Martin Luther And The Rule Of Faith
: Reading God's Word For God's People

Martin Luther is known for challenging the Roman Catholic church; yet reading God's Word was what Luther considered his primary task. Though he is often portrayed as reading the Bible with a bare approach, Todd R. Hains considers how Luther's interpretation of the text was actually guided by the church's established practice of hermeneutics. Martin Luther is a giant among the church's theologians. He is especially known for advocating views such as justification by faith and the priesthood of all believers, which challenged the late-medieval Roman Catholic Church. Yet the reading of God's Word was what Luther considered his primary task as a theologian—and as a Christian. Though he is often portrayed as reading the Bible with a bare approach of sola Scriptura, without any reference to or concern for previous generations' interpretation, the truth is much more complicated. In this volume in IVP Academic's New Explorations in Theology (NET) series, Reformation scholar Todd R. Hains considers how Luther read the Bible according to the rule of faith, which guided his interpretation of the text by the church's established practice of hermeneutics as reflected in the Apostles' Creed and the church's catechism. This study will helpfully complicate your view of Luther and bring clarity to your own reading of God's Word.