Die Bedeutung des Alten Testamentes für den Reformator Martin Luther
The Importance of the Old Testament for the Reformer Martin Luther

Summary/Abstract: Martin Luther was by profession an Old Testament scholar; he earned his living as a professor of Biblical Science at the University of Wittenberg. He devoted only 13% of his 43 years of lectures to the New Testament (1515-17, 1531: Letter to the Romans, Letter to the Galatians, Letter to the Hebrews), but 87% to the Old Testament, esp. to the Psalms and Genesis. He has consistently worked on the Hebrew “Urtext” as the Veritas Hebraica and has committed all future generations of theologians to this method; already this assures him permanent validity. Th e basis for his appreciation of the OT was his consistent christological exegesis. „What teach Christ“ was the „center“ of the Old Testament. Th e example of Ps. 22 illustrates how Luther‘s approach is applied to the interpretation of the text, and even to the textual criticism. However, the enormous achievements also have shadows: the unhistorical absolutisation of only one form of reception, the intolerable anti-Judaism, and the partly vigorous Christological reinterpretation.

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