Now translated into English, this work--"the most comprehensive account of Bucer's place within the context of the history of the Reformation" (The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation)--transcends normal biographies by providing … Fearing a Turkish invasion of central Europe, he wanted to restore unity between the princes of Germany. Back in Strasbourg, Bucer continued the work of reform as pastor of St. Thomas from 1531–40. Introduction One of the charges which Rome leveled against the Reformers was the serious accusation that the Reformation tore the fabric of the church and destroyed the unity of the body of Christ. Under his reign, the Reformation flourished. He wrote another catechism in 1534, then in 1539 reinstituted the practice of confirmation for the purpose of catechizing the youth of the city. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Bucer, The Catholic Encyclopedia - Biography of Martin Bucer, Martin Bucer - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Martin Bucer, Bucer also spelled Butzer, (born November 11, 1491, Schlettstadt (now Sélestat), Alsace—died February 28, 1551, England), Protestant reformer, mediator, and liturgical scholar best known for his ceaseless attempts to make peace between conflicting reform groups. He … Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). These representations have led to the view that Bucer was a theological light-weight, rightly placed in the shadow of Luther and Calvin. He had a direct hand in starting reform at Ulm, Frankfurt am Main, Augsburg, Hamburg, and Cologne, while also contributing to its adoption and progress in Hanau-Lichtenberg, Baden, Württemberg, and Hesse. Martin Bucer has usually been portrayed as a diplomat who attempted to reconcile divergent theological views, sometimes at any cost, or as a pragmatic pastor who was more concerned with ethics than theology. In 1521 Bucer withdrew from the Dominicans and entered the service of the count palatine of the Rhine, one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman emperor. The armies of Charles prevailed, however, and Strasbourg discharged Bucer and several other Protestant ministers, all of whom were invited to England by the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. The work was received with great acclaim by King Edward VI and led to a doctor of divinity awarded by Cambridge, but soon after its completion Bucer fell ill. This reform through conversion, piety, and discipline found its fullest expression in the massive program for the reformation of England that he presented to King Edward VI of England in 1551. His justification for the use of ambiguity was that he believed that the essential goal was the reform of the people and the doctrinal issues could be worked out later. Believing that the rift between the two strands of the reform movement could be bridged, Bucer participated in nearly every meeting on religious questions held in Germany and Switzerland between 1524 and 1548. In the same year, Bucer was conscripted into the Protestant controversy over the Eucharist. He was born at Schlettstadt in Alsace (today Sélestat, in France), in 1491. 1491–d. Shortly thereafter, he was forced to leave for Strasbourg, but along the way he was enlisted by Heinrich Motherer to help with the work of reform in Weissenburg. Martin Bucer and the English Reformation Constantin Hopf Limited preview - 2012. After Queen Mary rose to the throne, she exhumed his remains and had them burned in 1556. In 1543, Bucer was appointed preacher in Bonn by Hermann von Wied, archbishop of Cologne, to help reform the diocese. The following year he became pastor of Landstuhl, where he married a former nun. Since Bucer regarded these compromises as tailored to local circumstances, he soon was charged by all parties as having no conviction except that the end justifies the means. As Herman J. Selderhuis notes in the introduction to this volume, “research of the biography and theology of Martin Bucer … can still be called rather new” (p. 15). By 1529, he also persuaded the Strasbourg council to abolish the Roman Mass. Bucer, a master in Theological Studies and a Strasbourg Reformer, left behind no Bucerianism and no church or sect. During a short stay at Weissenburg, Bucer preached sermons on 1 Peter and Matthew and also drafted his first theological treatise. Bucer’s policy of agreement by compromise was seen in a better light when it was applied to the problem of religious toleration. Bucer led the charge in Strasbourg to resist the emperor, but Johannes Sturm—again, a former colleague—negotiated a settlement with Charles against Bucer’s wishes. Professor of Church History, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California. He would soon marry a former nun from Lobenfeld, Elizabeth Silbereisen. Scholars today trace Bucer's impact upon John Calvin, John Knox, and Thomas Cranmer as they shaped corporate worship traditions for much of the Reformation. My thoughts here are mostly dependent on the excellent study by Herman J. Selderhuis, Marriage and Divorce in the Thought of Martin Bucer, trans. But it was a paper by Professor Brian Cummings (University of York), on Parker, Bucer, and the Book of Common Prayer, which got me thinking about a set of books in the University Library with resonant connections to the English Reformation in Cambridge. He convinced Strasbourg theologians to subscribe to the Augsburg Confession in 1532, reached agreement with Melanchthon on the Eucharist at Kassel in 1534, and finally broke through to Luther in 1536 with the Wittenberg Concord. It appeared for a time as though Bucer and Melanchthon were about to achieve their goal of ending the dispute over the Lord’s Supper, a dispute that had split the Reformation on the Continent into two major groups. Martin Bucer Martin Bucer was one of the leading lights of the Reformation in Strasbourg. Despite such a meagre pedigree, he was trained at the renowned Latin school in his hometown run by the local Dominican cloister, where he would take vows in 1506 at the age of only fifteen. Omissions? Martin Bucer was the leading reformer in Strasburg. Luther, in satisfaction over the apparent agreement that Bucer and Melanchthon had helped to bring about, declared, “We are one, and we acknowledge and receive you as our dear brethren in the Lord.” Bucer is reported to have shed tears at Luther’s words. Elizabeth knew she was dying. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of one of the Reformation's greatest liturgists—Martin Bucer, a pioneer in the formation of Protestant worship patterns. First, in 1540 he joined the heated religious colloquies between Protestants and Catholics that were held at Worms, then the next year in Regensburg. 1551) is one of the most important, though neglected, Protestant reformers of the 16th century. item 6 Martin Bucer and the English Reformation, Hopf, Constantin 9781620326695 New,, 5 - Martin Bucer and the English Reformation, Hopf, Constantin 9781620326695 New,, … Most scholarship on Bucer has generally followed three main trajectories. He was again defeated, this time due to opposition from his former collaborator at Regensburg, Gropper, who refused to allow Cologne to go Protestant. Bucer’s later years, however, saw his influence wane as he suffered failure on numerous fronts. Editor of. If Martin Bucer (1477-1548) is not an unsung hero of the Reformation, he is certainly an undersung hero.This particularly is the case when it comes to public worship. Even though Bucer was criticized for his evasive approach and concealment of the issues in the controversies between the adherents of Zwingli and Luther, the civil authorities in many southern German areas sought his advice and guidance in arranging compromises based on edicts by local authorities. Bucer turned Strasbourg into a key Reformation hub and played a pivotal, though unsuccessful, role as mediator between Luther and the Swiss in their eucharistic disputes. And in so doing they worked to undue the ecclesial authority over marriage by seeking to make marriage a civil arrangement. There he would serve multiple parishes, draft liturgies, church orders, and catechisms, and work in tandem with some of the more prominent intellectuals of his day, including Calvin, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples, Wolfgang Capito, and Johannes Sturm. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. At Heidelberg, he studied Greek under the future reformer Johannes Brenz and also came under the spell of Erasmus of Rotterdam, the most famous humanist of the day. Though he had once held Luther’s views, he was influenced by Zwingli and Karlstadt to adopt a more symbolic view around 1525, only to finally gravitate toward a mediating position. Apart from promoting intra-Protestant union, Bucer had long dreamed of healing the Protestant-Catholic rift, and, in an effort to bridge these differences, he engaged in secret negotiations with certain liberal, reform-minded Catholics. Nonetheless, despite his own personal rapport with Zwingli, he was not able to bring the Swiss theologian and Luther to agreement at the 1529 Marburg Colloquy. He was such a star on the continent, and he got invited over to Cambridge during the time of the young Edward VI, who was a godly young king in between Henry and Queen Mary. He never recovered, dying on February 28, 1551, and receiving committal at Great St. Mary’s in Cambridge. Bucer's fingerprints are all over Calvin's Form of Church Prayers (1542) as well as the Book of Common Prayer (1552, 1559, 1662).Calvin acknowledges that most of his Form was borrowed from Bucer, while Bucer… Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The Holy Roman emperor Charles V, for political reasons, pursued similar aims. 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