The Marburg Colloquy was a meeting at Marburg Castle , Marburg , Hesse , Germany , which attempted to solve a disputation between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli over the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist . It took place between 1 October and 4 October 1529. The leading Protestant reformers of the time attended at the behest of Philip I of Hessen . Philip's primary motivation for this conference was political; he wished to unite the Protestant states in political alliance, and to this end, religious harmony was an important consideration.
22-600: After the Diet of Speyer had confirmed the edict of Worms , Philip I felt the need to reconcile the diverging views of Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli in order to develop a unified Protestant theology. Besides Luther and Zwingli, the reformers Stephan Agricola , Johannes Brenz , Martin Bucer , Caspar Hedio , Justus Jonas , Philip Melanchthon , Johannes Oecolampadius , Andreas Osiander , and Bernhard Rothmann participated in
44-587: Is proper and necessary for every Christian. Furthermore, that the practice of the sacrament is given and ordered by God the Almighty like the Word, so that our weak conscience might be moved to faith through the Holy Spirit. And although we have not been able to agree at this time, whether the true body and blood of Christ are corporally present in the bread and wine [of communion], each party should display towards
66-470: Is that body of mine which is given for you. It was given for us in grossly material form, subject to wounds, blows and death. As such, therefore, it must be the material of the supper." Indeed, to press the literal meaning of the text even farther, it follows that Christ would have again to suffer pain, as his body was broken again—this time by the teeth of communicants. Even more absurdly, Christ’s body would have to be swallowed, digested, even eliminated through
88-529: The recess issued at Speyer in 1526 . He specifically denied them the right to choose which religious reforms would take effect in their states, and ordered that Catholicism be followed in all states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Protestants felt that "Christ was again in the hands of Caiaphas and Pilate ." The resultant recess of the Diet neutralized the recess of the preceding Diet of 1526 ; it virtually condemned (without, however, annulling)
110-485: The Diet, under the well-founded impression that the prohibition of any future reformation meant death to the whole movement, entered, in the legal form of an appeal on behalf of themselves, their subjects and all Christians, a protest on 25 April 1529. They protested against all those measures of the Diet which they saw as contrary to the Word of God, to their conscience, and to the decision of the Diet of 1526, and appealed from
132-592: The French in Italy, aimed to reverse the policy of religious tolerance adopted in 1526. The meeting was not attended by Charles. He sent instructions to his regent, Ferdinand , to pursue a conciliatory line, but his advice did not reach his brother in time. Instead, Ferdinand read out his own far less conciliatory suggestions in Charles's name at the start of the Diet. Ferdinand condemned the way many princes had interpreted
154-556: The [Lutheran] Wittenbergers.'" Because of the differences, Luther initially refused to acknowledge Zwingli and his followers as Christians, though following the colloquy the two Reformers showed relatively more mutual respect in their writings. At the later Diet of Augsburg , the Zwinglians and Lutherans again explored the same territory as that covered in the Marburg Colloquy and presented separate statements which showed
176-519: The body and to drink the blood of Christ in the Supper, then, simply meant to have the body and blood of Christ present in the mind. Near the end of the colloquy when it was clear an agreement would not be reached, Philipp asked Luther to draft a list of doctrines that both sides agreed upon. The Marburg Articles , based on what would become the Articles of Schwabach , had 15 points, and every person at
198-475: The bowels! Such thoughts were repulsive to Zwingli. They smacked of cannibalism on the one hand and of the pagan mystery religions on the other. The main issue for Zwingli, however, was not the irrationality or exegetical fallacy of Luther’s views. It was rather that Luther put "the chief point of salvation in physically eating the body of Christ," for he connected it with the forgiveness of sins. The same motive that had moved Zwingli so strongly to oppose images,
220-484: The bread and wine. This was possible because the attributes of God infused Christ's human nature. Luther emphasized the oneness of Christ's person. Zwingli, who emphasized the distinction of the natures, believed that while Christ in his deity was omnipresent, Christ's human body could only be present in one place, that is, at the right hand of the Father. The executive editor for Christianity Today magazine carefully detailed
242-442: The bread in the Supper was a sign. For Luther, however, that which the bread signified, namely the body of Christ, was present "in, with, and under" the sign itself. For Zwingli, though, sign and thing signified were separated by a distance—the width between heaven and earth." Underlying this disagreement was their theology of Christ. Luther believed that the human body of Christ was ubiquitous (present in all places) and so present in
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#1732766177410264-530: The colloquy could agree on the first 14. The 15th article of the Marburg Articles reads: Fifteenth, regarding the Last Supper of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, we believe and hold that one should practice the use of both species as Christ himself did, and that the sacrament at the altar is a sacrament of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and the spiritual enjoyment of this very body and blood
286-532: The decision of the majority to the Emperor, to a general or German council, and impartial Christian judges. Their action created the term "Protestantism"—still used today as a name for this religious movement. The document was signed by the Elector John of Saxony , Margrave George of Brandenburg , Dukes Ernest and Francis of Braunschweig-Luneburg, Landgrave Philip of Hesse , Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt , and
308-627: The differences in opinion. Second Diet of Speyer The Diet of Speyer or the Diet of Spires (sometimes referred to as Speyer II) was a Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in 1529 in the Imperial City of Speyer (located in present-day Germany ). The Diet condemned the results of the Diet of Speyer of 1526 and prohibited future reformation . It resulted in the Protestation at Speyer . The Diet of Speyer
330-556: The innovations made; and it forbade, on pain of the imperial ban, any further reformation until the meeting of the council, which was now positively promised for the next year by the Emperor and the Pope . The Edict of Worms was therefore to be enforced after all, without waiting for a General Council . The Zwinglians and Anabaptists were excluded even from toleration. The latter were to be punished by death. The Lutheran members of
352-468: The invocation of saints, and baptismal regeneration was present also in the struggle over the Supper: the fear of idolatry. Salvation was by Christ alone, through faith alone, not through faith and bread. The object of faith was that which is not seen (Heb 11:1) and which therefore cannot be eaten except, again, in a nonliteral, figurative sense. "Credere est edere," said Zwingli: "To believe is to eat." To eat
374-461: The meeting. If Philip wanted the meeting to be a symbol of Protestant unity he was disappointed. Luther and Zwingli fell out over the sacrament of the Eucharist . Philip of Hesse had a political motivation to unify all the leading Protestants because he believed that as a divided entity they were vulnerable to Charles V. As a unified force, they would appear to be more powerful. Religious harmony
396-407: The other Christian love, as far as each respective conscience allows, and both should persistently ask God the Almighty for guidance so that through his Spirit he might bring us to a proper understanding. The failure to find agreement resulted in strong emotions on both sides. "When the two sides departed, Zwingli cried out in tears, 'There are no people on earth with whom I would rather be at one than
418-598: The representatives of fourteen imperial cities, including Strassburg and St. Gall of the Zwinglian persuasion. They were determined to defend themselves against every act of violence of the majority. Their motto was that of Elector John the Constant: "The Word of God abideth forever." Articles of Schwabach Beginning in July 1529, Philipp Melanchthon , along with Martin Luther and probably Justus Jonas , wrote
440-534: The two views that would forever divide the Lutheran and Reformed view of the Supper: Luther claimed that the body of Christ was not eaten in a gross, material way but rather in some mysterious way, which is beyond human understanding. Yet, Zwingli replied, if the words were taken in their literal sense, the body had to be eaten in the most grossly material way. "For this is the meaning they carry: this bread
462-656: Was convened in March 1529, for action against the Turks , whose armies were pressing forward in Hungary , and would besiege Vienna later in the year, and against the further progress of Protestantism . The Diet opened on 15 March. The Catholic dignitaries appeared in full force, as did various princes and representatives of imperial cities who were leaning towards Luther and Zwingli 's reforms. Ascendant Roman Catholic forces, particularly given Charles V 's recent successes against
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#1732766177410484-517: Was vital amongst the Protestants for there to be a unification. Although the two prominent reformers , Luther and Zwingli, found a consensus on fourteen theological points, they could not find agreement on the fifteenth point pertaining to the Eucharist . Timothy George , an author and professor of Church History, summarized the incompatible views, "On this issue, they parted without having reached an agreement. Both Luther and Zwingli agreed that
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