Luther + Literacy

Luther and LiteracyAuthor(s): H. G. HaileSource: PMLA, Vol. 91, No. 5 (Oct., 1976), pp. 816-828Published by: Modern Language AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/461557 .Accessed: 22/10/2011 15:16

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H. G. HAILE

Luther and Literacy

M UCH OF THE rationale for literature study arises from the enrichment we think we may offer to our own people

through values that some text has preserved from a culture otherwise remote in time or place. The assumption is that humanity remains enough like itself for understanding to be possible even over great distances, yet that human potentials have proved so varied as to leave much to learn from the past and from the distant. One epoch may, of course, seem to another so radically different that a sympathetic reading is precluded. This must have been the case with Luther's writings during the heyday of German scholarship in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Despite the fact that he continued to be recognized as a cen- tral figure in the development of German literature, Luther studies were left to theologians and, peripherally, to a few historians.

The older Protestant view of Luther as successful reformer of a corrupt tradition, like the now seldom encountered caricature of him as a de- praved monk, has over the years been erased by more temperate scholarship. Indeed, Catholic writing, once notorious for the most grievous calumny,' today sometimes seems more sympathetic to Luther than Protestant work.2 The gen- tler, circumspect approach stems in such large measure from the writings of Joseph Lortz and his pupils that it is fair to quote him as representa- tive of many theologians.3 He concedes that detachment does not yet characterize the world of Luther studies: "We cannot speak of [Luther] with detachment and from a distance... he works on us and makes demands of us today."4 Still dominated by Christians and anti-Christians, the field is graced by very few of that new race for whom Goethe found the happy term non- Christian.5 While non-Christians may find little to interest them in the recondite theological dialogue which supplies the bulk of Luther scholarship, an alternative is offered principally by Marxist zealots, to whom Luther is an outright hypocrite and lackey for aristocratic and capital-

ist circles.6 Obviously, a balanced perception of European history demands appreciation for pro- foundly religious motivation.7 At the same time, in Luther studies as in all literary scholarship, disinterest is essential.

Because of its theological orientation, Luther scholarship has tended to present his development against the patristic background, scarcely related to or even contrasted with the Renaissance and Humanism. It became possible to inquire, for example, into the influence of Humanism on Luther, because scholars took it for granted that he was certainly no "Humanist." Yet Humanism is understood as a phase in the expansion of modern experience when, first of all, a wealth of ancient literature was reborn, becoming available in modem languages to an immensely larger reader- ship than ever before. The printed word took on unprecedented immediacy.8 Luther played a key role in such changes to an extent not fully appreci- ated precisely because specializations in church history or in theology (hence in Luther) have in- sufficient overlap with literature studies.9 Never- theless, the ancient Hebrew tales had never been received with such intense inner participation as in Luther's version of them for northern Euro- peans, probably not even by those listening to them when they were recited in Canaan 3,000 years earlier. Preoccupation with the Bible during the German Renaissance, and the debates that attended it, had a dynamic effect on general literacy rates. "Literature" in the sense of the written word actually being read and taken seri- ously by a significant fraction of a populace was virtually brought into being by the young Witten- berg Doctor in Biblia. It seems therefore ironical that his stature as a literary figure continues to be subordinate to and even contingent on theological or historical-political considerations.'? The present essay can do no more than plead for a secular revision by sampling kinds of approaches to Luther that a literature student might prefer. I will touch on the following topics: (1) literacy rates around 1500; (2) Luther as a popular song-

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H. G. Haile writer and pamphleteer; (3) Luther's treatment of the Bible as literature.

Literacy Rates From a secular viewpoint, surely the most far-

reaching effect of Luther's activity was the radical increase in literacy from the early 1520's on through the rest of the century."1 In the Middle Ages reading had been an activity of professional scribes and scholars, while illiteracy had remained widespread among the nobility and even among the clergy. Wolfram von Eschenbach is either being truthful or affecting a noble pose when he claims to be illiterate, but Grimmelshausen is just telling an old, familiar joke when, over 400 years later, he has his young hero come upon a hermit "conversing" with the pictures in his book.12 The two passages illustrate a gradual increase in literacy rates, until the Biblia pauperuni had been rendered obsolete by the Biblia deutsch. Luther's position in this long-range development is anal- ogous to his part in the gradual standardization of German, or to his role in the long demanded reform of the Church: ongoing processes merge in him, reinforce one another, and eventuate in unprecedented change.

The imaginative and intellectual stimulus that Luther supplied evoked a new literacy in the traditional, qualitative sense of that word-a topic to which we shall return. Let us for now express the effects in the statistical terms to which our era attaches faith. 13

Mercantile activity and trade, technological de- velopments like the paper mill, copper engraving, woodcuts, and at last the use of movable types had for several centuries been enhancing the avail- ability of reading materials. By 1500 about forty German imprints were being produced annually at issues of about 500 each. Compare that modest book consumption in Luther's youth with the output at the height of his controversy with the authorities in 1523: 498 imprints, which are thought to have averaged over 1,000 copies each. Luther was himself author of over a third of them. Most impressive is the rapidity with which a Wittenberg tract is reprinted now in Strasbourg, now in Basel, and throughout Germany. The flood of German works was by no means reducing the production of Latin books, which also continued to increase for several generations.14 In the sixteenth century religious dispute was trans-

forming Germany into a literate nation in the modern sense, and the same process would soon go on in other countries, penurious but conten- tious Scotland being perhaps the most famous example. When dispute was submerged by Protes- tant orthodoxy toward the end of the century, de- mand for books in Germany began to level off, and it actually declined during the Thirty Years' War, but by then book production had increased tenfold during a period (1470-1600) when popula- tion had only doubled.

Luther's sensational dispute and eventual break with the Church was crucial in this popular- ization of literacy. The common man, always curious, wanted to know what the fuss was all about. That he could indeed find out and understand for himself was after all a major argument of Luther's theology, which-in the beginning, anyhow-encouraged individuals to rely on their own judgment. This in itself constituted a strong new motive for reading and helps explain the phenomenal sale of polemical pamphlets in the 1520's.15 Luther not only played this key role in urging people to read; he produced, as we have seen, a lion's share of the imprints. Just as he ex- pressly hoped,16 most of these pamphlets were soon forgotten, but the new ability and eagerness to read was retained. The psychological power of the printed word continued to transform the men- tality of European man (to Luther's own conster- nation) for at least a generation. The new quality and extent of literacy had the effect of general consciousness raising, which was of course closely connected with the impact of the vernacular Bible. The admirable teamwork that produced the Wittenberg Bible in the 1520's was duplicated elsewhere, notably by the scholars of King James's court a century later in England.1 7

Probably also essential to the stunning popular success of the Luther Bible was his theory of literature, which for the first time enabled the people to understand these works from ancient Hebrew as related intimately to their own lives. This is the aspect of Luther's work which our own era, languishing in a scholasticism of its own, can most admire. The conclusion of my paper will turn to the qualitative aspect of the new literacy. To appreciate the broad popular appeal of Luther the interpreter, it may help if we first observe his work as a popular artist. Many German Human- ists were influenced by the aristocratic Italian

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Luther and Literacl Renaissance with its visions of clear and balanced form, of rationality and propriety; but northern Europe would eventually come to express its own character in the profusions of Rabelais, Fischart, and Shakespeare with their endless combinations and crass juxtapositions. In this more boisterous sense, Luther is a man of the democratic northern Renaissance, who from long experience as professor and debater consciously played to the gal- lery.

Popular Song Luther the lyricist is kin to Robert Burns,

Woodie Guthrie, and others whose songs arise from the native strength of popular language, words and music coming as a coherent inspira- tion. Learned arguments have been long and bravely fought concerning the originality of his melodies, 18 often quite missing the point that such artists scorn originality. When schoolchildren patriotically join in "This Land Is Your Land," when resolute Lutherans sing "Ein feste Burg," or when "Auld Lang Syne" unites Anglo-Saxons, they must be cultivating modes that hark back to an ancient communality, perhaps their Indo- European background.19 If we place great store by originality-and, in accordance with the adage that we most admire those virtues which we lack, scholars usually do-then we must seek it in the craftsmanship with which these artists match poetic and melodic line.20 Any of the songs will reward such an investigation. Here we will just have a glance at the earliest Luther song that has come down to us, "Eyn newes Lyed." Although it is still sometimes found in songbooks, this topical piece did not achieve the widespread and lasting popularity of Luther's other musical efforts, but it does share their naive appeal.

The occasion for the forty-year-old man to write what is, so far as we know, his first song composition was the public burning of two Ant- werp Augustinians (1 July 1523) at the beginning of the inquisition by Charles v in the Netherlands -the first martyrdom of those holding "Luther- an" opinions. The song reports that event in tendentious narrative which makes its claim to art mainly through the adaptation of old and familiar topoi, e.g.,

Sie sungen sueB, sie sungen sawr ... die Knaben stundten wie eynn mawr.

(WA, xxxv, 412, 11. 19-21)

They sang sweetly, they sang harshly. Those lads stood there like a wall.

This is a technique that can yield touching beauty, as in the conclusion:

Der Sommer ist hardt fur der thiir, der Wynter ist vergangen, die zarten blumen gehn herfur, der das hat angefangen der wirdt es woll volenden.

(WA, xxxv, 414,11. 14-18) Summer is near at hand, Winter is gone: The tender blossoms are sprouting: He who began these things will finish them, too.

Such ancient motifs have a psychological effect similar to the familiar turns of the air: singers feel united in consciousness of a common heritage. The melody is itself well adapted to emphasize the conflict of good with evil in a melodramatic way, as is appropriate for the genre of historical folk ballad. Note how triumphantly the tale is begun:

Eyn newes lyed wyr heben an, des wald got unser herre Zu singen was Gott hat gethan zu seynem lob und ehre. We commence a new song, may it rest in God's hand. We sing God's deeds and glorify His name.

Every strophe returns to words appropriate to that lilting "f." The narrative begins ominously, then rises with mention of the martyrs all the way to the top of the scale:

INl o 0 o o o ? 't 0 Zu Briissel in dem niederlandt woll durch zwen junge

knaben In Brussels, in the Netherlands, through two young men

As the history continues, divine participation is also made clear by the melodic line:

IlIh o o o ? 1 ? o o

Hat er seyn wunder macht bekandt, die er mit seynen gaben

He made His wonders known, abundantly adorning them

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H. G. Haile

4h b?b ? ? So reychlich hatt gezyret. (WA, xxxv, 487) With His own gifts.

Thus a pattern is set to which the song continues to adhere as it recounts the events through ten more strophes.21 If we sing or play them today we are still impressed by their propagandistic effec- tiveness. Luther hews so faithfully to the form and techniques of the historical folk ballad, widely cultivated from early times-and still used, especially by dissident movements-that we have never really lost touch with his appeal.

"Eyn newes Lyed" was written with a fairly clear intent to stir popular sympathy, Luther being by 1523 reconciled to a public course in a cause which had begun five years earlier as just another academic argument by an ambitious young professor. The turning point which committed him to a break with his Church was recognized by contemporaries to have occurred in his decisive publications of 1520. The most famous of these was, as its title indicates, addressed to the laity: An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation von des Christlichen standes besserung.22

Popular Polemic This is not the place to recapitulate the back-

ground or the content of the Address to the Chris- tian Nobility. Those who have been concerned with its significance in political and in church history have written at length on the work.23 Our interest here is rather for the craftsmanship which has shaped this example of Renaissance art. We do not find much finesse in its overall form, which betrays a matter-of-fact expediency of professor (or preacher) itemizing point upon point. We have the impression that the writing may have been subject to interruptions, and certainly the orga- nization permits that. The actual body of the work is arranged according to twenty-seven "grava- mina" long familiar from presentation by the German estates at Imperial diets, e.g., at the one that had just adjourned at Augsburg when Luther went there to wait on Cardinal Cajetan (1518). We are tempted to compare the whole Address with the great, ungainly tile stove standing in the dining room of the Black Cloister, where the Table Talks were recorded. While the big square

form is itself uninteresting, one can spend an hour examining the several score bas reliefs of its Renaissance decoration. Similarly, the craftsmanship of the Address to the Christian Nobility has to be sought in its detail.

At the lowest level, Luther's techniques include simple invective (p. 406,1. 2; p. 416,1. 26; p. 432, 11. 12-13) and, especially, appeal to German chauvinism (pp. 418-19). He also likes neolo- gisms (e.g., "geltstrick" = "money noose," p. 426, 1. 12). Among his many debater's devices is direct appeal to his audience (p. 452, 1. 32), to his adversary (p. 453, 1. 12), even to Jesus Christ himself (p. 453, 1. 22). He maintains a jovial tone by pok- ing fun at himself and especially by ridiculing the pretensions of the Church: "gleich als wen ich leret, die hurwirttyn solt burgemeysterin heyssen, unnd doch bleybenn szo frum als sie ist" ("It's the same as if I taught you to call the whorehouse madam, 'Madam Mayor,' while she continued her old profession," p. 424, 11. 17-18). From the style of the Address we infer an audience that loved jokes (p. 404, 11. 25-31) and had an endless toler- ance for puns (e.g., p. 463,11. 37-38) and prolixity. While Luther does shape his flood of words, most often with crescendo, we often feel that he is just venting his spleen in a tradition later to be taken up by Fischart and Abraham a Sancta Clara.

Luther became their model in effective use of proverbial material.24 Here are just a few of the familiar expressions from the Address:

"Wend das blat umb, szo findistu es" ("You don't have to look far for the reason," p. 426, 1. 24); "Es ist noch das Valete dahyndenn, das musz ich auch geben" ("I have yet to deal the crowning blow," p. 426,1. 25); "land und leut" ("the land and its people," p. 435, 1. 9); "das arm volck mit der naszen umb furen" ("to bamboozle the common man," p. 447, 11. 25-26); "ein blind fuert den andern" ("the blind leading the blind," p. 448, 11. 13-14); "er vorhengt dem teuffel" ("he gives the devil his way," p. 448, 1. 32); "nit einen heller drumb geben" ("not give a dime for it," p. 456, 11. 4-5); "nit ein har- breit" ("not a hair's breadth," p. 456, 1. 5); "das Evan- gelium [ligt] mussig unter der banck" ("the Gospel is neglected," p. 460, 11. 18-19); "szo frist der Bapst den kern, szo spielen wir mit den ledigen schalen" ("the Pope gobbles the meat of the nut and we play with the empty shell," p. 464, 11. 29-30); "den Fuckern ... ein zawm ynsz maul legen" ("put a rein on the Fugger financiers," p. 466, 11. 31-32). Where possible, Luther turns the proverb to his

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820 Luther ai own argumentative ends, e.g.: "O wie ein schlechter schatz ist der zol am Reyn gegen dieszem heyligen hausze!" ("Oh, how modest a holding is a customs house on the Rhine, compared with this holy house!" p. 426, 11. 15-16).

Proverbs like this are convincing not only because they seem to distill the wisdom of the ages which is beyond dispute, but also because their use certifies the native son, a fellow countryman who can make a special claim on credence. In this connection, note that Luther imprints his slogans on our mind not with end rhyme (of Latin prove- nience) so often as with stave rhyme, a Germanic device.

In the ,4Address we do find "gewurm und ge- schwurm" ("detestable tribe," p. 417, 1. 24); "liegen unnd triegen" ("deceive," p. 419, 11. 5-6); and "zwingst unnd dringst die schrifft" ("distort the meaning of Scripture," p. 453, 1. 21); but uses of alliteration are much more numerous and in- ventive:

"prachten und prangen" ("live in luxury," p. 420,1. 27); "schetzerey unnd schinderey" ("gouging," p. 426, 11. 10-11); "nur frisch mit fussen tretten" ("repudiate," p. 438,1. 3); "yrrhe lauffenn auffdem landt" ("go wander- ing about the countryside," p. 438, 11. 19-20); "teuf- felisch tyranney" ("devilish tyranny," p. 441, 1. 34); "in schanden unnd schweeren gewissen sitzenn" ("suffer shame and heavy conscience," p. 442, 1. 7); "folge mir nur frisch" ("come ahead and follow me," p. 442,1. 25); "schinden und schenden" ("flay and defile," p. 445, 1. 19); "drob lassenn leyb unnd leben" ("give up their life," p. 454, 11. 29-30); "es hat sie der teuffel toll unnd toricht gemacht" ("the devil has driven them out of their minds," p. 455, 1. 18). Luther often uses stave rhyme to reinforce an argument. Although in his translation of Luke x.7, he would (two years later) use the word "erbeiter," he now affirms: "Ein yglicher wircker ist wirdig seynis lonhs" ("the laborer is worthy of his hire," p. 451, 11. 18-19). When on the subject of the be- trayed Jan Huss, he observes: "Geleyd halten hat got gepoten" ("God commanded the observance of sanctuary," p. 455, 1. 19). We not only put up with but even admire profanity: "solche unehre gottis leydenn und loben" (p. 436, 11. 29-30). We become accomplices by our "schweygen odder schmeychlen" ("connivance or ingrati- ation," p. 436, 1. 31). Greed and Canon Law go together: "der geytz unnd das geystlich recht" (p. 452,1. 18).

nd Literacy It is fascinating to tfollow this highly associative

mind as it seeks poetic release, now in gratuitous fairy-tale motif-in arguing that a bishop is dele- gated by the congregation he asks us to imagine that "tzehen bruder, kuniges kinder, gleich erben" ("ten brothers, children of the King, have an equal inheritance," p. 407, 1. 32), or to think of "ein heufflin fromer Christen leyen ... gefangen unnd in ein wusteney gesetzt" ("a little band of Christian laity captured and led into the wilderness," p. 407,11. 35-36)-now into powerful metaphor, as with the devastating argument that to give a celibate cleric a housekeeper is to put fire and straw together and forbid them to burn (p. 442, 11. 30-34). The poetic gift may turn to harsh- ness-

[Der Bapst] gibt dyr bley umbs golt, fell umbs fleisch, schnur umb den beutel, wachsz umbs honnig, wort umbs gut, buchstaben umb den geyst ... soltu auff seinem pergamenn unnd wachs gen hymel farenn, szo wirt dir der wagenn gar bald zuprechen, und du in die helle fallen (p. 450,11. 8-12) [The Pope] will give you lead in return for gold, hide for flesh, in exchange for your purse, its cord, wax for honey, words for substance, the letter for the spirit.... Should you ride toward heaven upon his parchment and seal, your coach will soon break down and you will tumble into hell. -or unexpected gentleness, especially when guided by biblical metaphor: "szo doch allein die schrifft unszer weyngart ist, darynnen wir all solten uns uben und erbeyttenn" ("although the Scripture alone is our vineyard, where we should ever strive and toil," p. 461, 11. 9-10).

Medieval man's tireless quest for biblical ex- emplification of his everyday life puts forth its most stunning flower in Martin Luther. When he argues that we must apply the test of our own judgment to what we are told by the clergy, he re- calls one of his favorite analogies: Muste doch vortzeytenn Abraham seine Sara horen, die doch yhm hertter unterworffen war, den wir yemant auff erden: szo war die eselynne Balaam auch kluger denn der Propheta selbs. Hat got da durch ein eselinne redet gegen einem Propheten, warumb solt er nit noch reden kunnen durch ein frum mensch gegen dem Babst?

(p. 412, 11. 31-36) In his time even Abraham had to heed his Sarah, although she was far more subordinate to him than are we

stance of its writing, is attested by numerous written and oral remarks.

Luther's very first lectures as a university professor, on Psalms (1513), are distinguished by their sensitivity to the poetic devices and poetic qualities of the Old Testament. At the other end of his career as teacher, his Table Talks (1530's- 1540's) constitute a rich mine of literary interpre- tations for the benefit of colleagues. Here the most frequent authors mentioned are Virgil and Terence, whom he loves to compare-usually un- favorably-with "Moses." The latter uses a simple, straightforward style which compels the reader to draw upon his own experience or imag- ination and re-create the subject matter: Sacrae literae continent historias brevissime quidem, sed tamen optime scriptas, hauriunt enim uno verbo omnia. Quod multis verbis apud Vergilium de Didonis amore dicitur, hoc Hebreus brevissime dicit: Thamar amavit Ammon. Verba sunt pauca, sed res maximae. ... Ideo mus einer denken, was Dauid gedacht hab, cum discerpsit leonem, da er sich mit Goliad must schlagen: Quid, si occidar? Sed non fiet; dextra mea est dextra Dei. Das heist man darnach rhetorican.26 Holy Scriptures contain histories written most suc- cinctly but yet with the greatest skill. They pour out everything in one word. What is said of Dido's love in many words in Virgil, the Hebrew says most tersely: "Amnon loved Thamar. The words are few, but the import is great.... Thus we have to imagine David's thoughts when he slew the lion [or] when he had to fight Goliath: What if I shall be killed? But it shall not be so; my right hand is the hand of God. This then is what you call rhetoric."

"Rhetoric" Luther contrasts with the "dialectic" used by Terence. He feels that the latter can become boring, while "rhetoric" is interesting. "Argumentum ist wie ein leere bruch, sed rhe- torica seu eloquentia, die bleset die schweins- bloBen auff vnd sagt, wie idermann in dem negotio zu sinn sey" ("Mere reasoning is like an empty pair of breeches, but rhetoric or eloquence, this pumps up the hogsbladder and lets you know how all sides felt about the issue at hand," TR, No. 467). Luther's highest praise of Christ's eloquence is for his terseness: "der fast himel vnd erden auff ein pissen, wen der redt" ("He com- bines heaven and earth into a morsel when he speaks," TR, No. 684). Pregnancy of expression is, according to Luther, the highest literary accomplishment.

to anyone on earth. Similarly, Balaam's ass was cleverer than the prophet himself. If in those days God spoke against a prophet with the voice of a she-ass, then why should he not still today speak against the Pope through a God-fearing man?

For him the Bible was an immensely rich store- house from which he unerringly drew the most delicate jewels. In despairing of learning in his time, when the professors themselves pursue cold theoretical interests, he bursts out: "Mein augen sein vor weynen mud worden, mein eyngeweyd ist erschrocken, mein leber ist auszgeschut auffdie erden ("Mine eyes do fall down with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth," p. 461, 11. 27-28). Thus begins the lengthy quotation in which Jeremiah laments the condi- tion of his people (Lam. ii. 11). Luther is quoting it (from memory, no doubt) ten years before he translated it! Heinz Bluhm has looked into this question of Luther's Bible translations outside the Bible and concluded that some of his greatest successes occur in just such extempore quotations.25 This is in line not only with Luther's artistic bent (which inclined him to equate substance with beauty) but also with his strong desire to find a broad popular appeal. The same desire is fundamental to his theory of literature.

Luther as Interpreter The assumptions of our own day and the sym-

bols we use to express ourselves are so different from those of the German sixteenth century that Luther cannot speak directly to us except through his deeds. Whatever his intent as interpreter of the Bible, he in fact elevated that collection of ancient literary classics to the status of a beloved coun- selor on a broad range of human concerns. So effective was he in this that the interpreter's role itself became the noblest and most essential task in the community. To many of his contemporaries Luther's behavior in this regard was most irreli- gious. Even the Lutherans soon ceased to include in editions of the Bible his excellent prefaces to the various books, probably because of his sharp questions as to authorship and authority of such sections as the Pentateuch or, most notoriously perhaps, the Epistle of James. That Luther consciously treated his text as a literary document, i.e., one bearing witness to a poetically inspired author as well as to the time, place, and circum-

H. G. Haile 821

822 Luther at Although he contrasts the wordiness of Virgil

and the more analytical art of Terence with biblical succinctness, Luther does recommend the per- formance of Terence in the schools, arguing that such dramas teach many practical lessons (TR, No. 867).27 This is probably the most serious and fundamental difference between Luther's view of literature and that of the modern professor. For Luther, literature was supremely useful. For example, when he compares "Moses" with classical authors in terms of the subjects dealt with, he comes to the conclusion that affairs of the heart, of the home, and of the state just are not as practical as the high spiritual issues treated by the prophets, who themselves "desperaverunt de digna tractatione istarum rerum, quod viderunt non posse satis ea declarari" ("despair of a sufficiently worthy treatment of these matters, for they recognize that they cannot be satisfactorily revealed," TR, No. 467). Typically, Luther went ahead at this sitting to attribute the sure inspira- tion of the prophets to the attacks they had suf- fered from Satan: Ideo etiam nullus gentilis potest habere cogitationes prophetae, nam prophetae habent tentationes Satha- nae, die machen affectus inenarrabiles, quos satis est uno verbo indicasse, siquidem dici perfecte non 'pos- sunt. Gentiles autem, die haben nur genommen tentationes affectuum de amore puellarum. (TR, No. 467) That is why no Gentile can have the thoughts of a prophet, for the prophets have the temptations of Satan. Those produce indescribable passion. One word suffices to indicate that feeling, since expressing it fully is impossible. As to the Gentiles, they only write about temptations of amorous love.

Luther deplores what seems to him to be the palpable loss of some of the books dealing with the patriarchs (TR, Nos. 852, 2313), and he regrets that Abraham received such short shrift (TR, No. 948). He is quite happy to entertain other doubts about Moses' authorship (TR, No. 2844). He finds the prophetic writings in general fragmen- tary and attributes this to the passions of the writers or to the fact that "hanc Prophetiam vel ab ipso Propheta vel a scribis aeditam habeamus" ("This prophecy comes to us in a form edited either by the prophet himself or by scribes," WA, xxv, 138, 11. 34-35). The Book of Judith "est poema theologicum" (TR, No. 444). It should be read allegorically, because its errors in time, place,

id Literacy and person show that the author intended it to be a "fabula similis illi de S. Margaretha aut Georgio" ("tale like those about St. Margaret or St. George," TR, No. 478). Job, on the other hand, reports an event that really took place, albeit long before it was written: Hiob non est ita locutus, sicut ibi scribitur, sed cogitavit ista. Es redt sich nit so in tentatione. Res tamen est facta, et est quasi argumentum fabulae, quod accepit scriptor sicut quidam Terencius et addidit personas et affectus. (TR, No. 475) Job did not talk the way it is written here, but he had thoughts like these. You don't talk that way when you are being tempted. The event really occurred, and it is like the subject of a story which the author took up, as Terence might have, adding characters and emotions.

The story must have been written in the time of Solomon ("Possibile est, das es wol Salomo selb gemacht hab," "It is possible that Solomon himself wrote it," TR, No. 475) but in any case the de- tails were invented. Librum Hiob historiam esse sentio, sed vix puto omnia, quae in eo libro recensentur, ordine ita gesta esse. Opinor autem a bono magistro in dialogum et eum ordinem redactum esse. Tempore enim Salomonis, quo hunc librum scriptum reor, multi sapientes et sancti viri fuerunt, qui fuerunt delectati tales historias scribere.

(TR, No. 794) I take the Book of Job to be a history, but I scarcely assume everything recounted in this book to have occurred in exactly that way. I think it was rendered into this dialogue and sequence by a skilled master. In Solomon's day, when I assume this book to have been written, there were many wise and virtuous men who were pleased to write down such histories.

While in Luther's eyes the human-hence falli- ble-authorship of the Bible stories may be taken for granted, that does not detract at all from their great practical usefulness.28 The story of Jonah, for example, can be a great comfort to the God- fearing, who have also been cast into the sea and find themselves in the belly of a whale: Haec historia sit nobis summe consolatoria et certissi- mum resurrectionis signum. Sie ist schir luiigerlich, neque crederem, nisi in sacris literis esset scripta. Sic autem solet Deus suos humiliare. Er [Jonah] wird aber her nach viel erger, das er Gott meistern wil; factus est praeterea magnus homicida eo, quod voluit urbem tam propulosam funditus deletam. Das hies mir ein prophet! (TR, No. 736)

H. G. Haile This history is most comforting to us and a most certain sign of the resurrection. It is a pretty tall tale, and I wouldn't believe it if it weren't included in Holy Scrip- ture. This is exactly the way God usually humbles his servants. Jonah gets a lot worse later on and wants to tell God how to do things. He even becomes a murderer, wanting utterly to destroy such a populous city. That's a prophet for you!

Obviously, Luther was highly critical of the text, so much so that before the sixteenth century was out he would certainly have been excommuni- cated from the Lutheran Church, too, had he lived.29 So enlightened a critic as Cardinal New- man still regarded Luther's skepticism about the Epistle of James as beyond the pale of discussion. But for all his critical acuity-and indeed as the motive behind it-Luther felt that these writings are supremely valuable to mankind in a most practical way. It was really on this account that he was so contemptuous of interpretation as prac- ticed by his contemporaries, whom he called "Sophists." They boasted a highly refined method for extracting and expanding upon spiritual meanings in the text, but were oblivious to the spiritual needs of the people. It is probably true that scho- lastic interpretation had become more wrapped up in the fine art of distilling various abstract meanings than concerned with usefulness. Luther felt that once this happens, once the process loses sight of the ends it serves, then interpretation itself must degenerate. We have to concede that he was stunningly successful in his interpretive efforts judged on their own merits and that he did at the same time effect unprecedented popularity of the text itself. Especially in an era of declining literacy like our own, a "Renaissance" in Luther's sense of the experience is precisely what every literature teacher longs for-a return to the sources as they are reborn in new immediacy. "Renaissance" probably takes on its full meaning only in this religiously colored sense which suf- fuses the sources in new affect and lends them relevance for and in the individual life.

Luther's art of interpretation has been much studied by theologians. Karl Holl, Heinrich Bornkamm, and Gerhard Ebeling have in our century done work that we in literature studies cannot hope to surpass.30 We are sent rather to reap that whereon we bestowed no labor, so that literature as well as Luther studies may profit. It might be possible to abstract the main lines of

recent writing on Luther's exegesis under four headings. For the sake of continuity in this essay, I shall very briefly attempt to do so.

(1) The most striking feature of Luther's exegesis from the modern theologian's point of view is its extremely personal tone and its lack of sys- tematization.31 Luther's interpretation is almost always admittedly tentative. He likes to begin and end with the reminder that it may be replaced by a better one tomorrow. As we grow, so does our appreciation-and the text helps us grow.

(2) Luther insisted that the text is generally comprehensible for all, elaborate interpretive technique both unnecessary and diversionary: "Es ist auff erden keyn klerer buch geschrieben denn die heyligen schrifft, die ist gegen alle ander bucher gleych wie die szonne gegen alle liecht" ("There is no book on earth written more lucidly than the Holy Scripture. Compared with all other books, it is like the sun compared with artificial light," WA, viii, 236, 11. 9-10). We have seen that he readily allows for allegorical intent by the author, but he cast out a large part of the patristic heritage when he flatly refused to accept the time- hallowed manifold sense of Scripture-by which alone many Humanists could come to terms with some of the Bible stories.

(3) Luther's confidence in the simplicity of biblical expression corresponds with his sure assumption of one simple, i.e., uniform, sense throughout the Bible. Old and New Testament alike proclaim Christ: Alle Geschicht und Wort Gottes sind . . . auf den kiinftigen Christum gericht, der hernach kam . .. wie auch Abraham sahe hinder sich den Widder in der Hecken und nahm und opfert ihn, das ist, er glaubt an den Christum, der kommen sollt hernach und geopfert werden. (WA, xvii, Pt. 2, 134, 11. 5-9)

The entire history and word of God refer to the future Christ, who then came. It is just as Abraham saw the ram in the thicket, and sacrificed him. That means, he believed in the Christ who was in time to come, and be sacrificed.

This may be said to be an elevation of the traditional tropological sense to the sole "historical" sense. It certainly means that the "verus theo- logus totum corpus bibliae scire debet" ("the true theologian must know the whole Bible," TR, No. 744). Luther's own detailed recall of the Bible was fantastic.

823

824 Luther a (4) Taken together, these principles lead to the

notion that the text is its own best interpreter: "sit ipsa per sese certissima, facillima, apertis- sima, sui ipsius interpres, omnium omnia pro- bans, iudicans et illuminans" ("It is itself, in itself, its own most certain, least difficult, most obvious interpreter, of all things testing, judging and illuminating all," WA, VII, 97, 11. 23-24). Of course there are obscure and difficult passages- we have seen that Luther would account for them by the fallibility of author or transmission-but they are illuminated by clearer ones. This prin- ciple, like the uniform sense of Scripture just discussed, operates under the analogia fidei: cer- tainty that no passage, rightly construed, will contradict the teaching of Christ's redemption of man through faith.

This outline would probably be accepted by most Luther scholars as, while sketchy, an essentially fair characterization of the exegete; yet it seems terribly inadequate in describing Luther the literary critic. His emotive participation in the text seems paramount here. He finds those inter- preters who seek abstract meanings "intellectu . . . illustrissimi, sed affectu frigidissimi" ("in matters of the intellect, most distinguished, yet most wanting in warmth of feeling," WA, iv, 353, 1. 21). As a monk he too had found allegorical meanings everywhere, he confesses, but not after the history itself sank in, e.g., "wie schwer es gewesen sey, quod Iosua tali ratione cum hostibus pugnat. Wenn ich da wer gewest, het ich fur furcht in die hosen geschissen" ("how difficult it was for [Gideon ] to fight the enemy at those odds. If I had been there, I'd have shit in my breeches for fright," TR, No. 335). This may be what Karl Holl aptly called "Nacherleben des Inhalts." But Luther's imaginative participation goes much further. Goethe felt that an emotional involvement which actually adds to and fills out the literary work is essential to true appreciation, and he called this kind of participation by the reader "Supplieren" ("suppleer"). This is precisely the process we observe when Luther analyzes Solomon's motives for executing Adonijah (TR, No. 764), when he reconstructs Christ's strong arousal when tempted by Satan (TR, No. 724), or Pilate's commonsense assessment of his prisoner: "est simplex homo .. egressus forte ex silva, ist ein guter schlechter geselle" ("he's a simple man . . . probably just strayed out of the forest, a well-meaning, ordinary

nd Literacy

fellow," TR, No. 685). The sacrifice of Isaac impressed Luther strongly, because Abraham must have had feelings similar to Luther's for his own youngest, Martin. Hence Luther not only knew how Abraham felt, he was able to state un- equivocally that Sarah had not been informed of his intentions (TR, No. 2754b).

The process which we are describing in Luther's reading has two parts: (1) "Nacherleben des In- halts," intense imaginative participation; and (2) "Supplieren," the tendency to fill in nonexplicit circumstances. These bring us to the most impor- tant quality of Luther's criticism. He never inter- prets a text, after all, except with the conscious purpose of conveying it to someone, be it in lectures to students, introductions to books of the Bible, sermons and other kerygmatic writings, or in his tough polemics. He is always trying to persuade an audience of his special interpretation, and in doing so he makes constant appeal to their experience. This decisive factor in his criticism is certainly not new with Luther, and it continues to be a most popular teacher's and preacher's device. Obviously, a whole philosophy of textual understanding is involved. Bultmann used the word "Vorverstindnis" in his attempt to convey the Socratic notion that learning must draw upon knowledge already possessed. Luther was so terrifically adept at the use of experiential ana- logues from sixteenth-century German to ancient Hebrew culture as to become a fascinating example for teachers of other texts in any society. To his own pupils, he declared simply: "Die schrifft verstehet kein mensch, vnd ist dazu vn- muglich, es kome im denn hin heim, id est, nisi experiatur" ("There is no one at all who under- stands Scripture, for that is impossible unless it is brought home to him, i.e., unless he go through the same experience," TR, No. 941).

Luther's concessions to the experience of his hearers sometimes remind us of Renaissance painting where the patriarchs appear in sixteenth- century dress. Mount Horeb "est magnum gebirg ut hic doringisch und behemisch walt" ("is a great mountain, like our Thuringian or Bohemian Forest," WA, xvi, 333, 11. 6-7); the wilderness through which Moses wandered is "ut die heide inter Wittenbergam et Lipsiam" ("like the plain between Wittenberg and Leipzig," WA, xiv, 546, 1. 5). In an attempt to "bring home" the magni- tude of the Red Sea miracle he points out that it

H. G. Haile was as far across as from Wittenberg to Coburg (TR, No. 1812). Karl Holl (p. 442) gives other examples, and is understandably touched by TR, No. 704, a report of how Luther required his table companions to get up and watch an approaching storm so as to understand the eighteenth Psalm's representation of "coals of fire" in the clouds. One of Luther's finest strokes occurs in the famous sermon on Mosaic law (1525). Provoked by the fundamentalists, he is at pains to make clear that the Old Testament, although it does contain fine examples, is by no means binding on a Christian. Der Keyser m6cht ein Exempel daraus nemen, ein fein regiment aus dem Mose zu stellen, wie auch die Romer ein fein Regiment gefiirt haben, und wie auch der Sachssen spiegel ist, darnach sich dis land helt. Die Heyden sind dem Mose nicht schfildig gehorsam zu seyn. Moses ist der Jiiden Sachssenspiegel.

(WA, xvi, 377, 1. 33-378, 1. 23) The emperor might draw an example of how to. set up a fine government according to Moses, just as the Ro- mans ran a fine government, and like the Sachsenspiegel [an early Germanic legal code], by which this country is ruled. The Gentiles are not required to obey Moses. Moses is the Jews' Sachsenspiegel. By means of analogy to a code with which his audience is abundantly familiar, Luther achieves a brilliant demythologization of the Ten Com- mandments, thus enabling his hearers to appreciate them in the perspective of Israel's ancient culture, their Sitz im Leben.

Examples of this sort can be accumulated in- definitely from Luther's sermons. We might con- clude with his own strong words on the analogia experientiae. As it happened, they are the last words he wrote:

Vergilium in Bucolicis et Georgicis nemo potest in- telligere, nisi quinque annis primum fuerit pastor aut agricola.

Ciceronem in epistolis nemo secundo intelligit, nisi viginti annis sit versatus in republica aliqua insigni.

Scripturas sacras sciat se nemo gustasse satis, nisi centum annis cum prophetis ecclesias gubernaverit. Quare ingens est miraculum primum lohannis Bap- tistae, secundum Christi, tertium apostolorum. Hanc tu ne divinam Aeneidam tenta, sed vestigia pronus adora. Wir sein pettier. Hoc est verum.

(TR, No. 5677) None can comprehend Virgil in his Bucolics and

Georgics who has not first been a herdsman or farmer for five years.

Furthermore, none comprehends Cicero in his letters who has less than twenty years' experience in a princi- pality of some size.

Let none think he has sufficiently tasted Holy Scrip- tures unless he has for a hundred years governed the Church with the prophets. So you see, great is the won- der, first of John Baptist, then of Christ, and third of the Apostles. Lay no hand upon the divine Aeneid, rather fall down on your knees and worship where he trod . For we are truly beggars.

Luther clearly assumes-and often says ex- plicitly-that the true medium of communication from soul to soul is shared passion and the experience that makes it possible. Letters cannot be separated from life. The spirit must bring meaning to the letter. "Verum quid perdimus verba, cum tamen nihil possimus omnibus verbis con- sequi quam indicium huius tribulationis? [of the Psalmist] Intellectum et sensum non dat nisi ipse affectus et experientia" ("But why should I waste words when with all my words I can attain noth- ing but a hint of those tribulations? Only the passion itself and the experience can offer understanding and awareness," WA, v, 210, 11. 23-26). He cannot emphasize sufficiently that the task of the teacher is to assure in the reader feelings con- sonant with the text. Just talking and listening is no substitute for what must arise from within us: "Nullus enim loquitur digne nec audit aliquam Scripturam, nisi conformiter ei sit affectus, ut intus sentiat quod foris audit et loquitur, et dicat: 'Eia, vere sic est' " ("No one worthily speaks or listens to any Scripture unless his feelings are con- formable to it, so that he senses within him what is outwardly heard and spoken, and declares: 'Aye, that is truly the way it is!' " WA, IIIn, 549, 11. 33-35).

Luther was not, after all, teaching contemporary literature, nor did the future pastors in his audience expect to do so. Of the Psalmist he declares: [author] absconditus est et in spiritu nimium interiori loquens, unde non possit eius causa et motivum videri, cur sic et non aliter dixerit et ordinaverit, ab iis, qui non eosdem motus habent. Nam nullus alium in scripturis spiritualibus intelligit, nisi eundem spiritum sapiat et habeat. (WA, iv, 305, 11. 8-12) The author is not with us, but speaks exclusively to our inner spirit, so that his purpose and intent, why he told and arranged things thus and not differently, cannot be apparent to those who are not similarly moved.

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Luther and Literacy For no one comprehends anything in spiritual writings unless he sense and have the same spirit.

I believe I have characterized Luther's critical posture as very much in accord with his more famous attitude toward translation. Both are distinguished by an acute awareness of the polarity constituted by text and reader. Luther's philosophy of translating-especially its more contro- versial side-was determined by his recognition that a translator must know the language and culture into which he is transferring the text and must show as much regard for the uniqueness of this culture as for that of the text itself. We as literature teachers may take a similar lesson from Luther the interpreter. Interpretation of a text from

Shakespeare's England or Goethe's Germany requires above all regard for America-and, indeed, love for our countrymen is our motive for teaching and criticism. Ancient and foreign literature can be-to use Luther's expression-brought home to a people if it is presented in terms of their own experience. This notion, to be sure, implies a communality of humankind which may not exist at all. But much as Luther confidently heard the Son of Man clearly speaking in the Psalter, the literature teacher thinks that he, too, hears a familiar human ring in the most remote writings. University of Illinois Champaign

Notes ' The dependence of over 300 years of Catholic scholarship

on the work of a single contemporary-indeed adversary- of Luther was traced by Adolf Herte, Das katholische Luther- bild im Bann der Lutherkommentare des [Johann] Cochlius, 3 vols. (Mtinster: Aschendorff, 1943). Strong bias could render useless even such Catholic efforts as would seem unrelated to Cochlaus, e.g., V. Kehrein, "Dr. Martin Luther als deutscher Schriftsteller," Der Katholik, 98 (1918), 32-40, or make sus- pect, because of the firm Protestant context, such excellent surveys as that by Julius K6stlin in his famous Martin Luther. Sein Leben und seine Schriften, 5th ed., revised by Gustav Kawerau (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1903), e.g.. ]], 434-36.

2 This contrast was eloquently demonstrated in a lively exchange during the 1960's, in which we found a Catholic, Erwin Iserloh, Luthers Thesenanschlag, Tatsache oder Le- gende? (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1962), arguing Luther's propriety and correctness in handling the famous 95 theses. Lutheran scholars have fairly unanimously rejected Iserloh's conjectures. The whole battle about whether the theses were ever really posted was summarized by Franz Lau, "Die gegen- wairtige Diskussion um Luthers Thesenanschlag, Sachstand- bericht und Versuch einer Weiterfiihrung durch Neuinterpre- tation von Dokumenten," Luther-Jahrbuch, 34 (1967), 11-59. See also Bernhard Lohse, "Die Lutherforschung im deutschen Sprachbereich seit 1966," Luther-Jahrbuch, 38 (1971), 100-02.

3 Die Reformation in Deutschland, 2 vols. (Freiburg: Herder, 1939-40), is usually credited with effecting the major liberalization of Catholic opinion.

4' "The Basic Elements of Luther's Intellectual Style," Catholic Scholars Dialogue with Luther, ed. Jared Wicks, S. J. (Chicago: Loyola Univ. Press, 1970), p. 5.

5 In his letter to Lavater of 29 July 1792, he called himself "zwar kein Widerchrist, kein Unchrist aber doch ein de-

zidirter Nichtchrist." The remark has become famous. 6 German professors of literature, who long regarded

themselves as duty bound to theology, became vulnerable to the apt charge by an American graduate student: "His judgment was warped by over-appreciation"-Preserved Smith, Luther's Table-Talk: A Critical Study, Diss. Columbia 1907.

Gustav Roethe, D. Martin Luthers Bedeutung far die deutsche Literatur (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1918), offers a fine example of the sweeping, useless generalization that prevailed in contributions to Luther scholarship by German literature professors. More recent writers have cautiously restricted themselves to limited topics, as does Heinz Otto Burger even in his essay entitled "Luther als Ereignis in der Literaturgeschichte," Luther-Jahrbuch, 24 (1957), 86-101. This makes sense, because an overview of Luther's entire work is a lifetime's task. Another lifetime could then be con- sumed in struggling with the secondary literature, mostly by theologians, simply because they are best acquainted with Luther's extensive writings. Hence it is not surprising that the best introduction to Luther's literary accomplishment is by a theologian: Heinrich Bornkamm, Luther als Schriftsteller, Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissen- schaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1965).

Roy Pascal, The Social Basis of the German RefJrmation: Martin Luther and His Times (London: Watts. 1933), was an early advocate of the materialistic view, openly hostile to Luther. Gerhard Zschabitz, Martin Luther: Gro&je und Grenze (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1967), gives the Marxist assessment as it is accepted today. It has been given wider currency in Dieter Forte's drama Martin Luther und Thomas Miinzer: Oder die EinfiJhrvng der Buchhaltung (Berlin: Wagenbach. 1971). 7 The greatest merit of Erik Erikson's popular psychiatric study, Young Man Luther (New York: Norton, 1958), was in showing that it is indeed possible to talk about Luther in terms that find credence in our time. The theological semeiotic, although it enjoyed an acceptance in Luther's day comparable with that of scientific assumptions in our own, elicits little resonance in today's world. The traditional job of the literature teacher is to create sympathetic understanding for other "realities" even if that requires suspension of one's own.

8 H. Marshall McLuhan's contentions, e.g., in The Guten- berg Galaxy (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1962), have not been taken into account by those concerned with the rapid

826

H. G. Haile spread of Lutheran ideas, but McLuhan's notion that the printed word has a peculiar effect on consciousness does seem relevant here. This is not to suggest that the role of the press in the Reformation has been overlooked or neglected. See, e.g., Maurice Gravier, Luther et l'opinion publique (Paris: Aubier, 1942).

9 The most recent report on Luther research in the Luther- Jahrbuch, i.e., that by Bernhard Lohse (see n. 2), begins with a statement that "auf eine Erwahnung der germanistischen Beitrage verzichtet werden mul3." It would be easy to as- semble enough examples of crass misinformation purveyed by our literature colleagues to justify Lohse's remark. On the other hand, see my forthcoming article, "Philological Limits to Historical Knowledge: Martin Luther's 'Tower Experi- ence,'

" for an example of how vulnerable philological naivete can leave theologians.

10 The two most recent Luther books comprehensive enough to interest the nonspecialist are John M. Todd, Martin Luther:. A Biographical Stud3v (New York: Paulist Press, 1964), and Richard Friedenthal, Luther. Sein Leben und seine Zeit (Munich: Piper, 1967). They share the purpose of conveying the present state of scholarship without under- taking original reinterpretations, and they complement one another in that Todd reflects theologians while Friedenthal relies more heavily on historians. In that neither argues literary importance for Luther, they reflect the prevailing temper in both camps.

l1 This is a point curiously not touted by the many who have sought to magnify Luther's cultural importance. Karl Holl, "Die Kulturbedeutung der Reformation," Gesammnelte Auf- sitze zur Kirchengeschichte (Tubingen: J. B. C. Mohr, 1921), pp. 359-413, is one of the most responsible of these. Other recent, also sound essays are those in the collection Luther and Culture, ed. George W. Forell et al. (Decorah, Iowa: Luther Coll. Press, 1960), and John W. Montgomery, "Luther, Libraries and Learning," in Montgomery, In Defense of Martin Luther (Milwaukee: Northwestern Pub. House, 1970), pp. 116-39.

12 Par:zival, 115, 25-116, 4. (Lachmann): swer des von mir geruoche, dern zels ze keinem buoche. ine kan decheinen buochstap da nement genuoge ir urhap; disiu aventiure vert ane der buoche stiure. e man si hete fur ein buoch ich waer e nacket ane tuoch so6 ich in dem bade saeze, ob ichs questen nicht vergaeze.

7th ed., rev. Edward Hartl (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1952), p. 64. The bath was a part of the noble habitus; reading was not.

Simplizissimnus, Ch. x: "Als ich das erste mal den Einsidel in der Bibel lesen sahe / konte ich mir nicht einbilden /mit wem er doch ein solch heimlich/ und meinem Beduncken nach sehr ernstlich Ge- sprach haben muste.... Ich gab Achtung auffdas Buch / und nachdem er solches beygelegt / machte ich mich darhinder / schlugs auff / und bekam im ersten Griff das erste Capitel deB Hiobs/ und die darvor stehende Figur / so ein feiner Holtz- schnitt / und schon illiuinirt war / in die Augen: ich fragte

dieselbige Bilder selzame Sachen / weil mir aber kein Antwort widerfahren wolte / wurde ich ungeduldig / und sagte: lhr kleine Hudler / habt ihr dann keine Mauler mehr?" (Grimmel- shausen: Der Abentheurliche Simplicissimus Teutsch . . . , ed. Rolf Tarot, Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1967, p. 30).

13 I have drawn my figures from Rolf Engelsing, Analpha- hetentum und Lekture:. Zur Sozialgeschichte des Lesens in Deutschland zwischen feudaler und industrieller Gesellschaft (Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1973). Engelsing gives an extensive bibliography on the progress of literacy in the indicated time frame.

14 Donald Krummel (Univ. of Illinois), questioning the ability of German printers to marshal the capital, skilled labor, and equipment for a 25-fold increase within 5 years, has called my attention to the fact that many of these "books" were mere pamphlets. He argues that the sheet output of the German presses probably did not shoot up by so radical a factor. On the other hand, this means that the number of printed items may have risen by a factor greater than 25. It is easy to show how the smaller (hence cheaper) a pamphlet, the greater its number of press runs. I would guess that the same can be said of the number of imprints per run. Luther's implacable enemy Duke George of Saxony once ran off a pamphlet against Luther in 8,000 copies. This may give us an idea of the number of readers one could hope to reach if one disposed of substan- tial funds. While the great tomes typical of pre-Reformation years continued traditional press runs, the new spate of slender polemics and sermons far exceeded them. Reading material was obviously coming into many a hand that had never held it before.

15 The one-sided sympathy of printers for Luther has been much discussed, and it certainly has to be attributed to the sincere beliefs of some of them as well as to the profit motive, so plausible to our era. See, e.g., Johannes Froben's famous letter to Luther of 14 Feb. 1519 (Briefnvechsel, in Luthers Werke, Weimarer Ausgabe, 11 vols., Weimar: H. Bohlau, 1930-49, i, 331-35. Further references to Brielfivechsel will be by the usual symbol, Br, followed by page and line number). The date alone attests to the fact that Froben was putting his shoulder to a bandwagon, not leaping onto one already rolling.

16 The best known instance is the famous introduction to the 1545 Latin edition of his works, "Martinus Luther pio lectori," in Lutlhers Werke. Kritische Gesammntausgabe (Weimar: H. Bohlau, 1928), LIV, 179, 11. 1-21. Hereafter, references to WA will be cited by page and (where appropriate) line number.

17 The connection between the English and the German Bible was established by Albert H. Gerberich, Luther and the English Bible (Lancaster, Pa.: Press of Intelligencer Printing Co., 1933). Recently, Heinz Bluhm has looked more closely into Tyndale's (and Coverdale's) debt to Luther: "Shaping the English Bible," in Bluhm, Martin Luther, Creatitve Translator (St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1965), pp. 169-232. Bluhm is the major American Luther authority who is not a theologian.

'8 Luther's most serious detractor in this respect was Wil- helm Baumker, Das katholische deutsche Kirchenlied in semen Sing\weisen van den fiihesten Zeiten, 4 vols. (Freiburg: Herder, 1883--1911). In 1923, Wilhelm Luck offered a balanced view of the problem in his edition of Luther's songs for WA, xxxv, esp. pp. 79-87. More recent writers have tended to attribute con-

827

Luther and Literacy siderable musical originality to Luther, e.g., Charles Schneider, Luther. Poete et musicien (Geneva: Henn, 1942), and Paul Nettl, Luther and Music, 2nd ed. (New York: Russell & Russell, 1967).

19 Friedrich Blume, Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchen- musik, 2nd ed. (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1965), p. 24, remarks with respect to "Ein feste Burg," "Eyn newes Lyed," and "Vom Himmel Hoch": "Offenbar reichen die Wurzeln dieses Melo- dietypus bis in die Friihzeit eurasischer Volksbewegungen zuriick." Blume's treatment of Luther may be regarded as authoritative for our time: he attributes about three dozen songs to him, of which perhaps a half dozen seem to be original musical compositions.

20 The 16th century placed perhaps less store by originality than have later centuries. When Luther, in a conversation with Johann Walter, preserved by Michael Praetorius, declared his purpose to be a close match between words and music, he seemed to be regarding this as an essentially literary require- ment. Walter had asked Luther with respect to his German Mass: "Wie er alle Noten auf dem Text nach dem rechten accent und concent so meisterlich und wohl gerichtet ... und woraus oder woher [er] doch diese Stiicke oder Unterricht [hatte]. Darauf der teure Mann meiner Einfalt lachte und sprach: 'Der Poet Virgilius hat mir solches gelehrt, der also seine Carmina und Wort auf die Geschichte, die er beschreibt, so ktinstlich applicieren kann; also soll auch die Musika alle ihre Noten und Gesange auf den Text richten' " (WA, XIX, 50).

21 Otto Brode, "Ein neues Lied wir heben an," Luther, 34 (1963), 72-82, does not discuss the song named in his title, but in several others he examines the "Ubereinkunft von Wort und Weise" (p. 77) as a major feature of Luther's composition.

22 WA, vi, 404-69. References will occur by page alid line number only. Since Luther's language is difficult for the nonspecialist and since the customary modernization may run a greater risk of misinterpretation than outright translation, I continue to offer quotations in English rather than alter them.

23 One of the best treatments is that by James MacKinnon in Luther and the Reformation (New York: Longmans, Green, 1925-30), ii, 222-47.

24 Alfred G6tze, Volkskundliches bei Luther (Weimar: Hof- Buchdruckerei, 1909), is a good general introduction.

25 E.g., in his investigation "On the Evolution of Luther's

Bible: Matthew (1517-21)," in Luther. Creative Translator (St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1965), p. 36.

26 D. Martin Luthers Tischreden, 1531-46, vols. 1-6 (Weimar: B6hlau, 1912-21, No. 467). Further references will be by the customary abbreviation, TR, followed by item number.

27 In March of 1523, Luther wrote to Eoban Hessus: "Ego persuasus sum, sine literarum peritia prorsus stare non posse sinceram theologiam, sicut hactenus ruentibus et iacentibus literis miserrime et cecidit et iacuit. Quin video, nunquam fuisse insignem factam verbi Dei revelationem, nisi primo, velut praecursoribus Baptistis, viam pararit surgentibus et florentibus linguis et literis. Plane nihil minus vellem fieri aut committi in iuventute, quam ut poesin et rhetoricen omittant. Mea certe vota sunt, ut quam plurimi sint et poetae et rhetores, quod his studiis videam, sicut nec aliis modis fieri potest, mire aptos fieri homines ad sacra tum capessenda, tum dextre et feliciter tractanda" (Br, in, 50, 11. 21-29). Today the shoe is on the other foot and we would reverse Luther's statements, per- suaded that youthful Bible reading and the tacit hermeneutics that went with it constituted better literary preparation than any available since the dotage of organized religion.

28 Heinrich Bornkamm, in what is surely the best single work on the subject, Luther und das alte Testament (Tiibingen: J. B. C. Mohr, 1948), goes into the question of authorship (pp. 162-65) and offers numerous quotations.

29 The fundamental essay on the subject was that by Karl Holl, "Luthers Bedeutung for den Fortschritt der Auslege- kunst," originally a lecture for the Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 11 Nov. 1920, and printed in his Gesammelte Aufsdtze zur Kirchengeschichte, I (Tiibingen: J. B. C. Mohr, 1921), 414-50.

30 The Holl and Bornkamm works were mentioned in nn. 28 and 29. Gerhard Ebeling, much under the influence of Heidegger, is less rewarding for the nontheologian. See his Evangelische Evangelienauslegung. Eine Untersuchung zu Luthers Hermeneutik (Munich: A. Lempo, 1942), and "Die Anfange von Luthers Hermeneutik," in Ebeling, Luther- studien, l (Tuibingen: J. B. C. Mohr, 1971), 1-68.

31 Warren A. Quanbeck, "Luther's Early Exegesis," in Luther Today, ed. Roland Bainton et al. (Decorah, Iowa: Luther Coll. Press, 1957), pp. 37-103.

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Issue Table of ContentsPMLA, Vol. 91, No. 5 (Oct., 1976), pp. 795-966Volume InformationFront Matter [pp. 797 - 945]Editor's Column [pp. 795 - 796]Reading Criticism [pp. 801 - 815]Luther and Literacy [pp. 816 - 828]Coleridge and the Endeavor of Philosophy [pp. 829 - 839]The Middle English Judas: An Interpretation [pp. 840 - 845]Swift's Explorations of Slavery in Houyhnhnmland and Ireland [pp. 846 - 855]Mesmerism in Die Jungfrau von Orleans [pp. 856 - 870]Pendennis and the Power of Sentimentality: A Study of Motherly Love [pp. 871 - 883]Nineteenth-Century American Humor: Easygoing Males, Anxious Ladies, and Penelope Lapham [pp. 884 - 899]Hierogamy versus Wedlock: Types of Marriage Plots and Their Relationship to Genres of Prose Fiction [pp. 900 - 913]ForumSurrey's Five Elegies [pp. 914 - 915]"Reading" in Great Expectations [p. 915]Billy Budd [pp. 915 - 918]Citizen Kane [pp. 918 - 920]Unity Identity Text Self [pp. 920 - 922]Talking in James [pp. 922 - 924]VIXI [pp. 924 - 925]

Correction: T. S. Eliot's Raids on the Inarticulate [p. 940]Professional Notes and Comment [pp. 940 - 946]Back Matter [pp. 947 - 966]

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Luther + Literacy