Best Christian Reformation Documents?

[silk]

I'm trying to get a better sense of the Christian Reformation, and I'd really like to read some primary sources. All right -- that's a lie; I'd actually like to read English translations of primary sources.

I've started with Martin Luther and read the 95 Theses, of course. And I've read the Augsburg Confession, which was fascinating. (It details an attempted reconciliation with the church detailing overlapping and differing beliefs.) I also want to read "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church" where he critiques the 7 sacraments of the Catholic Church.

From there, though I'm not sure where to go. I was thinking of John Calvin, maybe. Anyone have recommendations?

[Michelle]

It may seem strange since the pilgrims left, but I would recommend reading, at least the beginning of "The History of Plymouth Plantation" for their own words about their concerns with the Church and how it was destroying faith.

Also, I would recommend you look up "the Three Zwickau prophets" and their encounter with Martin Luther, himself. It is fascinating, especially their theology and experience with him in light of the restored gospel.

[Thinker]

Biblical canon history was eye-opening to me. That entails not just Christian reformation but also going way back to Greek mythology adopted.

The story of William Tyndale was moving - he translated the bible into various languages...English being one of the last. And he was burned to death for it. When a priest criticized his efforts and said commoners hadn’t such needto read the bible, he replied, "If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest."

[gardener4life]

I'm not sure about this but I had a comment.

I went back and love looking at medieval history. You wouldn't believe how many times there were attempts to get the Bible translated into a form that people in the British Isles could read. I'm talking about long before the Gutenburg press came out. Just about every century there was someone trying to get it translated.

It's amazing really, how badly people were trying to get truth and some tyrants would tear it down. I stumbled across this by trying to learn about middle and old english writing. As early as the Anglo saxon time there were people that wanted the New Testament and other books translated and were trying to do so. They'd inevitably set it up in monasteries to get started and it'd be tons of work you know. Then what happens? Raiders, war, tyrants, plagues, fire. Guess what the favorite place for viking raiders and other brigands to raid was? Monasteries. Everything was stored in the monasteries.

It's really sad.

You can find references of attempts to translate the Bible as early as King Aelfric near Murcia and even earlier. And then you start to see the breadcrumbs that there were all those other attempts and they'd get destroyed. Interestingly enough this Aelfric guy had a good chunk of the new testament gospels in Old English. You can find sources for it in the net.

We don't appreciate the scriptures as much as we should.

Also this is a very clear example of the bad fruit in the vineyard overcoming the good, as in the parable of the vineyard. (Jacob 5).

[Michelle]

Biblical canon history was eye-opening to me. That entails not just Christian reformation but also going way back to Greek mythology adopted.

The story of William Tyndale was moving - he translated the bible into various languages...English being one of the last. And he was burned to death for it. When a priest criticized his efforts and said commoners hadn’t such needto read the bible, he replied, "If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest."

One of my favorite quotes/prophesies!

[silk]

I really appreciate these comments. Thank you so much to all for expanding my horizons. There is so much to learn from others when we get together, and I thank you again for being willing to share. It sounds like I have some learning to do!