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The 1534 Luther Bible (Matthew Barrett)

Every once and a while there is a publication that just takes your breath away. That happened to me most recently when I saw that Hendrickson released a facsimile edition of the 1534 Luther Bible (Die Luther-Bibel von 1534).

Hendrickson describes it as a dream bibliophile edition and they are exactly right. Whether you love the history of Bible translation or are a Luther historian or armchair theologian, you will enjoy these two volumes that so significantly influenced the direction of the Reformation in Germany as well as the trajectory of the German language.

The volumes are in German , so you will need to brush up on your German vocabulary to read it. Nevertheless, it is filled with art portraying biblical stories, and the art is in color. These are, of course, from Lucas Cranach’s woodcuts. The project as a whole is an example of what can happen when biblical scholar meets artist.

I should also mention that there is more to the volumes than translation; they also contain Luther’s preface and marginal notes. (This edition can be traced back to the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar.)

Also, I should not fail to mention that you can also find these two volumes with an additional title, published by Taschen and Das Buch Der Bücher, retelling the history of the Bible with stunning photographs from the Bible itself.

I plan to show it off to guests in our home. Yet I also anticipate our children looking through its vivid pictures with the opportunity to explain to them why Luther believed it was so critical to place the Bible into the hands of the laity.

Below I’m including pictures so you can see the Bible for yourself.


Matthew Barrett is Associate Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. He is the author of several books, including Salvation by GraceOwen on the Christian LifeGod’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scriptureand Reformation Theology: A Systematic Summary. Currently he is the series editor of The 5 Solas Series with Zondervan. You can read more at MatthewMBarrett.com.

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