German Theology

...[otherwise] those things which are written in it, he reads in vain. You must put your hand to the plow if you wish to grasp the art of agriculture. The translator uses this biblical metaphor (referencing Luke 9:62) to argue that spiritual understanding requires active work and lived experience, not just passive reading.

Regarding my translation, hear this: I have neither added nor subtracted anything from the author. I was no more able to avoid obscurity in such brevity while translating than the author was while writing. But I advise the reader to read him both more often and more attentively; this will serve in place of a commentary. The translator suggests that the text is its own best teacher; repeated, meditative reading will reveal meanings that a formal scholarly commentary might otherwise provide. I have used certain new words, namely these: I-nessEgoitas, Self-nessIpsitas, Me-nessMeitas, Being-willedVelitur: a passive form describing the state of being an object of the will, DeifiedDeificatus, DispleasureDisplicentia, and PersonalityPersonalitas. Necessity forced me to this usage because the author speaks in this way. In this, I should be blamed no more than CiceroThe Roman statesman and orator (106–43 BC) famous for his mastery of the Latin language, who did not hesitate to say original: "Appijtatem & Lentulitatem" "Appius-ness" and "Lentulus-ness." Cicero coined these abstract nouns from the family names 'Appius' and 'Lentulus' to describe specific character traits; the translator uses this to prove that even the greatest Latin stylists invented words when the subject required it. We ought entirely, where the matter demands it, to command words, not serve them.

The Title of the Book. The Author.

The title of the book was The German Theology original: "Theologia Germanica"; the author is not named. It is only written in a certain short prefacepraefatiuncula—