right|thumb|300px|Anonymous woodcut, 1557

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.

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 the meeting.

Both Luther and Zwingli renounced transubstantiation as well as the belief that the eucharist was a sacrifice for the living and the dead, and they insisted on communion in both kinds of Christ. The meeting ultimately failed to unify the Protestant movement, with both sides being unable to come to an agreement as to whether or not Christ's body and blood are present in the Eucharist.

Background

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 was vital amongst the Protestants for there to be a unification.

Participants

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<gallery caption="Main participants">

File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. (Werkst.) - Porträt des Martin Luther (Lutherhaus Wittenberg).jpg|Martin Luther

File:Ulrich-Zwingli-1.jpg|Huldrych Zwingli

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<gallery caption="Other participants (not all)">

File:PhilippMelanchthon.jpg|Philipp Melanchthon, born as Philipp Schwartzerdt

File:MartinusBucer.jpg|Martin Bucer

File:Casper-Hedio.jpg|Caspar Hedio

File:Justus-Jonas-6.jpg|Justus Jonas

File:Andreas-Osiander.jpg|Andreas Osiander

File:Brenz Portrait Epitaph Detail.jpg|Johannes Brenz

File:Stephan Agricola.jpg|Stephan Agricola

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The colloquy

thumb|300px|The Marburg Colloquy

Although the two prominent reformers, Luther and Zwingli, found a consensus on fourteen theological points,

Underlying this disagreement was their theology of Christ. Luther began by arguing that the phrase “this is my body” cannot be understood in any other way than as written in the Bible. He believed that the human body of Christ was ubiquitous (present in all places) and so present in 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. While Luther stated that Christ is present in the Eucharist for all recipients, Zwingli maintained Christ’s presence is only in the hearts of believers. 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 the two views that would forever divide the Lutheran and Reformed view of the Supper:

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 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 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.

Aftermath

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 the differences in opinion.

See also

  • First War of Kappel (1529)

References

  • The Marburg Articles (1529) (Text of the 15 Marburg Articles), German History in Documents and Images, Translated by Ellen Yutzy Glebe, from the German source: D. Martin Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Band 30, Teil 3. Weimar, 1910, pp.&nbsp;160–71.
  • Huldreich Zwingli, the Reformer of German Switzerland edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson et al., 1903. Online from Google Books
  • Phillip Cary. Luther: Gospel, Law and Reformation, [sound recording], Lecture 14. 2004, The Teaching Company Limited Partnership