Martin Luther (1483, 1546) was a German monk, a theologian and church reformer, he is considered to be the founder of Protestantism. Luther was a professor of Bible at the University of Wittenberg when he posted his famous 95 Theses (1517). In addition to writing many books, Luther translated the Bible into German. Luther believed that salvation was only by faith in Jesus, unmediated by the church. He challenged papal authority by emphasing the Bible as the only source of religious authority and believed the church to be a priesthood of all believers.These ideas helped to inspire the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. He married Katharina von Bora thus initiating the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.- Publisher.

Kurt Aland (1915-1994) was professor of Church History and New Testament Textual Criticism at Muenster (Germany), where he founded the Institute for New Testament Textual Research. He served as co-editor of Eberhard and Erwin Nestle's Novum Testamentum graece and was a member of the editorial committee of the Greek New Testament. Aland and his wife coauthored one of the standard introductions to New Testament textual criticism, and he edited the most widely used New Testament text of the present period.