Oberman's magisterial work transfers discussion of late medieval Christian thought from the private studies of the specialist to more general use and understanding, and explains the significance of the ideas of the time. Although this 'Late Medieval Reader' does not exhaust the riches of the period between the High Middle Ages and the Reformation era, it introduces the reader to aspects of such major themes as conciliarism, curialism, mysticism, scholasticism, the spirituality of the Devotio Moderna, and the impact of Renaissance humanism.The theme of the Forerunners has grown out of the consideration that the justified rejection of a confessional reading of the past has been succeeded by an equally unhistorical disjunction of the Medieval and Reformation periods. Without a grasp of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the medieval basis of modern thought is incomplete, since Reformation and Counter Reformation seem to arise 'out of the blue'.

From the perspective of the social history of ideas, renowned scholar Heiko Oberman addresses the conditions for reform, the articulation of the Reformers' program, and especially the consequences of the Reformatin, both in the sixteenth cenury and in its modern perception.

Throughout these essays there runs a common theme: the need to place the Reformation movement in its medieval context, and to bridge the ideological gaps between late medieval Renaissance, and Reformation studies.

The opening chapters consider late medieval thought and the emergence of the young Luther at the center of the Reformation movement. There follows a study of the impact upon Luther of the philological, spiritual, and philosophical traditions of sixteen-century Europe. These traditions are fully examined in order to discern what Luther and his followers silently ignored or rejected, and so to delineate what is new and original in early Reformation thought.

The remaining chapters move from Luther to the wider world of events marking the Reformation era: the Peasant War, the Copernican Revolution, the beginning of the Counter-reformation and the reformed initiated by the Council of Trent.

" Here is Oberman at his most provocative and creative, a scholar from whom one always learns something new. "
Professor Steven Ozment
"Harvard University"

" At last, a Protestant scholar, with immense learning, has landed on this dark side of the moon, with scholarly essays as enthralling as they are indispensable. "
Reverend Professor Gordon Rupp
"Emeritus Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Cambridge"

In this last collection of his vital, controversial, and accessible writings, Heiko A. Oberman seeks to liberate and broaden our understanding of the European Reformation, from its origins in medieval philosophy and theology through the Puritan settlers who brought Calvin's vision to the New World. Ranging over many topics, Oberman finds fascinating connections between aspects of the Reformation and twentieth-century history and thought-most notably the connection to Nazism and the Holocaust. He revisits his earlier work on the history of anti-Semitism, rejects the notion of an unbroken line from Luther to Hitler to the Holocaust, and offers a new perspective on the Christian legacy of anti-Semitism and its murderous result in the twentieth century. Oberman demonstrates how the simplifications and rigidities of modern historiography have obscured the existential spirits of such great figures as Luther and Calvin. He explores the debt of both Luther and Calvin to medieval religious thought and the impact of diverse features of "the long fifteenth century"-including the Black Death, nominalism, humanism, and the Conciliar Movement-on the Reformation.

"This remarkable study, combining learning, realism, and literary adroitness, brings us close to Luther. Above all, it conveys Luther's power: the intensity of his faith, the coherence of his thought, the force of his personality."-New Yorker "A brilliant account of [Martin] Luther's evolution as a man, a thinker, and a Christian. . . . Every person interested in Christianity should put this on his or her reading list."-Lawrence Cunningham, Commonweal Written by one of the world's greatest authorities on Martin Luther, this is the definitive biography of the central figure of the Protestant Reformation. The book portrays the controversial reformer in the context of his own time, analyzing his state of mind and describing his world more closely than has ever been done before.