Luther in Hungarian

Abstract

This article documents the publications of Martin Luther's writings in the Hungarian language. Luther's publications first reached Hungary in 1521, but nothing was translated into Hungarian for another fifteen years. Six of Luther's hymns were his first works to appear in Hungarian in 1536, while the Small Catechism was translated in 1550. In 1562 a Hungarian Bible was printed that was greatly inspired by the Luther Bible. Six volumes of Luther's works in Hungarian were published in the early twentieth century. The text selected for translation were largely polemical works against Catholicism along with a few that attacked Luther's Protestant foes. After World War I, several of Luther's edifying and exegetical works began to be translated. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Hungary's Martin Luther Bund has created broad scholarly interest in Luther's works through a series of short translations, as well as conferences and reading retreats. This renewed interest has led to the twenty-first century's Luther válogatott művei (LVM), which is the first attempt to create a translation of Luther's Works in Hungarian with a robust and balanced choice of texts. This edition aims to uphold the highest scholarly standards.