The Marburg Colloquy (1529) may have been the best chance the Reformation ever had to reconcile the early German Lutheran and Swiss Reformed parties into a doctrinally unified Protestantism. Luther, Zwingli, and other leading voices on both sides were in attendance. As expected, the greatest point of contention at the conference was the Lord’s Supper. […]
by Abraham Rothe; translated by Joseph Tipton Abraham Rothe (1666–1730) was a German Lutheran theologian and pastor from Żary in what is now western Poland. He defended his Dissertatio theologica de efficacia baptismi (1692), from which this excerpt is translated, in a public ceremony at the University of Leipzig presided over by the famous theologian […]
On June 8, 1554, John Calvin labored, as usual, in haste. “I have no time to write at the moment,” he told Guillaume Farel, “because it is nearly time for my theology lecture, and I have not yet had the opportunity to reflect on what I will say.” [1] This concern is replicated in various […]
*** The warm, still air, gently lulls my senses As I amble beneath the pale blue sky. The cattle roam the hills, free of fences And a distant low sounds like a gentle sigh. A balmy breeze makes its way through the grass, The tall green blades murmur as they wake. Discontent, they await this […]
God’s sheep are safest when living in clearly fenced enclosures. There, they learn where food is given to them and where their shepherd enters and exits. Good fences keep out predators, deter thieves, and prevent the sheep themselves from wandering away. Within the Christian tradition, the areas of consensus across the ages are our clear […]
The following is transcribed from the White Horse Inn episode “Discussing Our Differences on the Lord’s Supper” (August 26, 2018). The roundtable participants are Michael Horton (Reformed), Justin Holcomb (Anglican), Steve Parks (Lutheran), and Jeremy Yong (Baptist). This excerpt is lightly edited for length and clarity. Be sure to listen to the whole episode at […]
Spanish and Portuguese are close siblings. Both descended from Latin and developed alongside one another on the Iberian Peninsula in relative isolation from their closest European neighbors. Spanish and Portuguese thus have what linguists call a “high degree of mutual intelligibility.”[1] If a person from Spain is speaking to a person from Portugal, much of […]
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”—Luke 22:14–15 Google “last meals” and you’ll discover an online fascination with what people chose to eat when they knew it would be the […]
Whoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body […]
*** “Watchman! Watchman! What of the night? Watchman! What of the night?” The morning comes, always comes But comes through the darkest night! Awful, oppressive night . . . “Watchman! Watchman! What of God’s world? Watchman! What of God’s world?” It is embraced in the reconciling Word But it is pierced by a poisonous sword […]
The Lord’s Supper is a sign and seal of our mystical union with Jesus Christ. It is also a means by which Jesus unites the different members of his church into one body. Our “coming together” (1 Cor. 11:17) at the Table of the Lord isn’t just a moment on our calendar—the Supper constitutes the […]
*** I took and handled holy bread And hoped that it would be my food At evening bell they found me dead. God bid me welcome and He spread A feast of all He saw was good I took and handled holy bread To me He offered, me he fed And willingly I bit and […]
