Although Wittenberg was ground zero for the reform movement in the 16th century, it was still home to many priests, monks and laity who were not comfortable with the changes proposed by the reformers. When Luther was in Wittenberg, these disagreements remained within the confines of discussion and debate.
After Luther was in hiding for 6 months, things began to change. Changes in Wittenberg began to be forced upon on the priests and laity, sometimes through edict, but often through threats and even violence.
When Luther returned in the spring of 1522, he was not pleased. He sought to return things to good order, and he had to do it quickly. Just a couple of days after his arrival, Luther began a sermon series that addressed the issues that had arisen. The name of the eight sermon series is the Invocavit sermons. Given over eight days during the first week of Lent, 1522. The Invocavit sermons shaped the implementation of the reform changes in Wittenberg, and still speak to us today.
This episode looks at how the eight sermons preached by Martin Luther when he returned to Wittenberg shaped his understanding of how the gospel motivates and defines the momentum of change in church practices.
Martin Luther’s Sermon, detail from a triptych, 1547 (oil on panel) by Cranach, Lucas, the Elder (1472-1553); Church of St.Marien, Wittenberg, Germany;
Beer Break
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Recognitions and Sources
Thanks to Josh Yagley for being our sound engineer
The ten-month (1521-1522) stay in the Wartburg castle was one of the most productive periods of Martin Luther’s life, but not all the action was in the castle outside of Eisenach. The team of theologians that Luther left back in Wittenberg were also busy during this period, but with decidedly mixed results.
Although the changes being implemented in Wittenberg were generally in line with Luther’s teachings, they were not carried out in a way that was consistent with Luther’s Evangelical theology. The individual freedom that Luther had defined in his seminal work, “The Freedom of the Christian” was pushed aside to force monks, priests and parishioners to embrace the new thinking.
Luther was not pleased, but there wasn’t much he could do except write to his colleagues to encourage them to be more gracious to those who were uncomfortable with the changes. When this didn’t work, Luther found himself in the uncomfortable position of engaging in an open disagreement with his own supporters, a precursor to the disagreements that we see amongst protestants even today.
Andreas Karlstadt
Andreas von Karlstadt
While Luther was busy at the Wartburg castle, his friends were busy making changes in Wittenberg.
The primary driver for the changes in Wittenberg was Andreas Karlstadt, the dean of the University of Wittenberg.
You may remember Karlstadt from episode 12 on the 1519 debate in Leipzig. This was where Karlstadt engaged John Eck in a debate on Luther’s teachings. He ultimately fumbled the debate so badly (possibly because his notes were ruined when his wagon lost a wheel shortly after his arrival) that Luther had to step in to debate with Eck.
The first of the changes began when three priests near Wittenberg got married in the early summer of 1521.
Luther’s thinking on vows
Luther responded by writing “Themata de Votis” (Themes Concerning Vows) in September of 1521.
These were 280 theses on vows that he was ready to debate.
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Communion in both kinds
Communion was the second major issue that Luther had to address.
Even though the real theological change in the evangelical theology was in the discussion on monasticism, it was the discussion on communion that seemed like it caused the most problems.
Luther had been talking about sharing both the bread and the wine for communion for over 2 years at this point. Still, nobody had actually shared the wine with the laity yet, so this was all talk to the common people.
In the last episode, we briefly discussed Luther’s “Sin boldly” quote during a discussion on sharing communion in both the bread and the wine with the laity. Sharing the bread and the wine would be sinning since it was disruptive to other Christians. Not sharing the bread and wine would be sinning since it would be continuing to act against Christ’s command. Luther said, go ahead, sin boldly and share the bread and the wine. Even though he wasn’t a priest, Melanchthon understood and celebrated the sacrament of communion with several students on September 29, 1521. On October 6, Gabriel Zwilling, an Augustinian brother who had a reputation for giving strong sermons, started to discourage people from attending mass if the priests refused to share the bread and the wine.
Luther’s visit
Luther decided to see how things were going for himself.
Arrived in Wittenberg on December 4, staying for 3 days in disguise as Junker Jorg.
Luther returned the Wartburg and sent out a manuscript “A sincere admonition to all Christians to guard against insurrection and rebellion” on December 14 to try to calm everything down. Regardless of the letter from Luther, things continued to escalate in Wittenberg. In mid-December, Frederick rejected a call to reform the mass by sharing the wine, stopping private masses, etc.
It was too much change at once. It also threatened the priests who still adhered to the Roman Catholic beliefs.
Andreas Karlstadt ignored Frederick’s ruling and celebrated an Evangelical worship service on Christmas, 1521. Celebrated the Lord’s Supper in German and distributed both the bread and the wine to the congregants.
Zwickau Prophets
More dangerous than the Zwickau prophets was the priest that came with them, Thomas Muntzer.
Muntzer and Karlstadt banded together to start pushing more radical reforms. Luther disagreed with the reforms. Over the next couple of months, the disagreement between Karlstadt and Luther became an open conflict.
Luther’s decision to return
Luther decided to return to Wittenberg. Frederick wanted him to stay at the Wartburg, since the political environment was not yet settled. Luther wrote back with three reasons
Called by the whole congregation at Wittenberg in a letter filled with urgent begging and pleading. (There is no copy of this letter, so nobody knows what was in it.)
Satan had intruded into his fold in Wittenberg, so he had a pastoral responsibility.
He feared that there was a rebellion starting. (Probably exaggerating the danger to impress the emperor.)
Luther arrived in Wittenberg on March 6, 1522.
Gave eight sermons in eight days, starting on the first Sunday in Lent, March 9.
The sermons are called the Invocavit or the Wittenberg sermons.
Recognition of source materials
James Kittelson – Luther the Reformer
Scott Hendrix – Martin Luther – Visionary Reformer
Bernhard Lohse – Martin Luther’s Theology: Its Historical and Systematic Development
This podcast looks at the people, documents, and contexts for the Lutheran Reformation. This episode especially focuses on the situation in Germany leading up to the posting of the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517. We discuss the social structures that are changing in this time period, and how the situation is set for Martin Luther to rely on the Scriptures for His teaching.
Here are some of the resources we found helpful for this episode:
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