Dillenberger presents a selections of treatises, Biblical commentaries, and sermons sensibly arranged with a good introduction. Two missing works were the Small Catechism and his speech at the Diet of Worms ("Here I stand ... I cannot do otherwise"). In three key works from 1520 "An appeal to the ruling class of German Nationality", "The Pagan Servitude of the Church" and "The Freedom of a Christian", Luther develops (re-discovers?) the doctrine of justification by faith and emphasis on Scripture. Luther steers from a legalistic life of a Christian ("Beware lest you make Christ into a Moses"). He vigorously attacks the practice of indulgences, Papal Supremacy and the papal court: "At present there is a crawling mass of reptiles, all claiming to pay allegiance to the Pope, but Babylon never saw the life of these miscreants". At times he practices his own demagoguery; of St. James he does "not hold it to be of apostolic authorship".

Luther attempts to remove the differences between cleric and public classes by opening the Eucharist to everyone and his German Bible made Scripture available to German peasantry. Luther grants spiritual rights to the individual, and states importance of the Christian community, but he did not extend this politically, and should not be viewed as advocating political democracy. The "Appeal to the ruling class" was popular among the nobility because it provided justification for not sending money to Rome.

After reading St. Augustine's Confessions, it is interesting to see how this Augustinian monk extends the idea of grace. The works on free will were the most paradoxical for me. He seems to argue both that without grace man is incapable of free will, but also that "God has taken my salvation out of the control of my own will".

Martin Luther accused the Catholic Church of abandoning the teachings of Christ. Rather than preaching the Bible to the masses, the clergy instead oppressed them by forcing them to follow multitudinous Church customs. Luther didn't oppose customs per se, but only the Church's placement of man-made doctrines over the Bible. His most vehement criticisms were leveled against works, especially the practice of indulgences. Luther argued that the Church had replaced faith in Christ with good works as the means to salvation, to the detriment of the masses. Worse, this erroneous doctrine was not accidental but a deliberate scheme by the clergy to acquire wealth.

Luther blamed even St. Francis for establishing such customs as monasticism and asceticism that resulted in a division of the body of believers into a laity and a clergy. Luther laid the most blame for the Church's waywardness on the popes. As leaders, it was their responsibility to ensure that the Bible's doctrines are taught and followed. However, not only did they allow to be practiced doctrines that contradict the Bible, but they also violated Biblical teachings. For example, popes owned vast real estates and excommunicated individuals to intimidate the disloyal. Consequently, the Catholic Church of medieval Europe became a powerful political entity, despite Christ's admonition to Christians to abstain from worldly affairs. In view of these gross and blatant violations of Christian doctrine, Luther referred to the contemporary pope as the antichrist and an agent of the devil.

Although I am not Lutheran, this book provides an essential overview of the issues that fueled the Protestant Reformation. It should be read by people who are interested in European history, with an emphasis on the beginning of the Renaissance.

If you've never read any of Luthers works before, you should read this book. There has never been a stronger writer on the subject of faith, than Martin Luther -excepting maybe for moses or St.Paul.Try this book or "The basic theological writings of ML" -I am not lutherine.