BREAKS WITHIN THE REFORMED CAMP:  WITTENBERG & ZWINGLI

I.  Events 1521-22 Luther in Wartburg; Phillip Melanchthon in Wittenberg

 

Wittenberg Movement

  Issues:   Mass, form of communion, celibacy of clergy, images

  Leaders:  Gabriel Zwilling (ex-Augustinian monk)

                 Andreas von Karlstadt (university professor)

Zwickau Prophets

Leaders:  Thomas Müntzer (religious mystic & social radical)
          Nicholas von Storch (illiterate clothmaker)  Mark Stubner (student)

Beliefs: Charismatic spiritualists:  claim private revelations,
          authority of Holy Spirit (first voices of radical reformation)

Luther's Reaction

Dec. 1521  "Sincere Admonition to Guard Against Insurrection & Rebellion"

Mar. 1522  "Invocavit Sermons" (text in Hillerbrand): respect for “weaker consciences”

1522  Wittenberg Ordinance:  codifies Lutheran version of liturgical reform, reform of Mass,
        removal of images gradually, clerical marriage, abolition of confraternities & private masses;
        prohibition of begging; establishment of "community chest" for poor relief

II. Ulrich Zwingli

Reformation in Zurich, 1520-25   first "mainstream non-Lutheran" reform

Zwingli's career: Catholic priest, humanist student of Greek N.T.
            central approach: humanist exegesis (interpretation of Scripture)
                                                focusing on original meaning of Greek texts
            "negative Scriptural principle": reject all non-Scriptural practices

1522, break with Catholicism over issue of fasting during Lent

1523  67 Articles:  rejection of papal authority
                    mass as remembrance not sacrifice
                    no saints or images (ICONOCLASM: breaking of images)
                    celibacy (Zwingli marries 1522 secretly; 1524 publicly)

Sacramentarian Controversy:  Luther versus Zwingli

Z:  1525  On True & False Religion: linguistic argument against Luther over meaning of "Hoc Est Enim Corpus Meum"
L:  1526  Sermon on the Sacrament of the Body & Blood of Christ Against the Fanatics
Z:  1527  Friendly Exegesis
L:  1527  That These Words "This is my Body" Still Stand, Agst the Fanatics
Z:  1527  That the Words "This is my Body" Still Have Their Original Meaning
L:  1528  Great Confession Concerning the Lord's Supper

1529  MARBURG COLLOQUY:  meeting & break between Luther & Zwingli  (see handout)

Civil War in Switzerland 1529-31:  Turning Swiss, revolt against the Empire
                                                  Zwingli dies in battle, 1531

Church-State Relations:  Zwingli's "theocracy" and the city-state