Colloquy of Marburg

Colloquy of Marburg, in Christian history, an important debate on the Lord’s Supper held in Marburg, Germany, on October 1–4, 1529, between the reformers of Germany and Switzerland. It was called because of a political situation. In response to a majority resolution against the Reformation by the second Diet of Speyer (April 1529), the landgrave Philip of Hesse sensed that the Roman Catholic rulers might proceed to subdue the Protestants by force and was convinced that a political alliance was the answer. Since the Lutherans insisted on a common confession as the basis of confederation, Philip called the colloquy to settle the controversy concerning the Eucharist, which had been dividing the reformers since 1524.

The leading participants at the meeting, Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, John Oecolampadius, Martin Bucer, and Huldrych Zwingli, held preliminary discussions and then held four sessions in the presence of the landgrave Philip, Duke Ulrich of Württemberg, delegates from participating territories, and up to 60 guests.

The point at issue in the debate concerned the nature of Christ’s presence in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Christ had said, “This is my body,” when instituting the Eucharist, and Luther defended the literal understanding of the statement. Zwingli contended that the Eucharist was a symbolic memorial rite, and he was willing to accept the doctrine of the spiritual presence of Christ in the sacrament. Luther and Zwingli believed that their differences could not be worked out, but Bucer, a member of the delegation from Strassburg, who spoke at the end of the colloquy, believed that they could possibly be reconciled.

After discussions broke down on October 3, Luther, at the landgrave’s request, prepared the 15 Articles of Marburg, based on articles (later called the Articles of Schwabach) prepared at Wittenberg before Luther departed for Marburg. The first 14 articles stated the usually accepted common doctrines of the German and Swiss South German Reformations, which had not been discussed at the colloquy. The 15th article stated that “at present we are not agreed as to whether the true body and blood [of Christ] are bodily present in the bread and wine.” The articles were discussed, revised, and signed by the theologians and were accepted by the landgrave as a statement of Protestant belief. Some material from these articles was later included in the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism.