Martin Luther’s Large Catechism in German

Martin Luther (1483–1546).
Deudsch catechismus, mit einer vorrhede, und vermanunge zu der Beicht.
Wittenberg: George Rhaw, 1531.
[Bound with:] Martin Luther (1483–1546). Der Kleine Catechismus.
Altenburg: Fürstlich Sächsischer Hofbuchdruckerei, 1659. (BRA0131/A)

Following the first edition of Luther’s Large Catechism published in 1529, this Wittenberg 1531 edition includes the text’s standard sections concerning the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, baptism, and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Intended particularly for pastors and preachers, Luther exhorted his readers “that they should daily exercise themselves in the catechism, which is a short summary and epitome of the entire Holy Scriptures, and that they may always teach the same. . . .  That they daily exercise themselves well in these studies and constantly treat them; moreover, that they . . . steadily keep on reading, teaching, learning, pondering, and meditating, and do not cease until they have made a test and are sure that they have taught the devil to death, and have become more learned than God Himself and all His saints.”

Exemplifying the great continuing interest in Luther’s catechisms in the century following his death, this copy of the 1531 German-language edition of the large catechism was bound in the later seventeenth century with a 1659 German-language edition of the small catechism.