A Rediscovered Dutch Translation of Luther’s ‘Great Confession’ (1528)

Abstract

Abstract In 2009 the only surviving copy of a Dutch translation of Luther’s Vom Abendmal Christi, ­Bekendnis (1528) came to light at Bridwell Library in Dallas. This long-lost Dutch edition, last recorded in a single copy that was in private possession in Amsterdam in 1870, had been mistaken by bibliographers as a translation of Luther’s 1526 sermon on the Lord’s Supper, likewise written in opposition to the ‘sacramentarian’ theology of Ulrich Zwingli and Johann Oecolampadius. This article identifies the true source of the Dutch translation for the first time and demonstrates that the book was one of several Protestant texts published clandestinely in Antwerp during the 1520s by an anonymous printer who concealed his true identity behind various false imprints. Now, historians of the early Reformation may re-examine the impact of Luther’s writings within the Low Countries in light of the unexpected rediscovery of this major Lutheran work.