In his article ‘A Decade of Luther Study’ (Harvard Theological Review for April 1921, p. 111) , Preserved Smith says of A. V. Müller: “His own thesis, doubtless carried too far, is that everything in Luther can be found in his predecessors, and that there is practically nothing original at all in the Reformer's thought.”

In two articles, to which Preserved Smith does not refer, Müller has collected concrete evidence in support of his view. He there compares the theology of two members of Luther's order (the Augustinian) with that of Luther, showing that there is a perfect agreement on many important points between Agostino Favaroni and Jacobus Perez on the one hand, and Luther on the other.