RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Buttz Butzer
Carlstadt. Concerning the sacrament of the altar, they taught that the bread is the body of Christ and the wine his blood, but that greater importance should be attached to the commemoration of the death of Jesus than to the question what one eats and drinks. At first Luther answered reassuringly, but in his work Wider die 3. Endeav- himmlischen Propheten (1525) he ators to Rec- tacked the Strasburg theologians. oncile The latter sent an envoy to appease Luther and Luther, but he emphasized the bodily
Zwingli. presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper more than ever, and gave the Strasburgers to understand that they should not be deceived by the light of reason. The Strasburgers now saw themselves driven more and more to the side of the Swiss, so far as the doctrine of the sacrament was concerned. At the Disputation of Bern (q.v.) in 1528 Butzer made the personal acquaintance of Zwingli, with whom he had been corresponding since 1523. Luther again attacked his opponents in his Grosses Bekenntnis vom Abendmahl (1528), but Butzer did not lose hope of coming to an understanding by a personal interview. Together with the [ landgrave Philip of Hesse, who was animated by the same interest in the union and agreement of the Protestants, he brought about the religious conference of Marburg (q.v.) in 1529. Concerning the question whether the true body and blood of Christ are actually present in the bread and wine, no agreement could be reached; nevertheless, each party was to show Christian love toward the other, so far as the conscience of each allowed. Butzer visited Luther at Coburg in Sept., 1530, and received the promise to examine a new confession which Butzer intended to prepare. Butzer now endeavored to induce the Protestants, at least in southern Germany, to prepare a declaration which should approximately satisfy Luther, since the Swiss opposed every further advance, an additional incentive being the threatening attitude of the emperor toward the Protestants at this time. The outcome of these endeavors wa the Wittenberg Concord (q.v.) , which was agreed upon with Luther in 1536 4. The by a delegation of Upper German Wittenberg theologians under the direction of
Concord. Butzer. In this Concord the concession was made to Luther that the body and the blood of Christ are truly and essentially present with the bread and with 1 he wine and are so given and received, the only modification being that the unworthy, but not the unholy, actually receive the body of the Lord. By this agreement a certain sort of theological understanding was reached between Luther and the South Germans, but the rupture between Butzer and the Swiss was accomplished.
Whatever views be held of Butzer's efforts for union, especially in the eucharistic controversy, his honest intention and his unselfish zeal to serve the Church are beyond all question. His diplomatic tactics were not always such as to inspire confidence, and they gave offense to other parties besides Luther. Butzer himself felt it afterward and honestly acknowledged that he had not always
interfered in a discreet manner. The whole subject of controversy was of less interest for Butzer than for Luther, hence Butzer's
5. Critique readiness to make concessions and of Butzer's ever new formularizations. The real
Attitude success of his endeavors was that the in the Con- South Germans were not only induced
troversy. to make common political cause with the North Germans, but were alsodrawn into the communion of Lutheranism, in spite of their peculiar doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The fact that Melanchthon, influenced partly by Butzer, took an intermediate position, and wasthus drawn nearer to Calvin, was also far-reachingin its importance for the future formation of the Evangelical Church in Germany. The outcome of the Schmalkald War and the defeat of the Protestants (1547) gave the emperor power to settle the religious troubles by the Augsburg Interim (see Interim) in 1548, which was accepted by the majority of the intimidated diet and was to be forced upon the city of Strasburg. This was most energetically opposed by Butzer and his younger colleague, Paul Fagius, on the ground of the Romanizing character of the document. But when the council, yielding to the force of circumstances, accepted the Interim, Butzer perceived that he could remain in Strasburg no longer, and he accepted a call to* England, whither he had been invited, together with Fagius, by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, the soul of the Reforma-
6. Butzer tion in England. In Apr., 1549, both
in arrived at London, and were met by England. Cranmer and King Edward VI. The
king wished them to translate the Bible from the original into Latin, this version being intended to serve as the basis of an English version for the people. The work was commenced at once. At the end of the summer of 1549 Butzer and Fagius were to go to Cambridge as teachersand assist in the education of candidates for the ministry. Fagius arrived first, but died of a slow fever (Nov., 1549). In Jan., 1550, Butzer commenced his lectures at Cambridge, which were attended by large crowds of students, some of whom afterward exercised a powerful influence in the Anglican Church. Butzer was directed to examine the Book of Common Prayer, and was thus led into a public disputation held on Aug. 6, 1550, to expose the opposition of the English bishops (who still leaned toward Rome) to evangelical principles and innovations. At the request of the young king, Butzer wrote his De regno Christi, which he prepared in less than three months. This work was intended to teach the true nature of God's kingdom and the means by which it might be realized in earthly form in a country like England. This
work was Butzer's last. Scarcely
7. Death had the king expressed his warm ap-
of proval and the university conferred
Butzer. the degree of doctor of divinity unconditionally, a thing which neverhappened before, when Butzer died after a short illness. He was buried with great honor in the principal church at Cambridge; but in 1556 his body was exhumed and publicly burnt. Four years.
Buxtorf By ruin