Martin Luther Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Sacramentarian controversy and the Marburg Colloquy=== {{See also|The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics}} [[File:Religionsgespräch zu Marburg 1529 August Noack.jpg|thumb|''The Marburg Colloquy'', by August Noack]] In October 1529, [[Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse]], convoked an assembly of German and Swiss theologians at the [[Marburg Colloquy]], to establish doctrinal unity in the emerging Protestant states.<ref>Mullett, 194–195.</ref> Agreement was achieved on fourteen points out of fifteen, the exception being the nature of the [[Eucharist]], the [[sacrament]] of the Lord's Supper, an issue crucial to Luther.<ref>Brecht, 2:325–334; Mullett, 197.</ref> The theologians, including Zwingli, Melanchthon, [[Martin Bucer]], and [[Johannes Oecolampadius]], differed on the significance of the words spoken by Jesus at the [[Last Supper]]: "This is my body which is for you" and "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" ([[1 Corinthians 11]]:23–26).<ref>Wilson, 259.</ref> Luther insisted on the [[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|Real presence]] of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine, which he called the [[sacramental union]],<ref>''[[Weimar Ausgabe]]'' 26, 442; ''Luther's Works'' 37, 299–300.</ref> while his opponents believed God to be only spiritually or symbolically present.<ref>Oberman, 237.</ref> Zwingli, for example, denied Jesus' ability to be in more than one place at a time. Luther stressed the [[omnipresence]] of Jesus' human nature.<ref>Marty, 140–141; Lohse, 74–75.</ref> According to transcripts, the debate sometimes became confrontational. Citing Jesus' words "The flesh profiteth nothing" ([[Gospel of John|John]] 6.63), Zwingli said, "This passage breaks your neck". "Don't be too proud," Luther retorted, "German necks don't break that easily. This is Hesse, not Switzerland."<ref>Quoted by Oberman, 237.</ref> On his table Luther wrote the words "''Hoc est corpus meum''" ("This is my body") in chalk, to continually indicate his firm stance.<ref>Brecht 2:329.</ref> Despite the disagreements on the Eucharist, the Marburg Colloquy paved the way for the signing in 1530 of the [[Augsburg Confession]], and for the formation of the [[Schmalkaldic League]] the following year by leading Protestant nobles such as [[John, Elector of Saxony|John of Saxony]], Philip of Hesse, and [[George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach]]. The Swiss cities, however, did not sign these agreements.<ref>Oberman, 238.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page