As the 11th part of the edition of Luther's works, containing the first volume of the Church Postil, which was edited by Dr. J. G. Walch, is herewith handed over to the public in a revised form, the undersigned editorial staff deems it appropriate to send a special, more detailed preface instead of a short preface. For the following reasons, it was decided to replace Dr. Walch's preface with a new one. Walch, in his presentation of the history of the origins of Luther's church postil, has not always arranged the material clearly and concisely, nor does he give us completely accurate information about the procedure he followed in his redaction of this postil. In addition, we could not always approve and adopt the principles of editing that he followed and that are briefly indicated in his preface.
We also believed that we should include some noteworthy historical notes from the prefaces of later editions of the church postils, which are missing in Walch. The Erlangen edition gives in the preface to the second edition of the 7th volume of Luther's works, with which it begins the printing of the church postils, especially from the booklet "Historia von den Postillen Doct. Martini Lutheri, as there are the church postils, house postils, and a strange unknown postilla. Neatly described by Johann Gottfried Zeidlern, imperial crowned poet. Eisleben, druckt's Andreas Koch, 1679" and from the edition of Luther's letters, which de Wette had arranged, new contributions worthy of appreciation. The preface of Dr. Friedrich Francke to his newly revised edition of Luther's church postils also deserves consideration.
The above-mentioned material has been processed into a whole in the following. The presentation and justification of the editorial principles followed in the present edition is based on the observations made during the editing of the postilla.