Reformation 500 WEEK 47 Heidelberg Catechism
In
1555 the Peace of Augsburg granted equal legal status in Germany to Lutheranism
and Roman Catholicism. Each local ruler determined the religion of his
territory; and minorities were free to relocate. But Zwinglians, Calvinists,
and Anabaptists were not granted legal recognition (Bainton, Reformation,
155).
In
1559, Frederick III became ruler of a territory called the Palatinate. In its
capital city of Heidelberg, there was great controversy over the doctrine of
the Lord’s Supper; one party was inclined to the Lutheran view, the other, to
the Reformed view. After studying both sides, Frederick declared himself in
1560 in favor of the Reformed doctrine; he “was the first German prince who
professed the Reformed Creed, as distinct from the Lutheran” (Scaff, Creeds,
1:532). After introducing Reformed worship throughout his country, he turned
his attention to the need for a catechism to help the churches in his land to
be Reformed.
Caspar
Olevianus was born in
1536 in the ancient German City of Trier. As “a young law student he joined the
underground Protestant movement in France” (Lyle Bierma, A Firm Foundation).
In 1556, be became friends with Prince Herman, the son of Frederick III. One day
when they were walking along a river they met some fellow students who were
drunk, “and asked the prince and Caspar to cross the river with them in a
boat.” Olevianus failed to convince the prince to remain on shore. While Caspar
looked on, the boat flipped upside down, and the students began to drown. “Seeing
the prince in danger, Olevianus leapt into the river, in an attempt to save
him.” But “he failed and only endangered himself and later confessed that, out
of terror, he vowed that if God should save him, he would serve the Lord as a
preacher to Germans. One of the prince’s servants saved him, mistaking him for
the prince” (R. Scott Clark, Caspar Olevianus and the Substance of the
Covenant, 12). After studying theology with Calvin in Geneva, he returned
to his hometown of Trier in 1559. But Roman Catholic opposition frustrated his
reform efforts; and he and his cohorts were thrown into prison. Through the
intervention of Frederick III, whose son Olevianus had tried to save from
drowning, he was released and brought to Heidelberg in 1560 where he became a theological
professor and pastor of the Holy Ghost Church.
Zacharias
Ursinus was born at
Breslau (modern-day Poland). He had studied at Wittenberg with Melanchthon and
completed his studies under Calvin in Geneva. “Calvin was deeply impressed with
him and presented him a set of his books” (Masselink, The Heidelberg Story,
70). In 1560, Frederick called him to Heidelberg as professor of theology. In
1562, Frederick commissioned his Heidelberg theologians to prepare a catechism.
Some scholars still hold the opinion “that Ursinus contributed the content and
Olevianus the form” (Essays on the Heidelberg Catechism, 79). The Heidelberg
Catechism was published in January, 1563. Frederick himself later inserted
Question and Answer 80 to further condemn the Roman Catholic Mass.
Frederick
faced charges of violating the Peace of Augsburg, but after a valiant defense
of the biblical basis of the Catechism, he was permitted to rule his country as
a Calvinist till he passed away in 1576. However, not until the Peace
of Westphalia in 1648 were Calvinists added to the list of tolerated religions.
The remainder of the Catechism will explain the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer.
NOTE: These Posts were written and designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .
Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert: Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 122
For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 47
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