DAY 37- 4/6/17- DAY 37 REFORMERS TO KNOW-
OECOLAMPADIUS, MELANCHTHON
Since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and run the race set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)
Oecolampadius (1482- 11/24/1531) original name was Hussgen- or House Lamp (thus Latin Oecolampadius) born in the Electorate of Palatinate (Uppper Region of the Rhine in Germany), but later spending most of his time in Basel. For three years 1519-22 he preached in Augsburg where he encountered and accepted Luther’s teachings. He briefly became a monk but upon quitting said, “I have lost the monk and found the Christian.” Oecolampadius had a deep respect for Mary and is quoted thus from both Catholics and Protestants. He once said, that Mary is the neck that mediated the graces of the head (Christ) to the mystical body of Christ- the church. However he criticized the practices of veneration like the rosary and the abstaining from drink and sexual relations on Saturday only to over-indulge on Sunday. He represented the Reformed thinking at the Marburg Colloquy coming into disagreement with Luther.
Melanchthon (2/16/1497- 4/19/1560) was Luther’s right hand man and successor in Wittenburg. He is criticized by Lutherans of conceding too much to the Reformed in an effort for unity among the Protestants.
Melanchthon was a deep thinker and theologian par excellence formulating fuller Luther’s ideas of Justification by Faith, the contrast between Law and Gospel in Lutheran thinking, and differences between his view and transubstantiation. He did not believe that the bread and wine were changed into the body and blood but were rather united with the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament. Melanchthon was the main author of the Augsburg Confession, one of the great documents of the Reformation. Melanchthon also worked with Bucer to try to unite the Lutheran and Reformed branches at Marburg and the Wittenburg Concord. At the end of his life, the Lutherans were defeated militarily. Melanchthon refused to sign the Augsburg Interim. But later he signed some documents called the Leipzig Interim that many felt gave too many concessions to the Roman Catholics (conceding the indifferent/adiophora items like candles, vestments, and holy days). Some Lutherans accused him of being a heretic but he bore this with grace and hope. The Formula of Concord in 1577 re-united the Lutheran churches.
Since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and run the race set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)
Oecolampadius (1482- 11/24/1531) original name was Hussgen- or House Lamp (thus Latin Oecolampadius) born in the Electorate of Palatinate (Uppper Region of the Rhine in Germany), but later spending most of his time in Basel. For three years 1519-22 he preached in Augsburg where he encountered and accepted Luther’s teachings. He briefly became a monk but upon quitting said, “I have lost the monk and found the Christian.” Oecolampadius had a deep respect for Mary and is quoted thus from both Catholics and Protestants. He once said, that Mary is the neck that mediated the graces of the head (Christ) to the mystical body of Christ- the church. However he criticized the practices of veneration like the rosary and the abstaining from drink and sexual relations on Saturday only to over-indulge on Sunday. He represented the Reformed thinking at the Marburg Colloquy coming into disagreement with Luther.
Melanchthon (2/16/1497- 4/19/1560) was Luther’s right hand man and successor in Wittenburg. He is criticized by Lutherans of conceding too much to the Reformed in an effort for unity among the Protestants.
Melanchthon was a deep thinker and theologian par excellence formulating fuller Luther’s ideas of Justification by Faith, the contrast between Law and Gospel in Lutheran thinking, and differences between his view and transubstantiation. He did not believe that the bread and wine were changed into the body and blood but were rather united with the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament. Melanchthon was the main author of the Augsburg Confession, one of the great documents of the Reformation. Melanchthon also worked with Bucer to try to unite the Lutheran and Reformed branches at Marburg and the Wittenburg Concord. At the end of his life, the Lutherans were defeated militarily. Melanchthon refused to sign the Augsburg Interim. But later he signed some documents called the Leipzig Interim that many felt gave too many concessions to the Roman Catholics (conceding the indifferent/adiophora items like candles, vestments, and holy days). Some Lutherans accused him of being a heretic but he bore this with grace and hope. The Formula of Concord in 1577 re-united the Lutheran churches.
Oecolampadius Melanchthon
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