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Theologia Germanica

Anonymous (the “Frankfurter”, 14th century) · tr. Susanna Winkworth · 14th century (tr. 1854) · 38,219 words

The little book Luther loved: a Teutonic Knight-priest teaches that sin is self-will, and that the soul is made free by letting the Perfect live in it as His own.

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Opening

Historical Introduction (Susanna Winkworth)

The Treatise before us was discovered by Luther, who first brought it into notice by an Edition of it which he published in 1516. A Second Edition, which came out two years later, he introduced with the following Preface: — “We read that St. Paul, though he was of a weak and contemptible presence, yet wrote weighty and powerful letters, and he boasts of himself that his ' speech is not with enticing words of man's device,' but ' full of the riches of all knowledge and wisdom.' And if we consider the wondrous ways of God, it is clear, that He hath never chosen mighty and eloquent preachers to speak His word, but as it is written: ' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected praise,' Ps. viii. 2. And again, ' For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent,' Wisdom x. 21. Again, He blameth such as are high-minded and are offended at these simple ones. Consilium inopis, etc. ' Ye have made a mock at the counsel of the poor, because he putteth his trust in the Lord,' Ps. xiv. 6.

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Contents

  1. Preface (Charles Kingsley)
  2. Historical Introduction (Susanna Winkworth)
  3. Letter from Chevalier Bunsen to the Translator
  4. Chapter I: Of that which is perfect and that which is in part, and how that which is in part is done away, when that which is perfect is come
  5. Chapter II: Of what Sin is, and how we must not take unto ourselves any good Thing, seeing that it belongeth unto the true Good alone
  6. Chapter III: How Man’s Fall and going astray must be amended as Adam’s Fall was
  7. Chapter IV: How Man, when he claimeth any good Thing for his own, falleth, and toucheth God in His Honour
  8. Chapter V: How we are to take that Saying, that we must come to be without Will, Wisdom, Love, Desire, Knowledge, and the like
  9. Chapter VI: How that which is best and noblest should also be loved above all Things by us, merely because it is the best
  10. Chapter VII: Of the Eyes of the Spirit wherewith Man looketh into Eternity and into Time, and how the one is hindered of the other in its Working
  11. Chapter VIII: How the Soul of Man, while it is yet in the Body, may obtain a Foretaste of eternal Blessedness
  12. Chapter IX: How it is better and more profitable for a Man that he should perceive what God will do with him, or to what end He will make Use of him, than if he knew all that God had ever wrought, or would ever work through all the Creatures; and how Blessedness lieth alone in God, and not in the Creatures, or in any Works
  13. Chapter X: How the perfect Men have no other Desire than that they may be to the Eternal Goodness what His Hand is to a Man, and how they have lost the Fear of Hell, and Hope of Heaven
  14. Chapter XI: How a righteous Man in this present Time is brought into Hell, and there cannot be comforted, and how he is taken out of Hell and carried into Heaven, and there cannot be troubled
  15. Chapter XII: Touching that true inward Peace, which Christ left to His Disciples at the last
  16. Chapter XIII: How a Man may cast aside Images too soon
  17. Chapter XIV: Of three Stages by which a Man is led upwards till he attaineth true Perfection
  18. Chapter XV: How all Men are dead in Adam and are made alive again in Christ, and of true Obedience and Disobedience
  19. Chapter XVI: Telleth us what is the old Man, and what is the new Man
  20. Chapter XVII: How we are not to take unto ourselves what we have done well, but only what we have done amiss
  21. Chapter XVIII: How that the Life of Christ is the noblest and best Life that ever hath been or can be, and how a careless Life of false Freedom is the worst Life that can be
  22. Chapter XIX: How we cannot come to the true Light and Christ’s Life, by much Questioning or Reading, or by high natural Skill and Reason, but by truly renouncing ourselves and all Things
  23. Chapter XX: How, seeing that the Life of Christ is most bitter to Nature and Self, Nature will have none of it, and chooseth a false careless Life, as is most convenient to her
  24. Chapter XXI: How a Friend of Christ willingly fulfilleth by his outward Works, such Things as must be and ought to be, and doth not concern himself with the rest
  25. Chapter XXII: How sometimes the Spirit of God, and sometimes also the Evil Spirit may possess a Man and have the mastery over him
  26. Chapter XXIII: He who will submit himself to God and be obedient to Him, must be ready to bear with all Things; to wit, God, himself, and all Creatures, and must be obedient to them all, whether he have to suffer or to do
  27. Chapter XXIV: How that four Things are needful before a Man can receive divine Truth and be possessed with the Spirit of God
  28. Chapter XXV: Of two evil Fruits that do spring up from the Seed of the Evil Spirit, and are two Sisters who love to dwell together. The one is called spiritual Pride and Highmindedness, the other is false, lawless Freedom
  29. Chapter XXVI: Touching Poorness of Spirit and true Humility, and whereby we may discern the true and lawful free Men whom the Truth hath made free
  30. Chapter XXVII: How we are to take Christ’s Words when He bade us forsake all Things; and wherein the Union with the Divine Will standeth
  31. Chapter XXVIII: How, after a Union with the Divine Will, the inward Man standeth immoveable, the while the outward Man is moved hither and thither
  32. Chapter XXIX: How a Man may not attain so high before Death as not to be moved or touched by outward Things
  33. Chapter XXX: On what wise we may come to be beyond and above all Custom, Order, Law, Precepts and the like
  34. Chapter XXXI: How we are not to cast off the Life of Christ, but practise it diligently, and walk in it until Death
  35. Chapter XXXII: How God is a true, simple, perfect Good, and how He is a Light and a Reason and all Virtues, and how what is highest and best, that is, God, ought to be most loved by us
  36. Chapter XXXIII: How when a Man is made truly Godlike, his Love is pure and unmixed, and he loveth all Creatures, and doth his best for them
  37. Chapter XXXIV: How that if a Man will attain to that which is best, he must forswear his own Will; and he who helpeth a Man to his own Will helpeth him to the worst Thing he can
  38. Chapter XXXV: How there is deep and true Humility and Poorness of Spirit in a Man who is “made a Partaker of the Divine Nature”
  39. Chapter XXXVI: How nothing is contrary to God but Sin only; and what Sin is in Kind and Act
  40. Chapter XXXVII: How in God, as God, there can neither be Grief, Sorrow, Displeasure, nor the like, but how it is otherwise in a Man who is “made a Partaker of the Divine Nature”
  41. Chapter XXXVIII: How we are to put on the Life of Christ from Love, and not for the sake of Reward, and how we must never grow careless concerning it, or cast it off
  42. Chapter XXXIX: How God will have Order, Custom, Measure, and the like in the Creature, seeing that He cannot have them without the Creature, and of four sorts of Men who are concerned with this Order, Law, and Custom
  43. Chapter XL: A good Account of the False Light and its Kind
  44. Chapter XLI: How that he is to be called, and is truly, a Partaker of the Divine Nature, who is illuminated with the Divine Light, and inflamed with Eternal Love, and how Light and Knowledge are worth nothing without Love
  45. Chapter XLII: A Question: whether we can know God and not love Him, and how there are two kinds of Light and Love — a true and a false
  46. Chapter XLIII: Whereby we may know a Man who is made a Partaker of the Divine Nature, and what belongeth unto him; and further, what is the token of a False Light, and a False Free-Thinker
  47. Chapter XLIV: How nothing is contrary to God but Self-will, and how he who seeketh his own Good for his own sake, findeth it not; and how a Man of himself neither knoweth nor can do any good Thing
  48. Chapter XLV: How that where there is a Christian Life, Christ dwelleth, and how Christ’s Life is the best and most admirable Life that ever hath been or can be
  49. Chapter XLVI: How entire Satisfaction and true Rest are to be found in God alone, and not in any Creature; and how he who will be obedient unto God, must also be obedient to the Creatures, with all Quietness, and he who would love God, must love all Things in One
  50. Chapter XLVII: A Question: Whether, if we ought to love all Things, we ought to love Sin also?
  51. Chapter XLVIII: How we must believe certain Things of God’s Truth beforehand, ere we can come to a true Knowledge and Experience thereof
  52. Chapter XLIX: Of Self-will, and how Lucifer and Adam fell away from God through Self-will
  53. Chapter L: How this present Time is a Paradise and outer Court of Heaven, and how therein there is only one Tree forbidden, that is, Self-will
  54. Chapter LI: Wherefore God hath created Self-will, seeing that it is so contrary to Him
  55. Chapter LII: How we must take those two Sayings of Christ: “No Man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” and “No Man cometh unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him”
  56. Chapter LIII: Considereth that other Saying of Christ, “No Man can come unto Me, except the Father, which hath sent Me, draw him”
  57. Chapter LIV: How a Man shall not seek his own, either in Things spiritual or natural, but the Honour of God only; and how he must enter in by the right Door, to wit, by Christ, into Eternal Life

About this edition

Source: Internet Archive

Public domain: First published 14th century (tr. 1854); public domain in the United States.

What’s included: Internet Archive scan “theologiagermani00winkuoft”, OCR text, machine-cleaned and spot-checked by hand. Winkworth’s translation from Pfeiffer’s edition (1854; this printing 1893): Kingsley’s preface, the translator’s historical introduction, Bunsen’s letter and all fifty-four chapters. Chapter titles were retyped from the scan; the footnotes (mostly scripture references) are not included.

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