Luthers Eucharist: The Babylonian Captivity of the Church - Book Report/Review Example

Luther’s Eucharist (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church) The Babylonian Captivity of the Church has been argued to have been the most important work of Martin Luther concerning Church doctrine. This treatise developed into what came to be the foundation for Protestant worship since it set out the basis upon which the Protestant movement breaks away from the Catholic Church. This treatise is a direct criticism from Luther to Pope Leo X, whom Luther refers to as the head of the kingdom of the Antichrist since his authority was one based on secular power rather than upon the Christian faith.1 Three major points are raised in the treatise and these include the following: the reduction in the number of sacraments; both the bread and cup for the sacrament be provided to the laity during the Eucharist; and finally, the opinion against transubstantiation. The Babylonian Captivity is a work by Martin Luther which criticizes the adoption of pagan practices by the Church, making the latter to be subservient to pagan practices instead of the true Christianity. It is a work that was published in 1520 after a period earlier in that year when Pope Leo X had issued a bull that condemned his teachings against the corruption that had become rampant in the Church. The papal bull also gave him some sixty days to recant what were alleged to be his heresies, and if he did not do as the pope demanded, he would be excommunicated.2 Historians have widely speculated concerning whether Luther saw the actual bull, but the fact that he mentions it in the later parts of the Babylonian Captivity means that he may have had some knowledge of and most likely ignored it. What followed was that the pope officially excommunicated Luther and the possible reason behind his excommunication was not only because he had refused to recant the statements that he had made against the Church hierarchy, but also because he was against the sale of indulgences, which were a major source of the wealth of the Church.3 At the time when Luther wrote the Babylonian Captivity, he was under the protection of Frederick III, the elector of Saxony, and it is the latter that facilitated Luther’s continued ministry that would eventually lead to the conversion of a large number of German princes to his teachings. It was while he was under Frederick III’s protection that he wrote a treatise encouraging other German princes to follow his patron’s example and take the reform of the Church into their own hands so that there could be genuine reform.4 Luther, in this treatise begins by reiterating his previous stance against the practices of the Church which were in contravention with Christian teachings. Among these is the sale of indulgences which he considers to be an abominable act by the Church hierarchy since it has no basis in neither the doctrines of the apostles or in the teachings of Jesus Christ.5 In addition, Luther makes a statement concerning the differences that he has with the teachings of the Church that relate to the sacrament. He makes a direct criticism of the Church’s teachings that there are seven sacraments, stating that that the Church’s sacraments are more than the legitimate three, namely baptism, penance, and the bread. The other four sacraments of the Church, namely confirmation, marriage, ordination, and extreme unction, he argues, are not really sacraments but rituals which have been adopted by the Church. He further argues that all of the sacraments have to contain proof of the Word, which is a scripture that points it directly to Jesus, as well as the sign. To justify this statement, he states that all the promises that are given by God are accompanied by the word and the sign, with the former being understood as the testament, while the latter is the sacrament.6 Thus, without there being the word and a sign, there can be no sacrament since it does not have the blessing from God. From the Babylonian Captivity, one gets the impression that sacraments cannot exist if there is no direct authority for them from Jesus himself, and this is the reason why Luther disputed the four other sacraments that were practiced as part of Church doctrine. The first three, namely baptism, communion, and penance were all actions that Jesus himself participated in as a sign to his followers that they had his authority to do as he did.7 Thus, the other four sacraments that were practiced by the Church were not based on the teachings of Jesus but on questionable sources. Luther provides the example of the sacrament of extreme unction, where he points out that the anointing of the sick, despite being an exemplary Church practice, did not originate with Jesus. Instead, its origins are from the author of the epistle of James, whom Luther does not believe is the real apostle James but one who wrote many years after the latter’s death. Moreover, Luther argues that even if it was the real apostle James who wrote concerning the sacrament of extreme unction, he did not have the authority to issue such a promise since he was usurping the authority of Jesus, who alone can give such promises. In this treatise, Luther states that the sacrament of communion, which is first described by Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians, is a gift given directly to him by Jesus. Since this is an instruction that comes directly from Christ, Luther seems to be of the belief that it is an indisputable part of the Church’s sacraments which should be practiced by all Christians.8 Furthermore, he states the both baptism and penance are as a result of instructions that come directly from Christ to his followers, meaning that they cannot be disputed.9 Despite his belief that penance is a sacrament, Luther, at the end of his treatise acknowledges that perhaps it is not a sacrament at the same level as communion and baptism, since it does not have a sign, as does baptism, whose sign is water, and communion, whose sign is the bread and the cup. While it is a fact that in his later writings, he would reduce the number of the true sacraments of the Church to two, in the Babylonian Captivity, he retains three, with penance being one of the sacraments. One will find that in this treatise, Luther does not offer a solution to the riddle of penance being a sacrament without a sign, only stating that it is through penance that a Christian is required to keep in mind his baptism. In a way, Luther seems to be according remembrance of baptism as a sign of penance, hence solving the situation of the sacrament of penance lacking a sign.10 The greater part of the Babylonian Captivity seem to be remarks concerning communion and one should note that while the original treatise was written in Latin, it has come to be translated to many different languages. The first language to which it was translated was German, and these translations were made by Luther’s opponents who wished to oppose his works, but this ploy seems to have failed since it ensured that Luther had a wider audience among German speakers. It is through his remarks on communion that the other two aspects of Luther’s teachings come to light. The first of these is that he demands that both the bread and the cup be distributed among all the people who have attended mass, since at this time, the cup was reserved for the priest who was in charge of the mass. Throughout the treatise, Luther works towards making counterarguments concerning the arguments of the senior Church leaders against his positions on matters of doctrine. His stand that the cup should be shared during communion was virulently opposed by the top clergy of the Church. Luther’s counterargument on this matter is that just because the comments made by Jesus on the first Eucharist may have some validity does not mean that they have any weight in decisions concerning communion.11 He states that the priesthood should not have a monopoly over the cup because it is an essential part of communion and that all the people who attend should have the opportunity to partake from the cup. According to Luther, it is a fact that the dialogue which took place in John 6 happened a long time before Jesus instituted the sacrament and therefore should not have any relevance to the interpretation of how communion should be conducted.12 The Babylonian Captivity is an attempt by Luther to reply to the arguments raised against his position by his rivals in the Church. Luther, in his counterargument brings about instances where his rivals make their arguments through the bending of scripture to suit their respective stances.13 This bending of the scriptures to suit their purposes, instead of following it to its natural conclusions, as Luther himself did, is one of the reasons why some of the theologians who were against Luther lost credibility among their audiences. After making his arguments against his rivals, Luther then goes on to elaborate on his stance that the cup had to be shared among the congregation. He argues that the scriptures that talk directly of the communion, namely the Last Supper passages in Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as the First Letter to the Corinthians 11 display the universality of the cup, meaning that it has to be shared by all of those present during communion and not be handled by the presiding priest alone.14 Luther points out the fact that during the last supper, all of the disciples present not only shared the loaf of bread but they all also drank from the cup and this, he argues in the treatise, is a clear sign that not only the bread but also the cup have to be shared during communion. Without the sharing of the cup within the congregation, the communion cannot be complete; a direct failure of the Church in the implementation of the sacrament.15 This view seems to magnify Luther’s belief that the Church had significantly from the scriptures in its attempts to impose its doctrines on its members and that the right course of its leadership would be to follow the scriptures strictly so that its true intentions could be revealed. The fact that most of the sacraments, such as communion, and how they were conducted, according to the Babylonian Captivity, was not based on conclusions from the scriptures but on the attempt by the leadership of the Church, led by the papacy, to bend the scriptures to conform to the enhancement of its authority over Christendom.16 In this treatise, Luther makes the argument that to withhold the cup from the congregation during communion means that the entire sacrament is made invalid. In addition, the fact that the Church withholds a part of the communion from its congregation also means that it has appropriated to itself the power to withhold other sacraments from the congregation as well. The ability of the Church to withhold a part of the sacrament, according to Luther, is tantamount to taking over the authority of God and using it for its own benefit. Not handing the cup to the entire congregation means that a part of a crucial gift from God is denied to the entire congregation and as a result, the sacrament is wasted. In doing this, the Church does not follow the example laid down by Christ, since it is acting impiously and in contradiction to the scriptures. One of the arguments that Luther makes concerning the Church’s administration of the communion is that while the Church accepts that it is through the words of the sacrament that the congregation receive the grace of God, it withholds from the congregation the full grace of God by denying them the cup, which is the sign of God. Thus, while the Church gives the congregation the gift of the Word, it withholds the gift of the Sign, which should also be an integral part of the sacrament of communion.17 The result of this is that the Church keeps to itself, through its priests, the gift of the sign, which should be shared by all of the people that believe in Christ. Thus, a major part of the treatise questions the Church not giving to the congregation all of the gifts from God that are included in the sacrament of communion; he suggests that it is a consequence of the paganism that has become prevalent within the Church hierarchy.18 A key point in this treatise is that dealing with the Sacrament of the Altar or communion in relation to transubstantiation. The teaching of transubstantiation by the Church, according to Luther, is an abhorrent practice which should be stopped because it has no basis in the scriptures.19 He argues that transubstantiation is a false doctrine that was propagated by the Church long after the scriptures were written and its key practices put in place. Luther states that the Church survived its first 1200 years without the doctrine of transubstantiation and that its propagation was based on falsehoods that were not connected with the teachings of Christ. Instead, Luther suggests that the Church teach that the bread and the wine are indeed real, and that while the real flesh and blood of Christ might be present in them, they cannot be substituted for the actual flesh and blood of Christ.20 He further states that the idea of transubstantiation has no basis in the scriptures and that it Jesus had wanted his flesh and blood to become the bread and wine of the communion; he would have clearly said so to the apostles. The Babylonian Captivity would take part in the attendance of Luther at the Diet of Worms which was held before the emperor Charles V. In this Diet, senior members of the clergy demanded that Luther renounce all the statements that he had made against the Church and its doctrines.21 An emboldened Luther, however, refused to renounce and give up on his position, which were at the time considered heresies by the Church, and this led, at the conclusion of the Diet, the emperor ordering his arrest. Things, however, did not go as planned and the elector Frederick III once again placed Luther under his protection and spirited him away to Wartburg Castle. It was in his new home that Luther would continue his work on theology as well as begin his translation of the Bible into German so that more German speakers could gain knowledge for themselves as opposed to interpretations from the Church. In conclusion, the Babylonian Captivity of the Church had as its key points the various descriptions of the sacraments and Luther’s views concerning them. It is also a work that made arguments concerning the ideal of transubstantiation, stating that the doctrine behind it was false. Finally, this treatise can be considered to be the basis upon which Protestant worship from Luther’s time to the modern world has been shaped. Bibliography Brecht, Martin and Marius Richard. "Martin Luther: The Christian between God and Death / Authors Response." Church History 2000. 69 (1): 143-149. Carty, Jarrett A. "Martin Luthers Political Interpretation of the Song of Songs." The Review of Politics 2011. 73 (3): 449-467. Furey, Constance M. "Invective and Discernment in Martin Luther, D. Erasmus, and Thomas More." Harvard Theological Review 2005. 98 (4): 469. Jensen, Gordon A. Martin Luther: A life. Anglican Theological Review 86, (3) (2004.): 534-534,536. Malysz, Piotr J. Exchange and ecstasy: Luthers eucharistic theology in light of radical orthodoxys critique of gift and sacrifice. Scottish Journal of Theology 2007.60, (3): 294. Mohamed, Feisal G. Renaissance thought on the celestial hierarchy: The decline of a tradition? Journal of the History of Ideas 2004. 65, (4) (10): 559-582. Nichols, Stephen J. Prophecy makes strange bedfellows: On the history of identifying the antichrist. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 2001. 44, (1) (03): 75. Payne, John B. The rhetoric of the reformation. Church History 1999. 68, (2) (06): 450-452. Valcová, Katarína. The theology of the worship service according to Martin Luther. E-Theologos 2012. 3, (1): 68. Whitford, David M. "The Papal Antichrist: Martin Luther and the Underappreciated Influence of Lorenzo Valla." Renaissance Quarterly 2008. 61 (1): 26-52. Read More