Friday, April 5, 2024

It is the 5th of April 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Let me start today’s show by asking a rhetorical question. Rhetorical because this is a podcast, and you’d just be talking in your car or house, and your answers will vary depending on your place and station, BUT, would you welcome reconciliation between one or some churches of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church? What would it take? How much agreement would be enough?

I ask because there was a season, mid-16th century, when reconciliation was not as far-fetched as it might seem today. In fact, Charles V of the House of Habsburg, often an enemy of the Reformation, was in a tough position. The King of England, Henry VIII, had broken away, and the King of France, Francis I, was a power in his own right (and with a curious relationship with Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire). Charles seemed afraid that his Holy Roman Empire, from Spain to the Netherlands and the German lands and Austria, was about to splinter.

And so Charles attempted a moon shot- call a meeting with Protestants and Catholics to reconcile in the Free Imperial city of Ratisbon in modern Bavaria. He would call Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists together, but they would need a text from which they might debate. It couldn’t be the Lutheran Augsburg Confession or Calvin’s recently published Institutes. And, what do you know, an anonymous text appears, the so-called “Regensburg Book,” a conciliatory theological text with concessions to all parties.

And so, with a text to debate, the Emperor called the colloquy of Regensburg that began on this, the 5th of April in 1541. Charles chose particular characters to debate. On the Catholic side, the irenic Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, who was the papal legate, gathered three men: Johann Cropper, a friend of Erasmus; Julius Pflug, a Catholic who, among other things, thought priests should be able to marry, and Johann Eck, the onetime foe of Luther whose disposition seemed to have softened. On the Protestant side, the Emperor called Johann Pistorius the Elder, Philip Melanchthon- the sidekick to Luther who showed a willingness (sometimes to the chagrin of Luther) to compromise, and Martin Bucer, the theologian in Strasbourg who would be significant as a theologian attempting to reconcile Lutherans and Calvinists.

The conference began on a promising note with agreement between both parties on the doctrines of the fall, original sin, and free will.  

The fifth article of debate was over the doctrine of justification- considered the central doctrine of the Reformation by the Lutherans. The Catholic side, to the shock of some, seemed to agree with the Protestants. In attendance at the conference, John Calvin wrote to a friend:

“You will marvel when you read the copy of the article on justification . . . our adversaries have conceded so much. For they have committed themselves to the essentials of what is our true teaching. Nothing is to be found in it which does not stand out in our writings”

Melanchthon was not as optimistic and Luther reportedly was not pleased with the text. But there was progress. The next three doctrines were not contested, and then the group came to the ninth article on the doctrine of the church. The text was conciliatory with no reference to the papacy, but there was an admission that the church’s authority came from scripture and tradition. This was a bridge too far for Melanchthon. He believed that authority came from Scripture alone and not tradition or the Pope; this would obviously not fly with the Catholic side, and the conference was doomed.

The men had all risked their reputations by agreeing to attend and knew that failure might ruin their standing with the hardliners on their side. Seeing that the doctrine of authority would scuttle the colloquy, both sides reverted to combativeness, and the conference was closed.

At the close of the colloquy, Charles V called for the “Regensburg Interim,” which called for a temporary truce while he could tend to press international matters. Not only did pacific overtures between Protestants and Catholics cease, but the Protestants would splinter themselves, and seemingly permanent schisms persisted. From the 1960s to as recent as 2022, there have been calls for reconciliation, and the model has been the Regensburg Book and Colloquy, which convened on this, the 5th of April in 1541.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and the book of Daniel and his benediction in chapter 2:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons;

    he deposes kings and raises up others.


He gives wisdom to the wise

    and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;

    he knows what lies in darkness,

    and light dwells with him.

I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:

    You have given me wisdom and power,


you have made known to me what we asked of you,

    you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of April 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows Regensburg as the home of Albert the Great, Johannes Kepler, Oskar Schindler, and Elisabeth Eel, winner of 2004’s German Pop Idol; he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who, curious about the phrase “A bridge too far,” came from WWII’s Operation Market Garden… I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.