Tuesday, October 14, 2025

It is the 14th of October 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A few quick notes before we start today’s show… the Here We Still Stand Conference this weekend will not be live-streamed, BUT the talks will be recorded and put up on the 1517 Youtube channel so quickly, it might even seem like they were live-streamed.

Secondly, it is a complete coincidence that today’s date corresponds with the larger theme of this weekend’s conference, which is ALSO the theme of this weekend’s show. We’ll get back to bouncing from early Saints, Medieval monks, and modern Christian rock in the next few days and weeks… but I’ve got to tell you the story, and backstory of one of the less heralded, but really important early Reformation debates.

It was on this, the 14th of October in 1518, under cover of night, that Martin Luther fled Augsburg on horseback, having been interrogated by the Catholic Cardinal Thomas Cajetan over the indulgence affair. In the spirit of trying to take the arguments for and against the Reformation seriously, I think we should look at this very early Reformation debate.

Cardinal Thomas Cajetan was born Giacomo de Vio in 1469 in Gaeta, Italy. He would become known as “Thomas” as a Cardinal after his very important teaching and writing on the theologian Thomas Aquinas. “Cajetan” would be a Latinized version of his hometown- a common custom amongst scholars of the age.

He rose through the ranks as a critic of the humanist Pico Della Mirandola and the followers of the medieval scholastic Duns Scotus. In the early 16th century, he became a favorite in Rome for his defense of the authority of the Pope against the arguments in favor of the authority of the church councils.

He would be made Cardinal in early 1517- an ominous year for Catholic authority- and he would be called on to respond to the Theses of a Catholic friar from an obscure University in the eastern-most section of the Holy Roman Empire. This, of course, was Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.

A debate- or something like that- was arranged to be held the following year, in October, in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg. There, the influential Fugger banking family had agreed to host the Imperial Diet and, as one of the wealthiest families in all of Europe, had reason to want to keep the peace. And Cajetan seemed to have been the right man for the job- his approach to debating Luther was more measured than some who wanted the Wittenberg professor to get the quick treatment as a pre-judged heretic.

We don’t have records of the actual debate. We only know that Luther, fearing that he would not be given a fair judgment, fled. After all, being outside of Saxony, he couldn’t rely on the protection from his Elector, Frederick, who would later protect him. But based on a letter from another Reformer- Martin Bucer, and from what we know of Cajetan as a relatively measured critic, it seems fair to believe that Cajetan was hopeful to keep the peace by distinguishing between  “heresies” and errors. He wanted Luther to recant some points, but was open to ‘applying distinctions’ to solve the other disputed topics. 

Cajetan was also critical of the excesses of the issues surrounding the sale of indulgences without also requiring an internal repentance (this was the gist of Luther’s first thesis). He also likely saw the serious division that could be caused in the church in a time of regional loyalties and an increased dissatisfaction with a Papacy growing in power.  

Without records, and because Luther fled (perhaps rightly in light of how other critics of the Papacy had been treated), we don’t know how it could have been resolved. We do know that Cajetan was not in favor of the coming Papal Bull that excommunicated Luther. But the die was cast, again, and the hopeful resolution to a peace held in the ancient city of Augsburg was thwarted with the end of the debate on this, the 14th of October in 1518.

 The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Ephesians 6:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 14th of October 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose fancy humanist name would be Christophorus Occidens Lafayette- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose name is seemingly already to hard to spell and pronounce- I’m Dan von Voorhees? 

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.