Why did Luther react so violently to Zwingli on the one hand and the Anabaptists on the other? He wasn’t because he insisted on his own formula for the real presence or baptism. As Jaroslav Pelikan pointed out in his 1968 Spirit versus Strcuture , “when Luther was confronted with a . . . . Continue Reading »
“Sacramental union” between the “sign” and the “thing” can and has been used to separate: Because there are two entities, sign and union, it’s possible that there is one without the other. In classic Reformed theology, “sacramental union” . . . . Continue Reading »
How can we baptize those who cannot believe and obey? asks the Large Emden Catechism (1551), written by John a Lasco for the churches in Emden, Friesland, in 1546. When he fled to England, Jan Utenhove translated it into Dutch in 1551. The answer is that the grace of God, which was “declared . . . . Continue Reading »
If baptism were denied to infants, would the grace of God be diminished by the coming of Christ? So asks Calvin in his 1545 Catechism. His answer: “Yes; for the sign of the bounty and mercy of God toward our children, which they had in ancient times, would be wanting in our case, the very . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine on visible words again: Verbs change in sound and visual sign when they are referring to the same event at different times; a future verb and a past verb refer to the same thing, but the sign changes. So too do sacraments: Christ’s future coming is announced by one set of signs, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 15:27: Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters. There’s water everywhere in the exodus. Israel passes through the sea; they get thirsty in the wilderness and Yahweh miraculously provides water; they come . . . . Continue Reading »
1 Corinthians 5:7: purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. As Pastor Sumpter has pointed out, the rules for using Manna are similar to the rules for Passover. Israelites were to collect enough for . . . . Continue Reading »
The Reformers picked up the definition of sacraments as “visible words” from Augustine’s Contra Faustum , Book 19. It’s not clear that they got the force of Augustine’s phrase. Bucer uses the phrase several times, but he generally conflates the “visible word” description with the . . . . Continue Reading »
In her The Interpretation of Material Shapes in Puritanism: A Study of Rhetoric, Prejudice, and Violence (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) , Ann Kibbey notes some intriguing parallels between Calvin’s sacramental theology and Marx’s concepts of commodity and . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter Lombard writes in the Sentences , Book 4, “what is offered and consecrated by the priest is called a sacrifice and an immolation because it is a memorial and a representation of the true sacrifice and holy immolation made upon the altar of the cross. Christ died once, upon the cros, and . . . . Continue Reading »
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