5. Conclusion—The editors of this Translation present herewith a new translation of the Theses, together with three letters, which will help the reader to understand the mind of Luther at the time of their composition and his motive in preparing them. The first of these letters is that which was sent, with a copy of the Theses, to Albrecht of Mainz. The second and third are addressed respectively to Staupitz and Leo X., and were written to accompany the "Resolutions," [36] an exhaustive explanation and defense of the Theses, published in 1518, after the controversy had become bitter.
6. Literature—(a) Sources. The source material for history of indulgences is naturally widely scattered. The most convenient collection is found in Koehler, Dokumente zum Ablassstreit, Tübingen, 1900. For the indulgences against which Luther protested, see, beside the Editions of Luther's Works, Kapp, Schauplatz des Tetselischen Ablass-Krams, Leipzig, 1720; Sammlung einiger zum päbstlichen Ablass gehörigen Schriften, Leipzig, 1721; Kleine Nachlese zur Erläuterung der Reformationsgeschicte, Leipzig, 1730 and 1733; also Loescher, Vollständige Reformationsacta, I, Leipzig, 1720
(b) Secondary Works. Beside the general works in Church History and History of Doctrine, see the Lives of Luther, in German especially those of Köstlin-Kawerau, Kolde, Berger and Hausrath; in English those of Beard, Jacobs, Lindsay, Smith and McGiffert; also Boehmer, Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung, ad ed., Leipzig, 1910.
On the indulgences in their relation to the Sacrament of Penance, H, C. Lea, History of Confession and Indulgence, especially Vol. III, Philadelphia, 1896; Brieger, Das Wesen des Ablasses am Ausgang des Mittelalters, Leizig, 1897, and Article Indulgenzen in PRE.3 IX, pp. 76 ff. (Eng. in Schaff-Herzog v., pp. 485-88); Gottlob, Kreuzablass und Almosenablass, Stuttgart, 1906 (especially valuable for the origin of indulgences).
On the indulgences and the XCV Theses, Koestlin, Luther's
Theologie, Leipzig, 1883 (Eng. Trans, by Hay, The Theology of
Luther, Philadelphia, 1897); Bratke, Luther's XCV Thesen und
ihre dogmengeschictlichen Voraussetzungen, Göttingen, 1884;
Dieckboff, Der Ablassstreit dogmengeschichtlich dargestellt,
Gotha, 1886; Lindsay, History of the Reformation, I, New York,
1906; Tschackert, Entstehung der lutherischen und reformierten
Kirchenlehre, Göttingen, 1910.
On the financial aspects of the indulgence-traffic, Schulte, Die
Fugger in Rom, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1904.
CHARLES M. JACOBS.
Allentown, PA.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Disputato pro declaratione virutis indulgentiarum.
[2] Luther says, Apud nostros et propter nostros editae aunt. Weimar Ed., I. 528. On the whole subject see Letters to Staupitz and the Pope, below.