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Durham E-Theses Luther's Eucharistic writings of 1523 to 1528 Stephenson, J. R. How to cite: Stephenson, J. R. (1982) Luther's Eucharistic writings of 1523 to 1528, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7695/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk ABSTRACT LUTHER'S EUCHARISTIC WRITINGS OF 1523 TO 1528 by JOHN RAYMOND STEPHENSON Chapter One expounds the formal and material prin• ciples of Luther's Reformation in their mediaeval context, arguing that both were conceived as a return to the dogma and tradition of the ancient Church. Chapter Two exa• mines Luther's approach to exegetical method, calling in question the view that he decisively broke with his mediae• val antecedents. Chapter Three recalls the outbreak of the eucharistic controversy of the 1520s, specifying the precise nature of real presence doctrine which Luther early embraced and, later, tenaciously defended, and outlining the liturgical practices which gave expression to the Re• former's belief. Chapter Four examines. Luther's pain• staking exegetical defence of the controverted doctrine of the Church, urging the consistency of his position with the application of the exegetical method outlined in Chap• ter Two. Chapter Five describes Luther's distinctive re• cension of traditional Christology, pointing up the con- gruity of the real presence doctrine with the Reformer's understanding of the mystery of the person of Christ. Chapter Six examines the connection between thevimparting of the sacred body and blood under the elements and the epistemology of the 'theologia crucis', closing with an account of Luther's understanding of the benefits of the presence in connection with his overall conception of the Incarnation. MARTIN LUTHER'S EUCHARISTIC WRITINGS OF 1523-1528 A study on the extent to which, in his defence of the doctrine of the corporeal presence of Christ in the elements, Luther remained true to his exe- getical principles, to his notion of the modality of divine operation, and to his conception of the work of the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament. by JOHN RAYMOND STEPHENSON The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Ph. D. University of Durham Department of Theology 1982. 16. .!.'•?' iSB j TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION & STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT PREFACE CHAPTER ONE: Sola Scriptura 1 1. The unity of the fivefold 'solus' 1 2. Sola Scriptura in the Middle Ages 14 3. Martin Luther - Doctor of Holy Scripture? 24 4. The Authority of Scripture 34 5. Sola Scriptura and Tradition 41 a. Luther and Scholasticism 41 b. Luther and the Dogma of the Ancient Church 59 c. Luther and the 'End of Dogma' 63 CHAPTER TWO: Luther's Use of the Bible 66 1. The Bible and the Word of God 66 2. The Clarity of Scripture 77 a. Jesus Christ as the content of and the key to the claritas externa Scripturae 80 b. The proclamation of the Word as the ele• ment in which the claritas externa Scripturae is revealed 82 c. The claritas interna Scripturae and the man in the pew 85 d. Church history as the battleground of the claritas Scripturae 87 3. 'one simple constant sense9 95 4. secundum regulam fidei 107 CHAPTER THREE: Martin Luther in the Eucharistic De• bate of the 1520s 114 1. The real presence in the history of doctrine 114 2. The real presence in the young Luther 128 a. Ein Sermon vom Sakrament des Leichnams Christi und von den BrUderschaften (1519) 129 b. Ein Sermon von dem newen Testament, das ist von der heiligen Messe (1520) 132 11 c. de captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium (1520) 143 d. Luther's rejection of the Sacrifice of the Mass: a reappraisal 150 3. The outbreak of the 'Supper-strife' 160 4. The issue at stake 179 a. The 'real' presence 187 b. 'Consubstantiation'? 195 c. Adoration 208 CHAPTER FOUR: 'Durch die schrifft und widder herdurch offtmals gezogen'. Martin Luther's Appeal to Holy- Scripture in his Debate with Karlstadt and the Swiss 215 1. Unity and diversity in the four NT reports of the institution of the Eucharist; old Passover meal and new Lord's Supper 215 2. Hoc 229 a. de captivitate babylonica Ecclesiae (1520) 237 b. Widder die himtnlischen Propheten (1525) 246 c. Vom Abendinahl Christi. Bekenntnis (1528) 256 3. Est 271 a. figura 273 i. figura in the salvation-historical setting of type and antitype 274 ii. figura against the background of classical Latin usage 281 iii. figura as a technical grammatical term 283 b. tropus 286 c. Vom Anbeten (1523) 292 d. Dass diese Worte Christi ... noch feste stehen (1527) 295 e. Vom Abendmahl Christi. Bekenntnis (1528) 296 4. corpus (et sanguis) 304 i. corpus in the context of Old Testament type and New Testament antitype 309 ii. The tropical understanding of corpus et sanguis in the light of the Lucan and Pauline versions of the cup-saying 316 Ill iii. The tropical understanding of corpus in the light of I Cor. 11:27 318 iv. The tropical understanding of corpus in the light of I Cor. 11:28-29 323 v. corpus et sanguis in I Cor. 10:16 325 5. The bearing of the relative clauses of the verba testamenti on the real presence 331 6. Conclusion 339 CHAPTER FIVE: The Hypostatic Union as the Matrix of the Real Presence 348 Introduction 348 A. Luther and the Christological Dogma of the Church 353 1. Was Luther a Chalcedonian? 353 2. The role of the ancient dogma in Luther's proclamation of Christ 355 3. vere deus? 365 4. vere homo? 367 5. in una persona? 372 6. duae naturae? 376 7. no dogma, no gospel 389 B. The Development and Application of Luther's Doctrine of the Omnipresence of Christ's Human Na• ture in the context of the Eucharistic Dispute 392 1. Widder die himmlischen Propheten (1525) 395 2. Sermon von dem Sacrament des leibs und bluts Christi, widder die Schwarmgeister (1526) 399 3. Dass diese Worte Christi 'Das ist mein Leib etc.' noch feste stehen, wider die Schwarmgeister (1527) 409 4. Vom Abendmahl Christi. Bekenntnis (1528) 424 CHAPTER SIX: The Real Presence in the setting of the indirect mode of the Divine Self-Impartation in Christ and of the Church's Appropriation of Christ in>Word and Sacrament 446 Introduction 446 A. The Hidden Presence of the Sacred Body and Blood in the Dimension of the 'Theologia Crucis' 451 iv 1. The 'theologia crucis' as the centre of Luther's episternology 451 2. Theologia crucis and real presence 462 B. The Fruits of the Reception of Christ's Body and Blood by Believing Communicants in the Mass 468 1. Luther's understanding of the biblical antithesis of 'flesh' and 'spirit' 471 2. The real presence and believing appropria• tion of the righteousness of Christ 483 3. The body and blood of Christ as the 'me- decine of immortality' 495 CONCLUSION 504 BIBLIOGRAPHY 510 V DECLARATION AND STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT I certify that the material of this thesis is the product of my own research and that no part of it has been submitted for a degree to this or any other Univer• sity. nV S I; The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior consent, and information derived from it should be acknowledged. vi PREFACE In this thesis I seek to establish the inter-con• nectedness between Martin Luther's adherence to and development of the doctrine of the corporeal presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar and his theo• logy as a whole. Luther's penchant for coining para• doxical formulations (a state of mind which at times seems reducible to an irrepressible impish delight in hyperbole) combines with his continuing status as a con• troversial figure (for both Roman Catholics and Protes• tants) to make him perhaps the easiest target for carica• ture in the history of the Western Church. The long dead Reformer needs not only to be defended from unsympa• thetic misrepresentations which flow from the pens of scholars who approach him from other vantage-points in the Christian tradition, however, but also - perhaps su• premely - to be rescued from ossification in the 'Luther images' entertained by his spiritual offspring. All Lutheran students of the Reformer's thought (myself in• cluded) approach the Weimar Edition in search of guidance on those issues which form the agenda for today's inter- Lutheran and wider ecumenical concerns and debates. No• toriously, though, we not only listen to Luther's distinc• tive contribution to the discussions and controversies of his own day, but also - whether consciously or uncon• sciously - edit the seemingly infinite volume of Luther footage from the Weimar Edition in order to produce a Luther who turns out to be miraculously fashioned in our image and after our likeness.