The Theologia belongs to the tradition that calls for an experiential knowledge of God that comes from living in communion with God. “And he who would know before he believeth, cometh never to true knowledge…We speak of a certain Truth which it is possible to know by experience, but which ye must believe in, before that ye know it by experience, else ye will never come to know it truly.”

Somewhere around 1350, someone penned what would become a devotional masterpiece. The author was likely a priest in Frankfurt, but the resulting book, Theologia Germanica, or Theologia Deutsch, is formally anonymous. But its faceless authorship has not detracted from its fame. Martin Luther published it in 1516 and called it second only to the Bible and Augustine.

Its renown lies in its simple comprehensiveness. This is a manual on the Christian life.

It begins with the deep problem of man: self-will, a deep-rooted independence from God. The solution is the opposite: union with God by self-emptying and yielding to God.

“And therefore it is true to the very letter, that the creature, as creature, hath no worthiness in itself, and no right to anything, and no claim over any one, either over God or over the creature, and that it ought to give itself up to God and submit to him because this is just.”

From this union comes a life of obedience and imitation of Christ. “In brief: whether a man be good, better, or best of all; bad, worse, or worst of all; sinful or saved before God; it all lieth in this matter of obedience.”

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