Philip Melanchthon's early foundational works on Pauline theology-long available only in Latin-now appear in English for the first time in this volume edited by Seth Kasten. Drawing on Corpus Reformatorum XXI (cols. 1-59), it brings together:
1) Lucubratiuncula ("Sketch of Theology"), Melanchthon's earliest outline of his loci communes, here revealed as a working draft rediscovered in a Gotha manuscript
2) Argumentum Epistolae ad Romanos, the concise topical guide affixed to his 1519 Introduction to Romans
3) Theologica Institutio in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos, Melanchthon's first systematic introduction to Paul's Epistle, also unpublished in English until now
Alongside these texts, Kasten's preface and Bindseil's original introduction and annotations reconstruct the remarkable trajectory of Melanchthon's Romans lectures (1519-1522) and the subsequent evolution of his Loci Communes (1521, 1535, 1543, 1555). Machine-assisted translation by ChatGPT 4o, with manual review, retains fidelity to the Latin original. Scholars and students alike will welcome this volume's primary sources and historical context, tracing the development of the early sketch to the 1521 Commonplaces that Luther hailed as "invincible" and "canonical."
