Likewise, Luther contended the biblical sacraments must be taught according to the Lord’s institution for the sake of the comfort of Christians. Luther’s position was that images, vestments, and the other trappings of the mass could be retained as long as they were helpful and consistent with the gospel. In early 1525, Luther published Against the Heavenly Prophets, a treatise in which he responded to some of the radical reformers’ spiritualizing views on the issue of Christian art and the sacraments. Karlstadt and Luther would soon part ways, but his impatience with Luther’s traditionalism marked the beginning of a rift within the Reformation between Luther and the radicals. Luther’s friend and colleague Andreas Karlstadt (1486–1541), for example, instituted radical, but short-lived, reforms of worship in Wittenberg in 1521–1522 while Luther was exiled at Wartburg Castle. But some thought Luther didn’t go far enough. Though he removed questionable elements of the mass that had accumulated over time – especially concerning the mass as a sacrifice – the structure of the liturgy remained largely the same. Even though Luther’s insight into the nature of justification by faith involved a radical break from the usual way of teaching reconciliation with God, Luther was hesitant to mandate worship reforms. ![]() The roots of the debate reach back to some of the more radical elements of the Reformation that believed Luther hadn’t gone far enough in trying to reform both the teaching and the practice of the church. ![]() But there remained a disagreement between them about the Lord’s Supper. Leading up to the debate, Luther and Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) had jointly opposed the church’s abuses and errors before the Reformation. In 1529, Martin Luther and some of the Swiss reformers gathered at Marburg to discuss some points of agreement and disagreement. One such moment in which disagreement was realized occurred before John Calvin emerged as a leader of the Swiss Reformation. It took several years for these groups to articulate how they disagreed with each other. Differences between Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and the Reformed took time to emerge, even though they all shared some common disputes with the medieval church. It hadn’t split yet into different “confessional” groups like the ones that survive today. ![]() An important thing to remember about the early years of the Reformation is that it wasn’t necessarily a unified movement.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |