This book focuses on Luther’s very last lectures, which interpret the Joseph story in the final chapters of Genesis. Scholars have frequently neglected the later Luther and the Genesis Lectures, making this an important new contribution to the field. Luther’s lectures are not a modern scientific commentary, but enarrations, as Kenneth Hagen calls them, filled with public proclamation, expanded narrative, and a performative sense of language. The author furthers Oswald Bayer’s performative interpretation of Luther’s theology with a more sophisticated linguistic philosophy, while continuing Bayer’s theological direction. The book is an important new contribution to Luther studies and will be of interest to seminarians as well as to students of hermeneutics, homiletics, the relevance of the performative in proclamation, and philosophy of language. "Peter D. S. Krey offers a theologically expansive and polyvalent reading of Luther’s lectures on the last chapters of Genesis, the story of Joseph and his family in Egypt. Composed at the end of his days, the lectures were fully informed not only by Luther’s mature theology, but also by his own lifelong struggles with hopelessness and fear. Krey’s writing is lively, at times moving, his scholarship capacious. His book calls renewed attention to this most important work just when our own deeply troubled world needs it most." —Christine Helmer, Peter B. Ritzma Chair of Humanities, Professor of German and Religious Studies, Northwestern University "Dr. Peter Krey takes the reader on an energetic ride, as he examines Luther’s reading of the Joseph Story through a variety of intriguing interpretive lenses. With his unique and empathetic approach, Krey has accumulated an original examination of a key section of Luther’s Genesis lectures. Luther is alive on these pages that lay out the complexity of his theological language in ways that resonate with both mind and heart." —Rev. Dr. Brooks Schramm and Rev. Dr. Kirsi Stjerna, Editors/Authors of Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People

Writing to the early Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul said, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2 ESV). Perhaps more than any other New Testament epistle, Paul's letter to the Romans has been the focus of Christian reflection throughout the church's history, transforming the minds and convicting the hearts of believers. Sixteenth-century reformer Martin Luther reflected the church's longstanding emphasis on this portion of the canon: "Let the Epistle to the Romans be the door and the key to holy Scripture for you; otherwise you will never enter into a proper understanding and comprehension of the Bible." In this volume of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Philip Krey and Peter Krey guide readers with care through a diversity of Reformation-era commentary on the second half of Paul's letter to the Roman church. Among the difficult issues addressed by Paul and commented on by early modern exegetes were the predestination of God's elect, the destiny of Israel, the role of Gentiles in salvation history, the ethical demands of the Christian life, and the Christian's relationship to the state. Here, readers will encounter familiar voices and discover lesser-known figures from a variety of theological traditions, including Lutherans, Reformed, Radicals, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics. The volume draws on a variety of resources, including commentaries, sermons, treatises, and confessions, much of which appears here for the first time in English. Gathering together these Reformation-era reflections, it provides resources for contemporary preachers, enables scholars to better understand the depth and breadth of Reformation biblical commentary and aids the ongoing transformation of the minds-and lives-of people today.