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Thirty-Five Years of Luther Research

The investigations concerning Luther's idea of repentance that are connected with his Sermo de pœnitentia (1518) can not be sketched at this time, but we at least refer to them,58 and state that there is no contradiction when Luther, in 1518, puts the "amor justitiæ" first and the "pœnitentia" second, and when he later on maintains faith and love can only arise after the "terrores conscientiæ" have been produced, because the viewpoint is an entirely different one.

By means of Luther's first debate on ethical matters Stange aimed at emphasizing the truth, that in all of Luther's debates with Rome on matters of faith there were always at the same time ethical views of the deepest importance involved. 58

In connection with the circumstance that on the occasion of the Leipzig Disputation a new idea or definition of the Church presented itself to Luther, Rietschel devoted himself to the question of Luther's definition of Church.58

Through the three great Reformation writings of 1520 58a and through the burning of the bull, Luther severed all relations with Rome, before the real bull of excommunication (Decet Romanum Pontificem) was announced in Rome the 2d of January, 1521.

11. The Diet at Worms

We now understand much better the Diet of Worms and everything connected with it. After Kolde wrote his excellent monogravure in 1883, A. Wrede presented us with the complete minutes of the Diet whereas Brieger and Kalkoff devoted themselves especially to the study of Aleander's dispatches.60 Already Kolde and later on Baumgarten had used these dispatches of the papal