This English translation represents the first "evangelical" statement of theology.

This book is not claiming Melanchthon rediscovered the gospel. That honor belongs to his friend and mentor, Martin Luther. Nevertheless, Dr. Lowell C. Green argues that Melanchthon helped Luther in the task. Dr. Green knew that in choosing the title, How Melanchthon Helped Luther Discover the Gospel, he risked arousing the prejudice of those who look on Melanchthon with suspicion. Green is not blind to Melanchthon's faults; at times, he is critical of him. But, he debunks the myth that when Melanchthon came to Wittenberg in 1518, Luther had already developed his Reformational doctrine. Green shows that Melanchthon brought the tools of humanism to the aid of the emerging agitation. Although maintaining a subordinate role to Luther, Melanchthon helped him repeatedly at the turning points of the Reformation. Green asserts that Melanchthon was the first to speak of the authority of the Bible over the church. In his Baccalaureate Theses of 1519, Melanchthon became the first to articulate the forensic nature of justification. Most surprisingly, Melanchthon helped Luther move from the medieval view of faith as credulitas or adhaesio (adherence) to the Reformational view of faith as fiducia (trust) and assurance of salvation. Luther testified that he learned this from Melanchthon in 1518. As late as 1519, Luther had not yet abandoned the medieval view of grace as an infused substance. Melanchthon again led the way in 1520 when he declared that grace was simply the attitude of God-His favor. In his 1521 Loci Communes Melanchthon not only pointed out that grace is not something in us, but he made the important distinction between "grace" and "the gift of grace" (the Holy Spirit). Luther generously acknowledged the brilliance of Melanchthon's Loci Communes. This and other accolades Luther showered on Melanchthon are an indication of young scholar's influence on the great reformer's central teachings. Lowell C. Green was one of America's foremost Luther scholars, and his body of work continues to inform and shape Reformation studies today. This edition of How Melanchthon Helped Luther Discover the Gospel is the fruition of more than twenty-five years of Luther studies. Dr. Green's central thrust was to challenge the "Young Luther" cult which originated in the early 1900s and gained such a stranglehold on Luther studies in the 1950s and 1960s. In this volume, Green marshals the evidence gathered over a lifetime of study, joining his voice to a choir of scholars who challenge the central thesis of the "Young Luther" movement. After thoroughly demonstrating that Luther's early works contained a medieval or Roman Catholic "analytical justification," Green traces the emergence of the Reformational doctrine and a real break with medieval theology beginning in 1519. Green amply demonstrates that the mature Luther subscribed to and frequently expressed the doctrine of justification in forensic terms so that the glory of our salvation could be ascribed wholly to Christ and for the comfort of conscience against the accusing power of the law.

The studies in this volume illuminate the thought and life of Philip Melanchthon, one of the most neglected major figures in Reformation history and theology. Melanchthon was one of the most widely published and respected thinkers in his own day, who authored some of the sixteenth-century's most important books on Latin and Greek grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, and history, to say nothing of his theological output, which included the first overview of Protestant theology, the first Protestant commentaries on Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and John. He was also the chief drafter of the Augsburg Confession and wrote its defense, the Apology. These essays, written over the past twenty years, commemorate the 450th anniversary of Melanchthon's death in 2010. The articles provide a wide-ranging picture of Melanchthon's thought and life with topics including his view of free will, approaches to biblical interpretation, his perspective on the church fathers and world history, and comparisons to other important figures of the age, including Calvin, Luther and Erasmus.

Introduction-Chapter 1-Wittenberg's New Professor-Chapter 2-The Devil, Latin, and Philosophy-Chapter 3-The Idle Spectator-Chapter 4-IN the Wake of Leipzig-Chapter 5-Without Elijah-Chapter 6-The Loci and the Passional-Chapter 7-The Great Defection-Chapter 8-Stars, Dreams, and Omens-Chapter 9-Attack, Tumult and Gossip-Chapter 10-Golden Fruit, Silver Bowl-Chapter 11-That They May Know the Word-Chapter 12-From Protest-Chapter 13-To Confession-Chapter 14-A Cause Committed to God-Chapter 15-Delivered From Hell-Chapter 16-Defending the Confession-Chapter 17-Intrigue of Kings-Chapter 18-Sign of the Bread-Chapter 19-An Unending Web-Chapter 20-Bigamy!-Chapter 21-The Important Nonessentials-Chapter 22-The /Word, The Holy Spirit, and the Will-Chapter 23-Reformer at Home-Notes--Index.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This volume brings together two important contemporary accounts of the life of Martin Luther in a confrontation that had been postponed for more than four hundred and fifty years. The first of these is written after Luther’s death, when it was rumoured that demons had seized the Reformer on his deathbed and dragged him off to Hell. In response to these rumours, Luther’s friend and colleague, Philip Melanchthon wrote and published a brief encomium of the Reformer in 1548. A completely new translation of this text appears in this book. It was in response to Melanchthon’s work that Johannes Cochlaeus completed and published his own monumental life of Luther in 1549, which is translated and made available in English for the first time in this volume. Such is the detail and importance of Cochlaeus’s life of Luther that for an eyewitness account of the Reformation – and the beginnings of the Catholic Counter-Reformation – there is simply no other historical document to compare.