Friday, October 30, 2026

It is the 30th of October 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Tomorrow is Reformation Day (perhaps your church celebrated last Sunday- it’s the tricky part about the day being a Saturday). And on Reformation Day, you will likely be reminded of the story of the monk and his theses- it’s kind of a big deal.

But there are other stories, of course, and some that we might overlook as less dramatic. But today we tell the story of the Reformation not from the perspective of the monk and his (possibly apocryphal) nails but rather of the politician and his pen.

He was Jacob Sturm (you might see ‘von Sturmeck’ as part of his name to distinguish him from other Jacob Sturms). Born in August of 1489 in Strasbourg, his family had long been part of the fabric of this free imperial city. His father was a member of the Privy Council, two of his brothers were magistrates, and he had sisters and cousins, aunts and uncles in various monasteries.

He was given to the scholar Jakob Wimpfeling- a former rector of the University of Heidelberg- from a young age in preparation for a life of gentleman-scholar and possibly the priesthood. At 12, he entered the University of Heidelberg only to move to Freiburg when the War of Bavarian Succession closed down Heidelberg for a time.

At Freiburg, Sturm studied and taught the classics and logic. His classmates included the later Catholic controversialist Johannes Eck as well as the Reformers Matthias Zell and Wolfgang Capito. Sturm went back to Strasbourg having abandoned the idea of being either a priest or a scholar. He married, but his wife died within 5 years. Jacob moved into a home in Strasbourg with his brothers, where he lived for the rest of his life. His life would be one of service to the city.

His turn to the Reformation is a curious one in some aspects. There is no dramatic turn. He met Erasmus when the Dutch scholar spent time in Strasbourg. He argued for the teaching of Scripture and biblical languages over scholasticism. Years later, while explaining his turn to his old nemesis Eck, he simply said that he “read the writings of both sides and was persuaded by [the reformers]”

Through his time serving on the Senate, the Privy Council, as the patrician mayor, and on the Imperial Governing Council, he saw the Peasants' War break out and witnessed different approaches to quelling the unrest- both civically and theologically. As late as 1525, he was still opposed to abolishing the Mass at Strasbourg and, amidst the debates, exclaimed: “both sides are Christian; however, may God have mercy.” But later in the 1520s he came to adopt some of Zwingli's theology of the Lord’s Supper as well as Luther’s doctrine of Two Kingdoms. He was present at the 1529 Diet of Speyer when the Emperor decided to reinstate the Edict of Worms- effectively banning the Reformation. Against the wishes of his colleagues back home in Strasbourg, he joined a six-year mutual defense pact with the cities of Saxony, Hesse, Nuremberg, and Ulm. The document they signed together was an official “protest” against the Emperor, and thus these men and their cities were dubbed the first “Protestants”.

Sturm had hoped that the Colloquy at Marburg would unite Luther and Zwingli and was dismayed when the colloquy seemed to only harden their opposition against each other. Sturm would end up working closely with Martin Bucer as they carved out a kind of middle way in Strasbourg. He would also be a key figure in forming the Schmalkaldic League- a Protestant military alliance.

The place of Strasbourg in the Reformation, which was, structurally, the work of Sturm, cannot be underestimated in the history of the Reformation, binding both theology and civics and spreading across Europe and then the world. When Calvin was exiled, he spent time in Strasbourg and took its lessons to Geneva. It became a haven for many like Calvin, who would then take the blend of Reformation theology, protected by friendly magistrates but opposed to a kind of theocracy. Sturm would also introduce Johannes Sturm (no relation) to the city as the head of the University, which would become an incubator for reformers and other thinkers for generations to come.

Jacob Sturm, the politician who formed the necessary alliances for the survival of the Reformation and an architect of the Strasbourg model for the Reformation, died on this, the 30th of October in 1553. Born in 1489, he was 64 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 43- this time from the Seedbed metrical psalter at psalms.Seedbed.com:

1O vindicate and plead my cause, O God, against my foe;

Come rescue me from wicked men, a nation vile and low.

2You are my stronghold and my God; why do You reject me?

Why must I mourn all day oppressed by the vile enemy?

3Send forth Your light and send Your truth, and let them guide me well.

O let them bring me to Your mount, the place where You do dwell.

4Then I’ll go to God’s altar—God, my joy and my delight;

And I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God and light.

5Why are you so downcast, my soul? Why so disturbed in me?

Put hope in God—I’ll praise Him yet; my Savior God is He!

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 30th of October 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who will celebrate the Reformation and Halloween by insisting that all candy is given out freely and without regard to merit- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who will celebrate the Reformation tomorrow by rooting really hard against Notre Dame… 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.