Welcome to the Luther Reading Challenge!
More than 2300 people have already joined our community to read and discuss Luther’s theology in preparation for the Reformation jubilee in October 2017.
Fariba Kanga
U.S.
I’m Catholic but I have read Luther off and on for years to follow the ecumenical discussions between the Vatican and the LWF.
Jonathan Murden
Liverpool, U.K.
I’m interested in ecumenical relations in the present day, so I really want to get first hand knowledge of the Reformation.
Katharina Behrens
Dallas, U.S.
I love to read Luther because he was such a wise and still hilarious writer.
Samuel Thomas
Banjul, Gambia
Lutheranism is part of my vocation to share with people without faith, people who have abandoned faith, unreached people.
Samuel Wang
Singapore
I like reading Luther because he is so helpfully irrelevant and irreverent.
500 Years
As we approach the 500th anniversary of the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 2017, Martin Luther is going to be a hot topic of conversation and debate among Lutherans, other Christians, and the media. Will the conversation shed more heat than light? Or it will be an occasion to reappropriate a powerful witness to the Christian faith?
Read
That’s where the Luther Reading Challenge comes in. Starting now, an assortment of the reformer’s writings will be presented here for free—for anyone and everyone to read! The texts will range from his personal letters and hymns to his doctrinal and social treatises to his catechisms and his will. Each text will be prefaced by an introduction to orient the reader.
Resonate
The reading part is just the beginning. By registering for a free account, readers can participate in online discussions. Luther’s writings will give rise to a broad conversation about what they meant then, and what they mean for us now. And the scope will be truly global: while all the texts will be offered in English, international partners will also be making parts of Luther available in Hungarian, Chinese, and Portuguese, to name a few.
Behind the scenes
The Luther Reading Challenge is a project of the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, an affiliate of the Lutheran World Federation that has been devoted to Lutheran churches’ ecumenical commitments since 1965. The Challenge is a direct outgrowth of the inspiring experience of Institute staff in teaching an annual two-week course called Studying Luther in Wittenberg, which has gathered Lutheran pastors from around the world for intensive study since 2009, and the Theological Reading Challenge sponsored by the journal Lutheran Forum.