Original Translation with Annotations on Johannes Oecolampadius's "Das Der Miszverstand D. Martin Luthers, Uff Die Ewigbstendige Wort, Das Ist Mein Leib, Nit Beston Mag" of 1527

Abstract

This is a working original translation of approximately eighty-five pages of Oecolampadius's 147 page work on Christ's Eucharistic presence entitled Das del' miszverstand D. Martin Luther uJJdie ewigbstendige Wort 'Das ist mein Leib, ' nit beston mag of 1527. This work has never been translated into English before and presented many challenges. The translation aims to communicate the salient argumentation of the text and portray Oecolampadius's view accurately. This is accomplished through careful excerpts that retain the structural and contextual integrity of the original work, while omitting paragraphs and pages that were either additional explanation or redundant to the argument. It has been a long process. Due to the overshadowing of Oecolampadius's life by other prominent sixteenth century reformers, a brief biographical sketch will be included. It will be important for the overall work to show that Oecolampadius is someone worth studying and worth translating. It will also highlight the oddity that someone as influential as he was has only received cursory scholarly interest, resulting in only three partial English translations out of his 190+ surviving works. There are six sections to introduce Oecolampadius, who he was, why he was important, his context within the Reformation, and then a critical introduction on the translation itself. The structure of the thesis is centered on the translation itself. I have formatted the translation into parallel columns to aid the reader in quickly moving back and forth from the German to English. Annotations will be rendered as footnotes as necessary throughout the translation concluding with a discussion of Oecolampadius' Eucharistic theology as represented in this work.