""These theological paradoxes ... have been deduced well or poorly from St. Paul, the especially chosen vessel and instrument of Christ, and also from St. Augustine, his most trustworthy interpreter."" These are some of Martin Luthers words that introduce his Heidelberg Disputation (1518), a collection of doctrinal theses that serves as a manifesto of Luthers theology. The German Reformer claimed that his theses were a faithful exposition not only of Pauline theology, but also of Augustines doctrine of salvation.

Luthers Augustinian Theology of the Cross is an unprecedented commentary of...