Happy New Year! January 1 was the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. The appointed Gospel reading for the day is a single verse, Luke 2:21: "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so...
E.J. Hutchinson
Bucer to Bullinger (4): On the Holy Supper
Here is the fourth installment of a 1535 letter (really, a smorgasbord treatise in miniature) from Martin Bucer to Heinrich Bullinger. This is the last section (for the moment) on the Lord's Supper. As in the previous posts, I've included all the previous material for...
“The Battered Brood of Baby Boys”: A Fifth-Century Hymn (4)
We're back this week with three more verses from Sedulius's A solis ortus cardine (K, L, M). The timing works out well, because the "K" verse is about the Holy Innocents, and Tuesday (12/28) is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, of whom Auden, in For the Time Being, had...
Bucer to Bullinger (3): On the Holy Supper
We continue with selections from a 1535 letter from Martin Bucer to Heinrich Bullinger. The topic is still the Lord's Supper. I've included the previous two paragraphs for convenience; the new bit is the third paragraph. Bucer to Bullinger on the Lord's Supper...
“Incensed Conversely”: A Fifth-Century Hymn (3)
This week for "Melanchthon Monday," we once again...aren't getting Melanchthon. Instead, here are the next three stanzas (G, H, I) of Sedulius's hymn A solis ortus cardine. The first stanza (G) would have been particularly appropriate for last week, which was Gaudete...
Bucer to Bullinger (2): On the Holy Supper
Part 1, along with some introductory remarks, is here; but I've also included the first paragraph of the translation in this post so that the argument is easier to follow. Bucer to Bullinger on the Lord's Supper Concerning your confession: When you make the dispute a...
Bucer to Bullinger (1): On the Holy Supper
Recently, while trying to figure out a few things about the textual history of Martin Luther's 1535 Galatians commentary, I stumbled across an excerpt from a contemporary (i.e., 1535) letter from Martin Bucer to Heinrich Bullinger that mentions the commentary. When I...
The Philosophical Absurdity of the Incarnation: Luther, Augustine, and Auden
In Martin Luther's Disputation concerning the Passage: "The Word Was Made Flesh" (1539) we find the following thesis (2): In theologia verum est, verbum esse carnem factum, in philosophia simpliciter impossibile et absurdum.In theology it is true that the Word was...
“Domained in Mary’s Modesty”: A Fifth-Century Hymn (2)
Last week I translated the first three stanzas of Sedulius's abecedarian hymn A solis ortus cardine (A, B, C). For this week, I've done the next three (D, E, F). I've included the first three as well, and will plan to continue that practice in the future, adding the...
Eyes and Ears in Luther (Again)
Once more on Luther's House Postil sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent. Last week we looked at the way in which Luther's account of "reason" (eyes) and "faith" (ears) informed his view of the Triumphal Entry and his sacramentology. But this basic insight is not,...