Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MARBURG, COLLOQUY OF (Marburger Relig...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 681 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

MARBURG, COLLOQUY OF (Marburger Religionsgesprach) , the name given to a See also:conference of divines held in 1529 in the interests of the unity of See also:Protestant See also:Germany. The circumstances in which it was held, the See also:influence of the men who conducted its deliberations, and the result of its proceedings, combine to render it of no small importance for the See also:history of the See also:Reformation in Germany. After the Imperial See also:Diet of See also:Spires in 1526 had decreed that all states of the See also:empire should observe the See also:Edict of See also:Worms (1521), banning See also:Luther and his adherents, in such a manner that they should not be afraid to See also:answer it before See also:God and the See also:emperor, the reform See also:movement had received such an See also:access of strength 'that the See also:Catholic party See also:felt itself menaced in See also:earnest, and in 1529 again passed a See also:resolution at Spires, deigned not merely to preclude any further expansion of the Reformation, but even to prevent it from maintaining the ground already won. This decision was at once challenged, on the 19th of See also:April, by the protest of the Evangelical states (whence the name Protestants); and the effect of this See also:disclaimer was not small. Still, it was devoid of See also:political significance, unless backed by the See also:united force of all the princes and states subscribing to the Evangelical teaching; and this unity was wanting. The See also:feud which xaged See also:round the See also:doctrine of the See also:Lord's Supper had already broken out before the first diet of Spires, and had aroused See also:great and immediate excitement. At a very See also:early See also:period, however, efforts were made to allay the dissension. See also:Strassburg pronounced for conciliation: but the most powerful and zealous See also:champion of See also:peace was to be found in the See also:landgrave See also:Philip of See also:Hesse, who recognized the See also:absolute See also:necessity—from a political standpoint—of the See also:union of all See also:German Protestants. It is probable that he had invited Luther to a religious conference as early as the See also:year 1527; but on that occasion he met with a refusal. True, the impression conveyed by the attitude of the Catholic party at the second Diet of Spires had served to awaken the feeling for solidarity among the Evangelicals there assembled; and on the 22nd of April they had even secured the basis for a provisional See also:alliance in the shape of a See also:formula See also:drawn up by See also:Bucer and dealing with the Lord's Supper. But it was obvious that a permanent See also:coalition could not be expected unless some definite understanding on the debated point could be attained; and on the very same See also:day the landgrave despatched to See also:Zwingli an invitation to a colloquy, and received his prompt acquiescence. See also:Melanchthon, who in the tension which prevailed at the See also:synod had shown himself inclined to negotiation, became suspicious on his return, and endeavoured to influence the elector of See also:Saxony and Luther in accordance with his views.

The landgrave, however, was so far successful that the beginning of See also:

October (1529) saw the colloquy opened in the See also:castle at Marburg. With Zwingli, who had arrived on the 27th of See also:September, he had several interviews of considerable political importance before the See also:Wittenberg divines made their See also:appearance. These inter-views settled the preliminaries of an alliance; but they rested on the See also:assumption that the theological feud between Wittenberg and See also:Zurich could be removed, or its violence at least See also:abated. The proceedings opened on the 1st of October with conferences between Luther and See also:Oecolampadius, and Melanchthon and Zwingli: then on the two following days the discussion proper—confined almost entirely to Luther and Zwingli—was held before the landgrave and his See also:guest See also:Duke See also:Ulrich of See also:Wurttemberg, in the presence of more than fifty, persons. As regards the See also:main point of contention, i.e. the doctrine of the Lord's Supper,no agreement was found practicable; and the private conversations on the 4th of October, which formed the sequel of the debate, carried matters no farther. " You have another spirit," said Luther. Since the landgrave, however, was reluctant to see the colloquy brought to an absolutely fruitless See also:close, he requested Luther to draw up a See also:list of the most important points of doctrine on which it might yet be possible to arrive at some degree of unanimity. This was done on the 4th of October; and a few alterations were introduced to meet the wishes of the Swiss deputies. The Articles of Marburg, which thus came into being, contain the doctrine of the Trinity, of the See also:personality of See also:Christ, of faith and See also:justification, of the Scriptures, of See also:baptism, of See also:good See also:works, of See also:confession, of See also:government, of tradition, and of See also:infant baptism. The fifteenth See also:article, treating of the Lord's Supper, defines the ground See also:common to both parties even in this debateable region, recognizing the necessity of participation in both kinds, and rejecting the See also:sacrifice of the See also:Mass. It then proceeds to See also:fix the point of difference in the fact that no agreement had been reached on the question " whether the true See also:body and See also:blood of Christ are corporeally See also:present in the See also:bread and See also:wine " (" Nit vergleicht haben wir uns, ob der See also:war leib and plut Christi leiblich See also:im brot and wein sey "). Nevertheless, the adherents of each doctrine are recommended to display See also:Christian charity to those of the other.

These articles were signed by the ten See also:

official members of the colloquy: Luther, See also:Jonas, Melanchthon, See also:Osiander, See also:Agricola, See also:Brenz, Oecolampadius, Bucer, Hedio and Zwingli. The See also:personal contact between Luther and Zwingli led to no See also:mental rapprochement between the two; but in the following year the Articles of Marburg did good service as one of the preliminaries to the See also:Augsburg Confession, and remain a valuable document for the fundamental principles common to the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. See T. Kolde, s.v. " Marburger Religionsgesprach," in Realencyklopadie f. protestant. Theologie, 3rd ed. xii. 248 seq. (C.

End of Article: MARBURG, COLLOQUY OF (Marburger Religionsgesprach)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MARBURG 		[next]
MARC ANTOINE RENE DE VOYER

Site © 2006 - Net Industries