An den christlichen Adel deutscher Nation von des christlichen Standes Besserung

The appeal To the Christian nobility is a key document of the early Reformation in which for the first time Luther shows himself to be the reformer who presented a radical challenge to the Latin-European church in its existing form. The significance of this tract, which addressed itself not only to the ruling classes but to all Christians of both sexes, and its power in mobilizing large segments of the population in favor of the Reformation, should not be underestimated. In his criticism of the papacy, Luther attained a new decisiveness, exactly during the period in which his Roman trial was drawing to a close. The concept of the general priesthood of the believers and the baptized, developed here for the first time, demonstrates a »Copernican turn« in the understanding of the church. Reflected in the first complete commentary on the appeal To the Christian nobility, the Reformation shows itself to be a radical break with tradition.