Bondage Of The Will on Banned Books

BJ Bear

Well-known member
The guys at Banned Books have been going through Luther's Bondage Of The Will, 1525, more appropriately translated as On The Bound Choice. The discussion begins at Episode 86. (There is also a link at this page to an online translation of Luther's Bondage Of The Will.) It is mostly context and the more focused discussion of the text begins in Episode 87.

They are using Rupp's translation because he included the Diatribe of Erasmus. The benefit is that the reader/listener can see what Luther was responding to point by point in the Bondage Of The Will.

Another benefit is that they are going through the book from back to front, that is, they start at the conclusion and work their way to the beginning of the book. This is a benefit because in the conclusion Luther is no longer constricted by the procedure of responding point by point to Erasmus.

Luther's argument is from the bound choice to the freedom of the Christian through the person and work of Christ.
 

Tertiumquid

Well-known member
They are using Rupp's translation because he included the Diatribe of Erasmus. The benefit is that the reader/listener can see what Luther was responding to point by point in the Bondage Of The Will.
If I recall, The Rupp version is not a complete version of either what Luther or Erasmus said. It's a compilation of the main arguments from both.
 

BJ Bear

Well-known member
If I recall, The Rupp version is not a complete version of either what Luther or Erasmus said. It's a compilation of the main arguments from both.
Thanks, I prefer reading to listening and will look into that. They mentioned a page number that far exceeded the two works combined.
 

BJ Bear

Well-known member
It seems that there may be more than one edition. I checked the 1969 Luther And Erasmus, Free Will And Salvation, The Library Of Christian Classics, WJK, and didn't find an indication in the introduction or the text that it is a summary or abridgement.

Rupp and Marlow are the translators listed for the Diatribe, and Watson and Drewery for Bondage Of The Will.
 

Tertiumquid

Well-known member
It seems that there may be more than one edition. I checked the 1969 Luther And Erasmus, Free Will And Salvation, The Library Of Christian Classics, WJK, and didn't find an indication in the introduction or the text that it is a summary or abridgement.

Rupp and Marlow are the translators listed for the Diatribe, and Watson and Drewery for Bondage Of The Will.
Hmm. Maybe it's not an abridgment. I have that volume in front of me, and it doesn't appear to say it anywhere. I vaguely recall though that it only highlighted the key arguments, ah... perhaps I'm misremembering.
 
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