Abstract

Luther's attitude to reference texts of theological tradition, be they the books of the Bible or the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, appears to be characterized, independent of the temporal evolution of his doctrinal beliefs, by contrasting lines of thinking ranging from his deferential veneration to the arrogance of his interpretations that deliberately alter recognized learning. A look at the various approach methods of the Fathers of the Church at the start of the sixteenth century in Luther's Erfurt allows us to identify a cornerstone of theological method characterizing the Reformation and, in the new hermeneutics of patristic texts, the legitimation of his new interpretation of the Bible.