Forty theses distinguishing a theologian of glory, who sees God in works and power, from a theologian of the cross, who recognises him in suffering and shame.
1520
Latin
De Libertate Christiana
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Built on a paradox — a Christian is a perfectly free lord subject to none, and a perfectly dutiful servant subject to all — worked out through faith that receives everything and love that owes everything to the neighbour.
October 1520
Latin
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A reduction of the seven sacraments to two or three, and an argument that the mass is a promise to be received rather than a sacrifice to be offered.
1520
Latin
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Written for a dangerously ill elector as a replacement for the fourteen holy helpers: seven images of evil and seven of good, to be set before a suffering mind.
May 1520
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
An answer to the charge that justification by faith destroys morality: the first good work is faith itself, and every other work flows from it through the commandments.
August 1520
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
An attack on the three walls behind which Rome shelters, arguing that all baptised Christians are priests and that the laity may summon a council when the clergy will not.
1521, revised to 1559
Latin
Loci Communes Rerum Theologicarum
Philipp Melanchthon · 1497–1560
Reformation doctrine arranged by topic — sin, law, grace, justification — beginning from the claim that to know Christ is to know his benefits.
1522
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A short introduction defining faith as a living, busy, active thing that cannot help doing good works, and asking the reader not to confuse it with mere assent.
1522
German
Andreas Karlstadt · c. 1486–1541
An argument that images in churches break the first commandment and must be taken down at once, whatever the weak may feel about it.
1523
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
God rules the world through two governments, spiritual and temporal, and no prince has authority over the soul — heresy cannot be beaten down with iron.
1523
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
An early argument that Jews have been treated so badly by Christians that conversion was never a real possibility, and that they should be dealt with kindly.
January 1523
German
Huldrych Zwingli · 1484–1531
Articles defended before the Zurich council: the gospel needs no confirmation from the church, the mass is not a sacrifice, and Christ alone is the head of believers.
1523
German
Die Wittenbergisch Nachtigall
Hans Sachs · 1494–1576
A shoemaker's allegorical poem welcoming Luther as a nightingale whose song wakes the sheep that the lion and the wolves have been keeping in the dark.
1523–1524
German
Argula von Grumbach · c. 1490–c. 1564
A Bavarian noblewoman challenges the University of Ingolstadt to debate her in German or Latin after it forced a student to recant, citing scripture throughout.
1524
Latin
De Libero Arbitrio
Desiderius Erasmus · c. 1466–1536
A careful, deliberately undogmatic argument that scripture is obscure on the will, that some human cooperation with grace must be assumed, and that certainty here is not required.
1524
German
Balthasar Hubmaier · c. 1480–1528
Thirty-six short theses arguing that heretics are to be won by argument and not by fire, and that those who burn them are the greater heretics.
1524–1558
German
Katharina Schütz Zell · 1498–1562
A defence of clerical marriage after marrying a priest, letters of consolation to women whose husbands were exiled, a hymnbook, and a funeral sermon she preached herself.
July 1524
German
Thomas Müntzer · c. 1489–1525
A sermon on Daniel preached to the Saxon rulers, warning that if they will not clear the godless from among God's people the sword will be taken from them.
1524
German
Martin Luther, Paul Speratus, and others
The first evangelical hymnbook — eight hymns, four by Luther — followed within months by larger collections for congregational use.
March 1525
German
The peasants of Swabia
Twelve demands — to choose their own pastors, to end serfdom, to fish and hunt freely, to have tithes used locally — each supported by a scripture reference.
May 1525
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A call to the princes to stab, smite, and slay the rebels, published as the risings were already being crushed and tens of thousands killed.
1525
Latin
Huldrych Zwingli · 1484–1531
The first Reformed systematic theology, with a symbolic reading of the Lord's Supper and a strong emphasis on providence and the sovereignty of God.
1525
Latin
De Servo Arbitrio
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Luther's reply to Erasmus on free will, arguing that the human will is not neutral ground but is ridden by one rider or another, and that salvation is God's work from first to last.
1526
German
Deutsche Messe
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A vernacular order of service with hymns in place of the ordinary chants, and a preface hoping that a third form might one day gather those serious about being Christians.
1526, revised 1534
English
William Tyndale · c. 1494–1536
The first English New Testament translated from Greek and printed, smuggled into England in bales of cloth and publicly burned by the bishop of London.
1527
Spanish
Francisco de Osuna · c. 1497–c. 1541
A method of recollected prayer that gathers the scattered faculties inward and lets the mind rest without images or discursive thought.
February 1527
German
Michael Sattler and the Swiss Brethren · c. 1490–1527
Seven articles: baptism on confession of faith, the ban, the breaking of bread, separation from the world, shepherds, the sword, and the oath.
1528
English
William Tyndale · c. 1494–1536
An argument that scripture should be read in the plain literal sense, that kings are answerable to God alone, and that the clergy have usurped both.
c. 1527–1529
German
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
A paraphrase of Psalm 46 for congregational singing, with the devil as a real adversary and one little word able to fell him.
1529
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
The same material expounded at length for pastors and heads of households, opening with the claim that whatever your heart clings to is your god.
1529
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
The commandments, creed, Lord's Prayer, and sacraments explained in the simplest possible terms, each section beginning with the question: what does this mean?
1–40 of 148 matching · 1277 in the Library