Monday, November 19, 2012

The Revolutionary Reformers?

Have you ever read the Roman mantra that Luther and his colleagues were radicals that split the church? You know... that they were hard-headed radicals that wouldn't play nice with Roman authority? Well, here's a different spin on things compliments of a footnote in the recent edition of Luther's Works-
"In the interest of peace in the empire, moreover, Luther and his Wittenberg colleagues were prepared to make major concessions to the jurisdictional authority of the Catholic bishops. Accordingly, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, Melanchthon, acting with the full knowledge and support of Luther and the Saxon government, offered restitution of the jurisdiction of the Catholic bishops over the Evangelical congregations on the condition that the bishops ordain Evangelical priests and recognize the legitimacy of Communion in both kinds, clerical marriage, and the Mass in German. This offer remained on the table through all the failed attempts of the 1530's and 1540's to find a peaceful solution to the religious divisions in the empire" (LW 59:276).


2 comments:

Martin Yee said...

Hi James,

Very interesting find indeed. Another myth busted.

Thanks.

Martin

Unknown said...

I'm amazed about how catholics try to make Luther look like a revolutionary. I saw a conservative catholic website trying to compare him with karl marx, but of course, they were relying on lies to do so. Funny.