Revelation and revolution: basic writings of Thomas Müntzer by Thomas Münzer, Michael G. Baylor

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The retinue stopped at Allstedt on the way, partly to allow theologians to examine Müntzer's orthodoxy and the character of his Allstedt reformation. The impetus for the investigation evidently came from Luther. 19 The Wittenberg reformation was represented in these talks by Johann Lang, a colleague of Luther who traveled to Allstedt from Erfurt, and by George Spalatin, the elector's secretary and court preacher who was also Luther's confidant at the electoral court. A record of their conversations with Müntzer, which went on for two days, has not survived, but undoubtedly Lang and Spalatin questioned him about his theological views, his liturgical reforms, and his controversy with Count Ernst of Mansfeld.

The 1968 Franz edition of Müntzer's writings, on which Matheson largely relied, was deeply flawed. A new three-volume critical edition is still in preparation. Reformation specialists will continue to read Müntzer in the original; students and general readers need something less than a collection of all the known documents by, to, and about him. From the total corpus of Müntzer's works, I have selected those writings which seem the most important, especially the series of religious and political tracts and a large selection of his letters.

The pastoral concern is evident in Müntzer's awareness that he was now engaged in a two-front theological war: both Wittenberg and Rome were the antagonists. " Rome was misleading the people by insisting that righteousness is rooted in works that are pleasing to God and impressive to others, but are in fact trivial externalities. Wittenberg was seducing the people with an easily attained, but essentially contrived or counterfeit, faith: a painless acceptance of Christ as a redeemer, a literalistic belief in Scripture and its promises, and the notion that the Christian faith is readily compatible with worldly pleasures.