Theologia Germanica

Theologia Germanica, also known as Theologia Deutsch or Teutsch, or as Der Franckforter, is a mystical treatise believed to have been written in the later 14th century by an anonymous author. According to the introduction of the Theologia the author was a priest and a member of the Teutonic Order living in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Theologia was written during the disruptive reign of the Avignon Papacy (1309–78) when many clerics were forbidden to perform Catholic rites, because of the power struggle between the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor. Lay groups of pious individuals like the Friends of God became prominent during this time, and the author is usually associated with the Friends of God.

The Theologia Germanica survives today in only eight manuscripts, all from the second half of the fifteenth century. Clearly, therefore, it was not widely disseminated before it came to the attention of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther produced a partial edition first in 1516. At that time Luther thought the work might have been written by John Tauler. In 1518 he produced a more complete edition on the basis of a new manuscript that had come to his attention. It was Luther who gave the treatise its modern name; in the manuscripts it is known as Der Franckforter (The Frankfurter). Luther found much that was congenial to him in this late medieval text.

Theologia Germanica proposes that God and man can be wholly united by following a path of perfection, as exemplified by the life of Christ, renouncing sin and selfishness, ultimately allowing God’s will to replace human will. Luther wrote,

Next to the Bible and St. Augustine, no book has ever come into my hands from which I have learned more of God and Christ, and man and all things that are.

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