DOCSLIB.ORG

Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century Beth Kreitzer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century Beth Kreitzer Reforming Mary OXFORD STUDIES IN HISTORICAL THEOLOGY Series Editor David C. Steinmetz, Duke University Editorial Board Gerhard Sauter, Rheinische Friedrich- Irena Backus, Universite´ de Gene`ve Wilhelms-Universita¨t Bonn Robert C. Gregg, Stanford Susan E. Schreiner, University of University Chicago George M. Marsden, University of John Van Engen, University of Notre Notre Dame Dame Wayne A. Meeks, Yale University Geoffrey Wainwright, Duke University Robert L. Wilken, University of Virginia THE GOSPEL OF JOHN IN THE THE CONFESSIONALIZATION OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY HUMANISM IN REFORMATION The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus GERMANY Craig S. Farmer Erika Rummell PRIMITIVISM, RADICALISM, AND THE THE PLEASURE OF DISCERNMENT LAMB’S WAR Marguerite de Navarre as Theologian The Baptist-Quaker Conflict in Seventeenth- Carol Thysell Century England REFORMATION READINGS OF THE T. L. Underwood APOCALYPSE HUMAN FREEDOM, CHRISTIAN Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenberg RIGHTEOUSNESS Irena Backus Philip Melanchthon’s Exegetical Dispute with WRITING THE WRONGS Erasmus of Rotterdam Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Timothy J. Wengert Commentators from Philo through the Reformation CASSIAN THE MONK John L. Thomspon Columba Stewart THE HUNGRY ARE DYING IMAGES AND RELICS Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia Theological Perceptions and Visual Images in Susan R. Holman Sixteenth-Century Europe John Dillenberger RESCUE FOR THE DEAD The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in THE BODY BROKEN Early Christianity The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Jeffrey A. Trumbower Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-Century AFTER CALVIN France Studies in the Development of a Theological Christopher Elwood Tradition WHAT PURE EYES COULD SEE Richard A. Muller Calvin’s Doctrine of Faith in Its Exegetical THE POVERTY OF RICHES Context St. Francis of Assisi Reconsidered Barbara Pitkin Kenneth Baxter Wolf THE UNACCOMMODATED CALVIN REFORMING MARY Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Tradition Sermons of the Sixteenth Century Richard A. Muller Beth Kreitzer Reforming Mary Changing Images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran Sermons of the Sixteenth Century beth kreitzer 1 2004 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright ᭧ 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kreitzer, Beth. Reforming Mary : changing images of the Virgin Mary in Lutheran sermons of the sixteenth century / Beth Kreitzer. p. cm.—(Oxford studies in historical theology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-516654-X 1. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—Sermons—History and criticism. 2. Lutheran Church—Sermons—History and criticism. 3. Sermons, German—History and criticism. 4. Sermons, Latin—History and criticism. 5. Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint—History of doctrines—16th century. 6. Lutheran Church—Doctrines—History—16th century. 7. Reformation. I. Title. II. Series BT610.K74 2003 232.91'088'241—dc21 2003051789 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To my parents This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I have many people I wish to thank and to whom I must express a debt of gratitude. Many thanks to the members of my dissertation committee at Duke: Elizabeth Clark, Susan Keefe, Kalman Bland, and Thomas Robisheaux. I would especially like to thank David C. Steinmetz for his guidance and his example, as well as for his work on my behalf. This study could not have been completed without the help and support of numerous people and organizations. I have used the col- lections of various libraries and received vital help from their staffs: Roger Loyd and the staff of the Duke Divinity School Library; the Rev. Terrance Dinovo at the Luther Seminary Library, who helped with the Lutheran Brotherhood microfiche collection; Dustin Strong and Ros Parnes, the intrepid interlibrary loan staff at the Bellarmine College Library, Louisville, Kentucky; and the library staff at the Southern Baptist Seminary library in Louisville. A special note of thanks goes to Gillian Bepler and the staff at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbu¨ttel: their help and access to their collections was a necessity for my research. Funding for this research and writing was given to me by the following: the Duke University Graduate School; the Graduate Pro- gram in Religion; the Center for International Studies at Duke; the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Duke; and the Insti- tut fu¨r Europa¨ische Geschichte in Mainz. Funding along with emo- tional and mental support were also provided by my husband, Lucas Lamadrid, who read and commented on the majority of this study. He has helped me in numerous ways, even with occasional babysit- ting. This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Abbreviations, xi Introduction, 3 1. The Annunciation, 27 2. The Visitation, 47 3. The Purification of Mary, or Candlemas, 65 4. Mary in Luke 2:41–52: A Family Visit to Jerusalem, 79 5. The Wedding at Cana, 93 6. Other Marian Holidays and Herrenfesten, 109 Conclusion, 133 Appendix: Biographies of Lutheran Preachers, 143 Notes, 153 Bibliography, 209 Index, 225 This page intentionally left blank List of Abbreviations ADB Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. 56 vols. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1875–1912. Jo¨cher Allgemeines GelehretenϭLexicon . Hrsg. Christian Gottlieb Jo¨cher. 11 vols. [Leipzig, 1750–1897] Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1960–61. LW Luther’s Works. Vols. 1–30, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan. St. Louis: Concordia, 1955–86; vols. 31–55, ed. Helmut Lehmann. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1955–86. NDB Neue Deutsche Biographie. Hrsg. von der Historischen Kom- mission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaf- ten. 17 vols. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1953–. RTK Realencyklopa¨die fu¨r protestantische Theologie und Kirche. 3rd ed., ed. Albert Hauck. 24 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1896–1913. WA D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 62 vols. Weimar: Bo¨hlaus, 1883– . Note: In the German and Latin texts provided in the notes no attempt has been made to standardize spelling, but the spelling, cap- italization, and punctuation of the originals have been preserved to the extent possible. For ease of reading, many of the abbreviations have been spelled out, with the added text placed in brackets. The superscript letters, for example, “o” or “e” placed above other letters, have been standardized as umlauts. Reforming Mary This page intentionally left blank Introduction Few contemporary historians of the modern era seem to have no- ticed Henry Adams’s fin-de-sie`cle proposition that in the Middle Ages “the Virgin had acted as the greatest force the Western world ever felt, and had drawn man’s activities to herself more strongly than any other power, natural or supernatural, had ever done.”1 Me- dievalists may have always known it, and Catholic theologians may have believed it, whether they were embarrassed or empowered by it. But Adams himself, the author of Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (1904), was sure that the Virgin of the thirteenth century rivaled the “dynamo,” or steam engine, which powered the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, historians of the sixteenth century have tended in other directions in their research, addressing the changing relationship between Christian Europe and the Virgin only obliquely, in the context of other topics, or more generally in discus- sions of piety, liturgy, and the saints. There is one question that has not been satisfactorily answered by modern historical scholars: if, as Adams believes, “all the steam in the world could not, like the Vir- gin, build Chartres,” how is it that this most powerful force of the late medieval period should come to be so difficult to discover in the modern world?2 Even if one can sense the Virgin as a force in Lourdes or Medjugorje, or among the throngs that gather there, no scholar would suggest that she is a recognizable force behind mod- ern western culture. In the following pages, I hope to offer a small piece of the puzzle, through an investigation of the way Mary is pre- sented in the sermons of Lutheran pastors in the sixteenth century. The sixteenth century is a period uniquely poised for an investi- gation into the decline of Mary’s power, for in this time not only Protestants but also some Roman Catholics such as Erasmus were 4 introduction rejecting the abuses and excesses into which the Marian cult had fallen, and were calling for a renewal of morality and spirituality in religious and social life. While Erasmus rejected what he saw as popular abuses but maintained Marian devotion, even pilgrimaging to Walsingham, Protestants criticized more than pious excess or popular misunderstanding, striking at the heart of many dearly held notions of Marian theology. Their rejection of any role for merit in human salvation in particular undermined Mary’s cult. In this study, I will focus on the treatment of Mary and the continuities and changes in theological ideas concerning Mary and her presentation beginning with Martin Luther, and continuing with clergy in the Lutheran tradition. Luther, the ear- liest of the Protestant reformers and the most important reformer in the early years, is usually considered independently of the tradition he helped to found, but we will begin to understand the trajectory of Mary’s image and her role in early modern life only if we investigate other members of the tradition through- out this period.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018
    Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 Conforming to General Convention 2018 1 Preface Christians have since ancient times honored men and women whose lives represent heroic commitment to Christ and who have borne witness to their faith even at the cost of their lives. Such witnesses, by the grace of God, live in every age. The criteria used in the selection of those to be commemorated in the Episcopal Church are set out below and represent a growing consensus among provinces of the Anglican Communion also engaged in enriching their calendars. What we celebrate in the lives of the saints is the presence of Christ expressing itself in and through particular lives lived in the midst of specific historical circumstances. In the saints we are not dealing primarily with absolutes of perfection but human lives, in all their diversity, open to the motions of the Holy Spirit. Many a holy life, when carefully examined, will reveal flaws or the bias of a particular moment in history or ecclesial perspective. It should encourage us to realize that the saints, like us, are first and foremost redeemed sinners in whom the risen Christ’s words to St. Paul come to fulfillment, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The “lesser feasts” provide opportunities for optional observance. They are not intended to replace the fundamental celebration of Sunday and major Holy Days. As the Standing Liturgical Commission and the General Convention add or delete names from the calendar, successive editions of this volume will be published, each edition bearing in the title the date of the General Convention to which it is a response.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Augustine and the Doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ Stanislaus J
    ST. AUGUSTINE AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST STANISLAUS J. GRABOWSKI, S.T.D., S.T.M. Catholic University of America N THE present article a study will be made of Saint Augustine's doc­ I trine of the Mystical Body of Christ. This subject is, as it will be later pointed out, timely and fruitful. It is of unutterable importance for the proper and full conception of the Church. This study may be conveniently divided into four parts: (I) A fuller consideration of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, as it is found in the works of the great Bishop of Hippo; (II) a brief study of that same doctrine, as it is found in the sources which the Saint utilized; (III) a scrutiny of the place that this doctrine holds in the whole system of his religious thought and of some of its peculiarities; (IV) some consideration of the influence that Saint Augustine exercised on the development of this particular doctrine in theologians and doctrinal systems. THE DOCTRINE St. Augustine gives utterance in many passages, as the occasion de­ mands, to words, expressions, and sentences from which we are able to infer that the Church of his time was a Church of sacramental rites and a hierarchical order. Further, writing especially against Donatism, he is led Xo portray the Church concretely in its historical, geographical, visible form, characterized by manifest traits through which she may be recognized and discerned from false chuiches. The aspect, however, of the concept of the Church which he cherished most fondly and which he never seems tired of teaching, repeating, emphasizing, and expound­ ing to his listeners is the Church considered as the Body of Christ.1 1 On St.
    [Show full text]
  • Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period
    Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period This volume is an investigation of how Augustine was received in the Carolingian period, and the elements of his thought which had an impact on Carolingian ideas of ‘state’, rulership and ethics. It focuses on Alcuin of York and Hincmar of Rheims, authors and political advisers to Charlemagne and to Charles the Bald, respectively. It examines how they used Augustinian political thought and ethics, as manifested in the De civitate Dei, to give more weight to their advice. A comparative approach sheds light on the differences between Charlemagne’s reign and that of his grandson. It scrutinizes Alcuin’s and Hincmar’s discussions of empire, rulership and the moral conduct of political agents during which both drew on the De civitate Dei, although each came away with a different understanding. By means of a philological–historical approach, the book offers a deeper reading and treats the Latin texts as political discourses defined by content and language. Sophia Moesch is currently an SNSF-funded postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford, working on a project entitled ‘Developing Principles of Good Govern- ance: Latin and Greek Political Advice during the Carolingian and Macedonian Reforms’. She completed her PhD in History at King’s College London. Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period Political Discourse in Alcuin of York and Hincmar of Rheims Sophia Moesch First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Praetorius's Theology of Music in Syntagma Musicum I (1615): a Politically and Confessionally Motivated Defense of Instruments in the Lutheran Liturgy
    MICHAEL PRAETORIUS'S THEOLOGY OF MUSIC IN SYNTAGMA MUSICUM I (1615): A POLITICALLY AND CONFESSIONALLY MOTIVATED DEFENSE OF INSTRUMENTS IN THE LUTHERAN LITURGY Zachary Alley A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC August 2014 Committee: Arne Spohr, Advisor Mary Natvig ii ABSTRACT Arne Spohr, Advisor The use of instruments in the liturgy was a controversial issue in the early church and remained at the center of debate during the Reformation. Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), a Lutheran composer under the employment of Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, made the most significant contribution to this perpetual debate in publishing Syntagma musicum I—more substantial than any Protestant theologian including Martin Luther. Praetorius's theological discussion is based on scripture, the discourse of early church fathers, and Lutheran theology in defending the liturgy, especially the use of instruments in Syntagma musicum I. In light of the political and religious instability throughout Europe it is clear that Syntagma musicum I was also a response—or even a potential solution—to political circumstances, both locally and in the Holy Roman Empire. In the context of the strengthening counter-reformed Catholic Church in the late sixteenth century, Lutheran territories sought support from Reformed church territories (i.e., Calvinists). This led some Lutheran princes to gradually grow more sympathetic to Calvinism or, in some cases, officially shift confessional systems. In Syntagma musicum I Praetorius called on Lutheran leaders—prince-bishops named in the dedication by territory— specifically several North German territories including Brandenburg and the home of his employer in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, to maintain Luther's reforms and defend the church they were entrusted to protect, reminding them that their salvation was at stake.
    [Show full text]
  • Sunday, July 18 9 A.M. – Baptism Class – Pope John
    ST. CASPAR CHURCH WAUSEON, OHIO July 18, 2021 Monday, July 19 Nothing scheduled Sunday, July 18 Tuesday, July 20 – St. Apollinaris, Bishop & Martyr 9 a.m. – Baptism Class – Pope John Room 8:30 a.m. for religious vocations 11:30 a.m. – New Parishioner Registration – NW Wednesday, July 21 – St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest & Doctor 5 p.m. – Spanish Rosary – South Wing of the Church 8:30 a.m. for all leaders Monday, July 19 Thursday, July 22 – St. Mary Magdalene 7 p.m. – Prayer Group – South Wing 8:30 a.m. for the homeless Friday, July 23 Friday, July 23 – St. Bridget, Religious 6:30 p.m. – Encuentro – North Wing 8:30 a.m. Adolfo Ferriera (1 year) Saturday, July 24 Saturday, July 24 5 p.m. for families 6 p.m. – Rosary – South Wing Chapel Sunday, July 25 – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8 a.m. Lynn Keil Sunday, July 25 10:30 a.m. for St. Caspar parishioners 1 p.m. – Baptism – Church 1 p.m. for an end of abortion 5 p.m. – Spanish Rosary – South Wing Notre Dame Academy Seeks Host Families for Saturday, July 24– 5 p.m. International Students Arriving in August! Musicians: Proclaimer: Sally Kovar Do you want to learn more about another Servers: Ann Spieles & Brady Morr culture? Learn a new language, traditions, and food? Comm. Ministers: Roger & Cathy Drummer Then hosting an international student might be right Ushers: Team #1 (Jean LaFountain, Don Davis, Paul for you! Notre Dame Academy is seeking host Murphy) families for the 2021-22 school year.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents
    THE VIRGIN MARY Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 3 THE LIFE OF MARY ..................................................................................................... 4 THE LEGEND OF JOACHIM AND ANNE ........................................................................ 4 THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ................................................................................. 5 THE EARLY LIFE OF MARY .............................................................................................. 5 THE ANNUNCIATION .......................................................................................................... 6 MARY’S VISIT TO ELIZABETH ........................................................................................ 6 THE BIRTH OF JESUS .......................................................................................................... 7 THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS ............................................................................................. 8 THE MINISTRY, DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS ....................................... 8 MARY’S ROLE IN SALVATION HISTORY .............................................................. 9 1 THE VIRGIN MARY I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel. Gen. 3:15 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Studies Mid-Year Issue (2018)
    Multilingual Open Access Journal Trier, Germany Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics | Christian Studies Mid-Year Issue (2018) Imprint Open access peer review journal Trier, Germany Chief Editor: Timo Schmitz February 2018 Co-editor: Iulian Mitran Reviewers: Timo Schmitz, Iulian Mitran, Nikolay Kuznetsov, Mariam Mangoshvili Contact: Timo Schmitz c/o Papyrus Autoren-Club, R.O.M. Logicware GmbH Pettenkoferstr. 16-18 10247 Berlin GERMANY E-Mail: [email protected] Publisher/ Issuer: Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics Timo Schmitz Trier, Germany Website: www.ethnophilosophical-journal.de ISSN: 2568-6828 This magazine is published under CC-BY-ND 3.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/de/deed.en 2 | P a g e Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics | Christian Studies Mid-Year Issue (2018) Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................................. 4 TIMO SCHMITZ:Was Jesus born to an unmarried couple?...................................................................... 7 NIKOLAY KUZNETSOV:Pre-Reformed Russian Orthography in Clerical and Secular Spheres as a Symbol of the Russian National Identity Outside Russia. Part 1: Theoretical Justification .................................... 11 IULIAN MITRAN:The «New Dacians» and Crypto-Orthodoxy at the Dawn of Rational Historicism (I) . 27 ALEXANDRU DRAGULIN:BOOK REVIEW: Darius Baronas, S.C. Rowell,
    [Show full text]
  • The Immaculate Conception in Ecumenical Perspective
    32 THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN ECUMENICAL PERSPECTIVE By DONALD G. DAWE HE POPULAR presupposition of ecumenical dialogue is that ~ we should start with the easy matters first and proceed ]1 slowly, if at all, to the more difficult questions. This IL approach has served the ecumenical dialogue on marian questions well up to this point. Common exploration of~scripture has swept away much misunderstanding. Historical studies of the protestant reformers, their piety and theology, have shown a deep and widespread concern for Mary that had been lost by their later followers. While rejoicing in these discoveries, one is always left with the stubborn realization that we do not live in the first century, or the sixteenth century, but the twentieth century. Our theological questions, our ecumenical concerns and our piety are shaped by the traditions of the Church as it exists today. Therefore we need to look at the traditions that have shaped the Churches of today as they search for the meaning of Mary. When we leave historical and biblical studies to look at contem- porary marian devotion and theology, we are painfully aware of the depth and seriousness of conflict. Nowhere is this more evident than in considering the two great marian definitions that have been crucial to modern Roman Catholicism -- the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1950. Suddenly we find ourselves transported from the realm of the familiar, where agree- ment lies close to the surface, into those most difficult and painful questions, where deep and threatening differences become evident.
    [Show full text]
  • Europa Reformata Will Serve As a Guide for GERMANY Copenhagen Johannes Visitors and Armchair Travelers Alike
    1517 — This beautifully illustrated, compact volume traces the profi le of 48 European cities in early Reformation times. It transports 2017 1517 readers across Europe from Spain to Estonia, from Scotland — to Romania, passing through many fascinating cities in the Europa 2017 Reformation heartland of this continent. FINLAND With fi nely drawn historical portraits and abundant pictorial Turku material, the articles by different scholars also feature the Mikael Agricola most prominent Reformers who lived and worked in each city reformata (including six dynamic women). Supplemented by an illustrated map of Europe, local websites Viborg Hans Tausen SWEDEN and reading lists, Europa Reformata will serve as a guide for GERMANY Copenhagen Johannes visitors and armchair travelers alike. By highlighting so many Bugenhagen Edinburgh George cities and pioneers of the Reformation, it makes a timely and Wishart, th John Knox LATVIA unique contribution to the 500 anniversary of this ground- Witmar sum Menno DENMARK SWITZER- GREAT Simons breaking movement. Hamburg Stephan LAND BRITAIN Emden Kempe, Cambridge Johannes Johannes Thomas a Lasco Bugenhagen, Cranmer Johannes Aepinus Leiden Petrus Bloccius, Jan van Hout NETHER- Wittenberg POLAND LANDS Martin Luther, Oxford Marburg Philipp Melanchthon William Philip of Breslau/ Tyndale, Hesse, Wrocław John Adam Krafft Johann Hess, Wycliffe Zacharias Ursinus Europa Europa reformata Münster Bernhard GERMANY Rothmann, Jan Matthys, Prague Jan van Leiden Jan Hus Antwerp Jacob Propst, William Orlamünde CZECH of Orange, Philip Andreas Karlstadt Marnix of St. Aldegonde REPUBLIC Herborn Zurich ISBN 978-3-374-04130-5 Caspar Olevian Huldrych Zwingli, Heinrich SWITZER- Bullinger LAND Vienna Paul Speratus AUSTRIA EUR 30,00 [D] HUNGARY SLOVENIA ROMANIA FRANCE Geneva John Calvin, Théodore de Béze SPAIN Europa_Reformata-Umschlag-engl_.indd 1 07.11.16 11:52 Seville ITALY Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Benefitting from Luther's Small Catechism
    MAJT 28 (2017): 67-76 BENEFITTING FROM LUTHER’S SMALL CATECHISM … AS A CALVINIST by Daniel R. Hyde1 MARTIN LUTHER (1483–1546) was a hero. His contemporaries depicted him as everything from the angel of Revelation 14, an apostle, Daniel redivivus, Ezekiel’s good shepherd, one of three Mary’s at the tomb of a resurrected Christendom, prophets like Elijah, Enoch, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and even Hercules Germanicus complete with lion pelt clothing and a club beating medieval theologians to death. 2 When Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) rejected the claim that Luther was an apostle, this led many of Luther’s followers to respond with lengthy refutations in sermons and writings that he in fact was an apostle.3 Perhaps this is to be expected of Luther’s fellow “Lutherans” (anachronistically speaking). What is not so expected is how Protestants of the “Reformed” or “Calvinist” kind (again, another anachronism) spoke of him in heroic terms. As early as 1520, Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) called Luther a contemporary Elijah.4 As well, after Luther died, the tendency for the Reformed was to focus their criticism on Luther’s so-called followers while leaving “the Big Man” alone. An example of this occurred one year after the Book of Concord was published (1580), when Christopher Grandmundt published a refutation of Lutheran “ubiquitist” theologians such as Jakob Andreae (1528–1590). Grandmundt said Andreae took extreme statements Luther uttered in the heat of controversy in order to buttress the Gnesio (“true”) Lutheran position. In contrast, Grandmundt said Luther merely exhibited his weakness in these utterances; it was his followers who were in serious error.
    [Show full text]
  • The Formula of Concord As a Model for Discourse in the Church
    21st Conference of the International Lutheran Council Berlin, Germany August 27 – September 2, 2005 The Formula of Concord as a Model for Discourse in the Church Robert Kolb The appellation „Formula of Concord“ has designated the last of the symbolic or confessional writings of the Lutheran church almost from the time of its composition. This document was indeed a formulation aimed at bringing harmony to strife-ridden churches in the search for a proper expression of the faith that Luther had proclaimed and his colleagues and followers had confessed as a liberating message for both church and society fifty years earlier. This document is a formula, a written document that gives not even the slightest hint that it should be conveyed to human ears instead of human eyes. The Augsburg Confession had been written to be read: to the emperor, to the estates of the German nation, to the waiting crowds outside the hall of the diet in Augsburg. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, it is quite clear from recent research,1 followed the oral form of judicial argument as Melanchthon presented his case for the Lutheran confession to a mythically yet neutral emperor; the Apology was created at the yet not carefully defined border between oral and written cultures. The Large Catechism reads like the sermons from which it was composed, and the Small Catechism reminds every reader that it was written to be recited and repeated aloud. The Formula of Concord as a „Binding Summary“ of Christian Teaching In contrast, the „Formula of Concord“ is written for readers, a carefully- crafted formulation for the theologians and educated lay people of German Lutheran churches to ponder and study.
    [Show full text]
  • The Birth of an Empire of Two Churches : Church Property
    The Birth of an Empire of Two Churches: Church Property, Theologians, and the League of Schmalkalden CHRISTOPHER OCKER ID THE CREATION OF PROTESTANT CHURCHES IN GERMANY during Luther’s generation follow someone’s intentions? Heiko Oberman, appealing to a medieval DLuther, portrays the reformer as herald of a dawning apocalypse, a monk at war with the devil, who expected God to judge the world and rescue Christians with no help from human institutions, abilities, and processes.1 This Luther could not have intended the creation of a new church. Dorothea Wendebourg and Hans-Jürgen Goertz stress the diversity of early evangelical movements. Goertz argues that anticlericalism helped the early Reformation’s gamut of spiritual, political, economic, and social trends to coalesce into moderate and radical groups, whereas Wendebourg suggests that the movements were only united in the judgment of the Counter Reformation.2 Many scholars concede this diversity. “There were very many different Reformations,” Diarmaid McCulloch has recently observed, aimed “at recreating authentic Catholic Christianity.”3 But some intention to form a new church existed, even if the intention was indirect. Scholars have identified the princely reaction to the revolting peasants of 1524–1525 as the first impetus toward political and institutional Protestantism.4 There was a 1Heiko A. Oberman, Die Wirkung der Reformation: Probleme und Perspektiven, Institut für Europäische Geschichte Mainz Vorträge 80 (Wiesbaden, 1987), 46; idem, Luther: Man between God and the Devil (New York, 1992), passim; idem, “Martin Luther zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit,” in Die Reformation: Von Wittenberg nach Genf (Göttingen, 1987), 189–207; Scott Hendrix, “‘More Than a Prophet’: Martin Luther in the Work of Heiko Oberman,” in The Work of Heiko A.
    [Show full text]