Immanuel Tuesday Class (10/27/20)

 Has the Church Become Corrupt?

The Waldensian Movement

1173

> The symbol of the Waldensians is a burning candle. The motto is LUX LUCET IN TENEBRIS, “Light shines in the darkness,” a quotation of John 1:5. 

> Who was Peter Waldo (c. 1140 - c. 1205)? 

- A merchant in Lyons, Waldo was deeply moved sometime around 1160 by a sermon he heard on the ascetic St Alexius of Edessa (a 4th century monk). 

- Around this time he also grew to reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, and,  tragically, he was shaken to the core when he witnessed the death of a close friend. 

- Soon he began living a “radical” Christian life, giving his possessions over to family members, distributing alms to the poor, and preaching. 

- Sometime around 1175, Waldo commissioned a translation of the New Testament into the local language of Lombardy, Franco-Provencal. This is now generally considered to be the first Bible in the vernacular, pre-dating Luther’s German New Testament by some 350 years. 

- Along with poverty, Waldo advocated the priesthood of all believers, and lay-preaching, even by women. 

- Summoned to Rome in 1179, Waldo had a somewhat favorable audience with Pope Alexander III. The Pope affirmed his vow of voluntary poverty, but forbade him from public preaching (as he was a layman). 

- In 1180, Waldo wrote up a profession of faith. Following the ecumenical creeds closely, it concludes: “And since, according to James the Apostle, ‘faith without works is dead,’ we have renounced the world; whatever we had we have given to the poor, as the Lord advised, and we have resolved to be poor in such fashion that we shall take no thought for the morrow, nor shall we accept gold or silver, or anything of that sort from anyone beyond food and clothing sufficient for the day. Our resolve is to follow the precepts of the Gospel as commands. We wholeheartedly confess and believe that persons remaining in the world, owning their own goods, giving alms and doing other good works out of their own, and observing the commandments of the Lord, may be saved.”

- Waldo was excommunicated in 1184 by Pope Lucius III

> What were the Waldensians? 

- Peter Waldo gathered a group of followers around him who also condemned the excesses of the clergy and papacy, advocated a simple lifestyle, sought to return to biblical models of faith and piety, and proclaimed these teachings as they traveled around southeast France and northwest Italy. 

- Originally referred to as the “Poor of Lyons” or the “Poor of Lombardy,” they were also labeled as “Waldensians” or “Waldenses.” 

- They were condemned as heretics by Pope Lucius III in1184, and they fled from Lyons, settling in valleys in southern France and northern Italy.

- The Waldensian movement moved underground during the Middle Ages. Small groups met and were ministered to by “barbes” (“uncles” - to set them apart from Catholic “fathers”). 

- During the Reformation, Waldensians met with Oecolampadius (1482 - 1531, professor of Theology at Basel, close associate of Zwingli), Martin Bucer (1491 - 1551, reformer and ecumenist from Strasbourg) and William Farel (1489 - 1565, French reformer centered in western Switzerland). They adopted many Reformation ideals, especially those of the Zwinglians, and spread the Reform to Italy in the 1530s. 

- Widespread persecution of the Waldensians occurred in Provence (southeastern France) in the 1540s, with thousands of Waldensians killed or displaced. 

- In Calabria (southern Italy) in the 1560s, there was also widespread persecution inflicted by the Catholic inquisition; several pastors were burned at the stake. 

- Waldensians increasingly joined with French Protestants in the 17th century, or fled to remote, Alpine valleys. 

- In 2015, Pope Francis visited a Waldensian “temple” in Turin, Italy. There he publicly apologized on behalf of the Catholic Church for the mistreatment and persecution through the centuries. 

> Scriptural Foundations for the Waldensian ideals:

- Poverty: Mark 10:17-27; Luke 6:20-21

- Priesthood of All Believers: 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Cor. 12:1-11

- Centrality of the Word: 2 Tim. 3:16-17

Book Review

 Book Review: Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher (2020)

Live Not by Lies is a powerful and quite timely book written by an outstanding columnist and Orthodox believer. It should find its way onto every Lutheran's shelf. 

See Pastor Carnehl's Goodreads review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3564689618?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

And his YouTube review here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyIrwOJLiBQ

And, check out this article by Rod Dreher: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/maria-wittner-hungary-warning-live-not-by-lies-guns/

Immanuel's Tuesday Class (9/29/20)

 The CRUSADES

1096

"The Crusaders before Jerusalem"
by N. C. Wyeth (1924)

Scriptural Starting Points

Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV): Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

John 15:13 (KJV): Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Psalm 

Crusader crosses cover a wall at the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre, Jerusalem (Photo by Rev. Carnehl)

Summary

- The crusades were “penitential war pilgrimages”

- 1095 marked the call to crusade from Pope Urban II, and the last military order of crusaders was established and disbanded in 1890. 

- Where? Eastern Mediterranean (i.e. the Levant), Baltic shoreline, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula (i.e. Spain and Portugal), Poland, Hungary, the Balkans (i.e. modern-day Albania, Bosnia, etc.), and within Western Europe (i.e. Italy, France, and Germany)

- Who? Kings, knights, peasants, priests and eventually professional soldiers from Western Europe carried out crusades against Muslims, pagan Wends, Balts, Lithuanians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, and other “heretics.”

- What’s the big deal?  Today the Crusades are commonly held up as among the worst episodes in Christian history. However, there is so much confusion and mis-information regarding these “penitential war pilgrimages.” 

"The Battle of Dorylaeum" by Gustave Dore (1877)

Overview of Crusades

- First Crusade (1095 - 1099) captured Jerusalem, “Christ’s Patromony”

- Second Crusade (1147 - 1149) ended in disaster, except for the capture of Lisbon and decisive defeat of the Muslims there in 1147

- The Baltic Crusades (1147 on and off until 1316) was a series of drawn-out campaigns against various groups in the Baltic region

- Third Crusade (1189 - 1192), immortalized by King Richard the Lionheart, captured major Muslim cities, but failed to capture Jerusalem

- Fourth Crusade (1202 - 1204) was a disaster that led to the sack of Constantinople

- Albigensian Crusade (1209 - 1229) was essentially an act of genocide against a sect of Gnostic Christians living in southern France

- Children’s Crusade (1212) was a march to Italy with several thousand French and German youth that were attempting to reach the Holy Land. It ended with the children either starving, returning to their families, or being sold into slavery. 

- Fifth Crusade (1217 - 1221) was an attempt to capture Egypt and secure a base for future campaigns. After some initial victories, it ended in severe defeat. 

- Sixth Crusade (1228 - 1229) acquired Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, more through diplomatic maneuvering than warfare. 

- Seventh Crusade (1248 - 1254) was another disastrous attempt at taking Egypt as a springboard to further action in the Holy Land.

- Eighth Crusade (1270) was the attempt by Saint Louis (King Louis IX) to seize Tunis.

- Ninth Crusade (1271 - 1272) was a series of successful Crusader raids in the Holy Land led by Edward I (“Longshanks”) of England. 

"Crusaders Capture Jerusalem" from the 
Description of the Holy Land, 14th century

1096: The First Crusade 

"The Church of the Holy Sepulchre" by Dean Cornwell (c. 1926)

Conclusions:

- Crusading was considered an act of love: our idea of “violence” as inherently bad is a modern sensibility. The ancients and medievals had the view that violence was a morally neutral force and could be positively harnessed for protection, liberation, and discipline or negatively used for coercion, destruction, and evil.   

- Crusading was considered penitential: the act of crusading was seen as purifying and sanctifying. 

- Crusading was exceedingly costly: Most crusaders lost substantial sums of money, not to mention lands and possessions, in “taking up the cross.”

- Crusading was seen as liberation: the goal was the recovery and defense of Christian people and land in the East. 

- Crusading was a product of the medieval world view: It’s difficult for us to even remotely understand the crusading fervor of the time. It’s strange to us that so many “mystics” of the Church in the middle ages preached the crusades: Bernard of Clairvaux, Bridget of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena.  

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Immanuel's Tuesday Class (9/22/20)

 The History of the Church:

The Investiture Controversy

1059 - 1122

Myers, Philip Van Ness (1905), 
A medieval king investing a bishop with the symbols of office

Biblical Starting Points:

Matthew 16:16-19 (NKJV) - Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Romans 13:1-7 (NKJV) -  Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Overview: 

We have come across these two passages again and again in our Tuesday Bible classes. They are verses of seminal significance throughout Christian history, and even today, they are widely debated! The two questions we must ask are, 1) What is the role of the Office of the Apostle Peter, and 2) What is the role of the Office of Emperor?

Interrelated questions would be: Is the Pope higher than the "governing authorities?" Does the Pope have the right to meddle in temporal affairs? Do emperors and kings answer to the Pope? 

All of these questions created major controversy in the early Middle Ages. What we will see is that the so-called "Investiture Controversy" was much more about absolute papal power than almost anything else. 

Caesar's Coin by Peter Paul Rubens (1612-1614)

Terms: 

Investiture: from the Latin investitura, "the investing of a power or authority," taken from the verb investio, "to clothe, to cover;" the formal bestowal of a prescriptive right. 

In the Middle Ages, the act of investiture was when the emperor or ruling nobility formally installed newly appointed church officials, giving them a staff and a ring and saying, "Accipe Ecclesiam tuam," that is, "Receive the church."  

Simony: taken from the name Simon Magus in Acts 8, simony is the buying or selling of church property, including land, buildings, relics, and offices. In the Middle Ages it was very broadly defined as any privately lay-owned church property. A Medievalist, Catherine Boyd, writes, "When a reformer in the eleventh century used the term 'simony,' he had before his eyes this whole complex of mercenary transactions which resulted from the growth of the proprietary system of churches and the extension of the proprietary idea to the parishes. It will be noted that the clergy as well as the laity exercised proprietary rights over the lower churches, treating them as if they were their private property and disposing of their revenues as if they were private income." 

Celibacy: from Latin caelebs, "unmarried, single," broadly defined in the Middle Ages as total abstinence from sexual/marital relations. Up until the 11th century, there was a popularly-accepted tradition of married priests, especially in Germany. Reforming popes in the 11th and 12th centuries were continually fighting against the sexual profligacy of monks and priests in Europe. This included marital intimacy, obviously accepted by Protestants and Orthodox for their pastors today. 

Key People: 

Pope Leo IX (1002 - 1054): a major reforming pope, Leo held a momentous synod (the "Easter Synod") of 1049 where, accompanied with Emperor Henry III, he once again called for clerical celibacy and an end to simony. His disagreements with the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, led to the so-called "Great Schism" of 1054. 

Pope Nicholas II (c. 990 - 1061): his papacy chiefly concerns us for the significant change that Nicholas spearheaded with his bishops gathered at a council in Rome in 1059. They decided to change the election procedure for popes. Up until this point, the election of popes had not always occurred in the same way; they were essentially chosen by their predecessors (up until the Constantinian era), then chosen by the Emperor and aristocracy of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire, and then, starting in 1059, by the cardinals themselves. This was a victory for the curia who took away more power from the princes. 

Peter Damian (c. 988 - 1073): declared to be a "Doctor of the Church" in 1828, St Peter Damian was a Benedictine monk and later Cardinal. His was a more moderate voice during the reforming movements of the 11th century. His 1051 work called the "Book of Gomorrah" is a scathing indictment of priestly abuses during his day. 

Humbert of Moyenmoutier (c. 1000 - 1061): a revolutionary monk, cardinal, and papal legate who was responsible for the excommunication of Michael Cerularius in 1054, precipitating the so-called "Great Schism." Humbert was a (perhaps the) chief supporter of papal supremacy during the battles against simony in the mid-11th century, and he was instrumental in the decisions behind the 1059 synod which changed the election procedure for popes. He wrote the fiercest and most important work against simony: Three Books against the Simoniacs. 

Pope Gregory VII (c. 1015 - 1085): THE key figure during the Investiture Controversy, Gregory (born Hildebrand of Sovana) is most famous today for the hard line he took against Emperor Henry IV, excommunicating him multiple times and insisting that simony and lay investiture (the investing of bishops by lay rulers) undermined the Church. Above all, Gregory hoped to free the church from all secular power. 

Emperor Henry IV (c. 1050 - 1106): ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1084 to his deposition in 1105 and the chief opponent of Pope Gregory VII. He believed that as emperor he was God's representative on earth, chosen to act as "vicar" over affairs of church and state. This severely clashed with the reformers' view of the papacy. 

Emperor Henry V (c. 1081 - 1125): son of Henry IV, he deposed his father in 1105 and allied himself with his father's enemies. The German princes opposed him and conflict erupted. In 1122 he signed the Concordat of Worms with Pope Calixtus II. It eliminated lay investiture but gave secular rulers some symbolic role in investiture and allowed them some influence during appointment. 

Significance: 

The importance of the Investiture Controversy probably can't be overstated. It changed the Middle Ages in Europe, and thus, it changed the Western world. The actual process of investiture was a technicality: the papal focus during this period was on authority and power. By taking away the secular ruler's right of investing, that is, installing church officials, the Pope communicated that even the highest ruler of the land had no authority directly from God. The Pope was supreme in matters secular and religious, and is therefore like a father to the emperor. T.M. Parker writes, "Lay investiture, the juridical act symbolised by the giving of the episcopal ring and staff to the elected bishop, was the means by which the 'honour' of a bishopric was conferred, and this demonstrated in the most vivid way possible the control claimed by the temporal power over local church, accompanied as it was by the spoken formula, Accipe ecclesiam tuam." Nicholas II had forbidden lay investiture in 1059, though it was not very precise. Gregory VII in 1075 made it more overt, but it was most firmly expressed in the Concordat of Worms in 1122. 

The point is, starting with these reformer popes in the 11th century, the absolutism of papal supremacy over the universal church (including Byzantium) and all secular authority (including the Holy Roman Emperor) was codified. Gregory's Dictatus Papae (Papal Dictates) of 1075 included 27 principles that changed the papacy forever. I take them from Wikipedia: 

1. The Roman Church was founded solely by God.
2. Only the Pope can with right be called "Universal".
3. He alone can depose or reinstate bishops.
4. All bishops are below his Legate in council, even if a lower grade, and he can pass sentence of deposition against them.
5. The Pope may depose the absent.
6. Among other things, we ought not to remain in the same house with those excommunicated by him.
7. For him alone is it lawful, according to the needs of the time, to make new laws, to assemble together new congregations, to make an abbey of a canonry, and, on the other hand, to divide a rich bishopric and unite the poor ones.
8. He alone may use the Imperial Insignia.
9. All princes shall kiss the feet of the Pope alone.
10. His name alone shall be spoken in the churches.
11. His title is unique in the world.
12. It may be permitted to him to depose emperors.
13. It may be permitted to him to transfer bishops, if need be.
14. He has the power to ordain the clerk of any parish he wishes.
15. He who is ordained by the Pope may preside over another church, but may not hold a subordinate position. Such a person may not receive a higher clerical grade from any other bishop.
16. No synod shall be called a "General Synod" without his order.
17. No chapter and no book shall be considered canonical without his authority.
18. A sentence passed by him may be retracted by no one. He alone may retract it.
19. He himself may be judged by no one.
20. No one shall dare to condemn any person who appeals to the Apostolic Chair.
21. The more important cases of every church should be referred to the Apostolic See.
22. The Roman Church has never erred. Nor will it err, to all eternity--Scripture being witness.
23. The Roman Pontiff, if he has been canonically ordained, is undoubtedly made holy by the merits of St. Peter, St. Ennodius Bishop of Pavia bearing witness, and many holy fathers agreeing with him. As it is contained in the decrees of Pope St. Symmachus.
24. By his command and consent, it may be lawful for subordinates to bring accusations.
25. He may depose and reinstate bishops without assembling a Synod.
26. He who is not at peace with the Roman Church shall not be considered "catholic".
27. He may absolve subjects from their fealty to wicked men.

The historian G. Barraclough might be helpful here: "Rejecting the ancient doctrine that kings were sent by God, either as leaders of the righteous or as a scourge for the wicked, Gregory turned his back on the Christian dogmas of passive obedience and non-resistance. One of the most penetrating of Gregory's critics picked out the essential novelty of the pope's position, when he wrote: 'Christ alone, in unison with God, can give or take away dominion, according to the Scriptures; but Hildebrand teaches that he himself has authority over kings and kingdoms, and can do that which, according to the Psalmist, can be done by God alone, who abases the one and elevates the other.'" 

The 11th century was the seminal moment in Western Christendom for the advancement of papal prestige and power, and it should be remembered that this reform movement was radical. There was a weighty opposition, headed by prominent bishops. Such opposition led, eventually, to the revolt and reform of the 16th century. 

The Cathedral of Worms, where the 
Concordat of Worms was signed in 1122

Tuesday Bible Study (5/26/20)

The Question of the End:

Apocalyptic Expectation in Early Medieval Europe

1000 A.D.

"The Last Judgment" fresco at the Camposanto, Pisa c. 1348
attrib. to Italian master Buonamico Buffalmacco

Scriptural Starting Places:

Matthew 24:29-31 - “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 - "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."

2 Peter 3:10 - "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

Revelation 20:1-6 - "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

>> Eschatology is from the Greek adjective éskhatos (ἔσχᾰτος). It means "last, at the end, final." Therefore 'eschatology' means the study of the end times, the "last things." The big question with eschatology is "When will all these things be"? In the New Testament, the way that Jesus, Paul, Peter and John talk might lead the reader to expect the immanent end of all things. Yet these teachings have come to us from twenty centuries ago; so we can say, "The end has not happened yet!" Further questions on the end involve concrete statements from the NT about the rapture and the 1,000 years. Such verses have been understood in a variety of ways throughout Christian history. Toward the "middle" of the Middle Ages, when the year 1000 A.D. approached, very many people expected the return of Christ and the judgment. We'll explore that movement in our study today as we conclude our year-long look at the first 1,000 years of the history of the Church.

>>> Note that the dating system of world history as "A.D." (meaning "year of the Lord") was devised by a Christian monk active in Rome.  A learned man from modern day Romania/Bulgaria, Dionysius the Humble devised the calendar around the year 525. He counted backwards to what he determined had been the birth year of Christ and based his calendar on it. The incarnation of the Word was thus the center-point of all history. 

>>>> In what precedes and follows I rely heavily upon Derek Cooper's book, Twenty Questions that Shaped World Christian History. 

Around the Year 1000:

As an anonymous pastor proclaimed in Old English in a homily from 971 A.D, "We know that the end of time is not far distant, for all the signs and portents which our Lord said should occur before doomsday have occurred, except only that the accursed visitant Antichrist has not yet come into the world. It is not long until the time when that must happen for this world must necessarily end in this age that is present. In this age then must this world end and most of it has passed, that is, nine hundred and seventy-one years in this year." 

Surrounding the year 1000 there were strong apocalyptic expectations in Western Europe.  Based on Dionysius' dating system, 1000 A.D. marked the 1,000th year since the Incarnation and redemption of humanity. Along with the suggestive verses in Revelation, the late 10th century and early 11th century were filled with strange astronomical events and other "miracles" witnessed by large numbers of people. For example, chroniclers around the year 1000 recorded an unusually violent earthquake in Western Europe and a strange episode of blood falling upon a certain group of worshipers during a Palm Sunday service. In addition there were comets, violent battles with the Vikings and Eastern European tribes, large-scale famines, planetary alignments, and other apocalyptic phenomena. 

Where writers and popular prophets differed was the exact time of completion for the 1,000 years. Would it be 1,000 years after the Incarnation or 1,000 years after the Passion (putting it at 1,033 A.D.)? Opinions differed.  

While it would be overly-simplistic to argue that Christians believed the world would end at the year 1000, it is certainly accurate to state that there was a heightened apocalyptic feeling at this point in the history of the Western Church. 

Fleury Abbey, founded in 640, is  in north-central
France. It is an important and celebrated monastery.

Major Voices:

Adso of Montier-en-Der (c. 910-992): abbot of a monastery in the Northeast of France. His most famous work is a book on the Antichrist where he points out that many Antichrists have already come, such as Emperor Nero and others, but that a final Antichrist will rise up and carry out horrible persecution of the Church. He surmised that the End would be near when the kingdoms that Rome had subdued would rise up against Rome and against the Papacy. "[The] time has not yet come, because, though we see the Roman empire destroyed in great part, nevertheless as long as the kings of the Franks who hold the empire by right shall last, the dignity of the Roman empire will not totally perish, because it will endure in the kings." Adso went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in preparation for the end. 

Abbo of Fleury (c. 945-1004): monk of Fleury Abbey who recorded an interesting memory that gives us a window into popular apocalypticism at this time: "When I was a young man I heard a sermon about the End of the world preached before the people in the cathedral of Paris. According to this, as soon as the number of a thousand years was completed, the Antichrist would come and the Last Judgment would follow in a brief time. I opposed this sermon..." 

Wulfstan of York (?-1023): monk and archbishop of York in Northern England. In five sermons on the End Times Wulfstan guessed that the end was near because the world was growing worse with each passing day. "A thousand years and more have now passed since Christ was among men in human form, and now Satan's bonds are greatly loosened and Antichrist's time is very close, and therefore things are in the world ever the weaker the longer it goes on." 

Ralph Glaber (985-1047): monk active near Dijon, France. His most important work is a five volume work called Histories in which he offers a literal interpretation of Revelation. Here he connects a 10th century heretic named Vilgardus with the release of the devil from prison at the end of 1,000 years. Glaber also notes many interesting events from around 1000 A.D. which anticipated the last age. Among other signs Glaber notes Halley's Comet: "[This] clearly portends some wondrous and awe-inspiring event in the world shortly after." 

Title page of a work by Abbo of Fleury. Note the name "Abbo"
written across the monk's neck. The date is c. 970.

Significance Today:

Our Lord teaches, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority" (Acts 1:7), yet since the earliest times of the Church, indeed, since the time of the Twelve, disciples have wished to know the exact date of the End. 

In the Early Church, prominent writers such as Augustine and Jerome believed Revelation was a heavily symbolic text with figurative numbers and provocative, non-literal imagery. This has not always been the opinion. Other ancient Fathers such as Hippolytus and Tertullian had different views that would resonate more with modern day Dispensationalists than most Catholics or Lutherans. 

Around the year 1000 there were several monastic authors who looked around at the numerous terrestrial and heavenly "signs" and decided that the end was imminently near. Of course ten centuries have now passed, and we have historical hindsight to see that worse things have happened since that time! Tsunamis, famines, wars, genocides, and pandemics have plagued the world, and more Christians were slain in the 20th century alone than in all previous centuries put together. 

It is important for us as Christians to live in the tension of the "End Times" with the understanding that, since the Ascension, every age has eagerly expected to see the face of Christ as Judge and Victor. As disasters and wars take place, the Church catches glimpses of the End. Just as there are many Antichrists, there are many 'signs' and 'wonders' of the End. Indeed, the world is groaning under the weight of sin and is ready for the transfiguration of all things. The Church's mission is to prepare all of creation to meet her Author: the Messiah Jesus. 

Tuesday Bible Study (5/19/20)

The Question of the Real Presence:

Transubstation and Other "Theories" of the Eucharist in Early Medieval Theology

c. 850 A.D.

The Tassilo Chalice, c. 780, Anglo-Saxon
design, now at Kresmuenster Abbey, Germany

Scriptural Starting Places:

Matthew 26:26-29 -  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

John 6:51, 53 -  "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

1 Corinthians 10:16 - The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 11:26-30 -  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.


Definitions: 

Transubstantiation: Change of one substance into another. Term for [the Roman Catholic] view that in the Eucharistic rite the substance or basic reality of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, while the outward appearances of bread and wine are not affected. 

Consubstantiation: View, falsely charged to Lutheranism, that bread and body form 1 substance ("a third substance”) in Communion (similarly wine and blood) or that body and blood are present, like bread and wine, in a natural manner.

Real Presence: Belief that Christ's body and blood are truly and substantially present in, with, and under the elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Also referred to as the "Sacramental Union," this teaching affirms that communicants partake of both bread/wine and Body/Blood at the same time. The prepositions "in, with, under" do not denote a metaphysics of the Sacrament, but rather an inability to describe the exact nature of the Mystery and pin down its operation. 

>> These definitions come from the "Lutheran Cyclopedia." Lutherans are often mislabeled as "consubstantialists" which is inaccurate. There is not a third, compound substance formed at the Lord's Supper, but the salvific Body and Blood of Christ is received simultaneously as the physical bread and wine. The prepositions "in, with, and under" are simply indicating the great mystery that takes place; we believe and trust that Christ is really, actually, truly present, but we can't understand everything about the mode of His presence. It happens sacramentally, mystically, supernaturally, salvifically here at the altar. 


The Eucharistic Controversy: Paschasius Radbertus vs. Ratramnus 

Corbie Abbey, outside of Amiens, founded around 660

Around the year 831, the learned and influential abbot of Corbie in northern France produced the first, full-length treatise in the Western Church on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. This treatise, called De Corpore et Sanguine Domini ("The Lord's Body and Blood") is now Paschasius Radbertus' most well-known work, and it proved to be highly influential as well as very divisive in the history of medieval Christianity. Its arguments for the doctrine of "transubstantiation" set into motion the first of the so-called "Eucharistic Controversies" in the West. Radbertus most likely wrote this treatise for the monks at Corbie. Soon, the chief teacher of the monks, a man named Ratramnus, offered a different interpretation of the Eucharist. 

Ratramnus had an excellent relationship with King Charles the Bald (a grandson of Charlemagne, reined 875 to 877 as Holy Roman Emperor). The emperor had visited Corbie Abbey sometime in 843 and had commissioned the learned monk to write a treatise in response to Radbertus' position.

It would seem that at the time there were two different opinions on the Lord's Supper that existed alongside each other: Radbertus' literal view ("transubstantiation") and Ratramnus' figurative or mystical view. Both monks believed that when Christ said, "This is my body," the word "is" signifies that the Body of the Lord is truly present. Where they different is in the mode of presence. 

Radbertus occasionally sounds Capernaitic in his understanding. This term is taken from John 6:26 - 58 and refers to an almost cannibalistic chewing and swallowing of Jesus' flesh just as other food might be chewed and swallowed. Radbertus asserts that the elements at the Eucharist are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit so the sacrifice of the Lamb's body and blood can take place again. 

Ratramnus at times seems to understand Holy Communion in a spiritual or symbolical sense, as if the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood happen in the heart of the believer when he or she trusts the Word of the Lord with faith. In this he prefigures the Calvinists and Zwinglians of the 16th century who taught something similar. 

What should be emphasized, however, is that both monks unequivocally state that the Eucharist offers grace and forgiveness of sins, and that it joins Baptism as a mystical sacrament in the Church.  Neither monk understands a sacrament as a "mere" symbol; they differ as to the extent of what a symbol means. In Ratramnus' view, a symbol is a veil, a truth is a direct utterance. Therefore a symbol would be Christ's teaching in John 15 where He calls Himself the "vine" and His disciples the "branches." If this were understood literally, it would lead to a ridiculous and untrue picture! However, believers are to understand it mystically, and by reaching out to it in faith, the Holy Spirit leads to understanding. The Sacrament works in much the same way; the Body and Blood are veiled, hidden from our eyes "under" (he uses this preposition; it's "sub" in Latin) the elements on the altar. 

Radbertus' argument is less clear and organized than Ratramnus'. He represents an older, monastic and devotional approach while Ratramnus presents a more scholarly and systematic approach. Both views exerted influence in future theology, though Radbertus' transubstantiation became the standard view, with further clarifications. 


Samples of the Arguments

Radbertus (transubstantiation): "Yet these [elements] must be believed to be fully, after the consecration, nothing but Christ's flesh and blood." 

Ratramnus (figurative/mystical): "But that bread which through the ministry of the priest comes to be Christ's body exhibits one thing outwardly to human sense, and it proclaims another thing inwardly to the minds of the faithful. Outwardly it has the shape of bread which it had before, the color is exhibited, the flavor is received, but inwardly something far different, much more precious, much more excellent, becomes known, because something heavenly, something divine, that is, Christ's body, is revealed, which is not beheld, or received, or consumed by the fleshly senses but in the gaze of the believing soul." 

Radbertus (transubstantiation): "[It is] truth therefore, when the body and blood of Christ is created by the power of the Spirit in His word out of the substance of bread and wine; but a figure when , through the agency of the priest at the altar, outwardly performing another thing, in memory of His sacred Passion, the Lamb is daily sacrificed as He once was for all." 

Ratramnus (figurative/mystical): "For the very One who now in the church, with omnipotent power, spiritually changes the bread and wine into the flesh of his body and the stream of his blood, then also invisibly made the manna given from heaven to be his body and the water which had been poured forth from the rock to be His very blood." 

Engraving of Paschasius Radbertus

The Eucharist in Orthodox Lutheran Theology

The Formula of Concord is a masterpiece. In it the late reformers systematically organize the tenets of Christian doctrine and present them in a clear and uncomplicated way. The writing is characterized by an insistence on faith and tension - that is, leaving riddles and problems unresolved. 

For example, in the Formula of Concord: Epitome, Article VII paragraph 6 we read: "We believe, teach, and confess that the body and blood of Christ are received not only spiritually through faith but also orally with the bread and wine, though not in Capernaitic fashion but rather in a supernatural, heavenly way because of the sacramental union of the elements. The words of Christ clearly demonstrate this..."  The reformers conclude this article by stating, "Human reason and understanding cannot grasp this, but our understanding must be taken captive by obedience to Christ here as in all other articles of faith. Such a mystery cannot be grasped except by faith and is revealed alone in the Word." 

In all of the Lutheran writings in the Reformation, there is an emphasis not on the priest's words or the recipient's faith, but on Christ's speech. It is Christ's promise at the Last Supper that holds today in the Lord's Supper. It is Christ's Word that confirms and sanctifies the elements. We bring forth the memory of Christ's words today and hold to them in trust, faith, and hope. 

The altar at Martin Luther's church, the "Stadtkirche" of Wittenberg.
Pictured above the altar is Cranach's famous altarpiece (photo by Adam).