Eucharistic Controversy Research Articles

The Miracle of the Bloody Foreskin at the Council of Charroux in 1082: Legatine Authority, Religious Spectacle, and Charismatic Strategies of Canonical Reform in the Era of Gregory VII

In 1082, at the council of Charroux convened by the papal legate Amatus of Oloron, astonished witnesses observed the Holy Prepuce, a rare body relic of Christ himself, to be miraculously spotted with fresh blood. This spectacular miracle holds implications for our understanding of charismatic strategies of religious reform in France in the era of Pope Gregory VII. Gregory’s use of standing legates with regional mandates, such as Amatus, was a novelty in papal administration, but the legates, though empowered as proxies of the pope, were often weak lieutenants. When they could not induce or coerce cooperation, they frequently confronted the impotence of their legal–canonical mandates. The miracle at Charroux, I will show, exemplifies an alternative charismatic strategy, harnessing liturgical art and spectacle to magnify the legate’s stature as an authority in the context of the Eucharistic controversy and religious reform.

"Substaunce Into Accident": Transubstantiation and Relics in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale

This article focuses on the "substaunce into accident" trope in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale. In the major critical editions, there is no cohesion among glosses of the trope and its philosophical terms. This has yielded mistaken interpretations of the trope and mis-readings of the Tale, most particularly the trope's relation to a supposed joke about transubstantiation and Wycliffite Eucharistic controversies. The most powerful and influential argument for an allusion to Eucharistic controversy is made in Paul Strohm's article "Chaucer's Lollard Joke." I aim to dismantle this reading, which has been cited often in subsequent criticism, in order to clear space for a fresh interpretation of the trope's relevance to the Pardoner and his Tale. To this end, I present a critique of Strohm's thesis by focusing on the Aristotelian idiom of Scholastic philosophy and the precise application of that terminology to an account of transubstantiation; and in the second half of the article, I develop a new reading of the trope in the context of the Pardoner's faking of relics. The Pardoner capitalizes on the indistinguishable difference between the accidental qualities of a true and fake relic. Like the cooks in his denunciation of gluttony, he turns substance into accident. Ironically, nonetheless, just as his rhetoric causes good outcomes despite his vicious intentions, so too does his faking of relics potentially turn an assemblage of accidents into the substance of true faith.

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Jay Zysk. Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama Across the Reformation Divide. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2017. Pp. xiv, 377. Paperback USD $45.00. ISBN 9780268102302.

This review considers Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama Across the Reformation Divide.

Book Review: Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama Across the Reformation Divide

Book Review: Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama Across the Reformation Divide

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide. Jay Zysk. ReFormations: Medieval and Early Modern. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2017. xiv + 378 pp. $45.

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide. Jay Zysk. ReFormations: Medieval and Early Modern. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2017. xiv + 378 pp. $45. - Volume 72 Issue 2

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide by Jay Zysk

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide

Shadow and Substance: Eucharistic Controversy and English Drama across the Reformation Divide

Nihil Terrenum, Nihilque Carnale in Ea: Matilda of Tuscany and Anselm of Lucca during the Investiture Controversy

This article investigates the relationship between Matilda of Tuscany and her spiritual advisor Anselm of Lucca during the tumultuous period of the Investiture Controversy. The contemporary sources – two Vitae of Anselm of Lucca and Donizo’s Vita Matildis – highlight both the spiritual and the secular dimension of this friendship. Furthermore, the bishop of Lucca’s five Prayers written for the countess uncover a novel aspect of Anselm and Matilda’s relationship. In these texts Anselm, while expressing a new devotion to Christ and to the Virgin Mary, shows the origin and goal of his fatherly direction for Matilda. Anselm’s novel devotion seems to have been triggered by the life and mission of Countess Matilda, generated by their common obedience to Gregory VII, and influenced by the Eucharistic Controversy, with which Anselm was associated.

Luther‘s Legacy and the Origins of Kenotic Christology

The theological energies released by Martin Luther in 1517 created a set of theological insights and problems that eventually led to the development of kenotic Christology (i. e., the view that in order for the Son of God to become incarnate and live a genuinely human life, he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives or attributes). This article traces how kenotic Christology originated in the Eucharistic Controversy between Luther and Zwingli, before receiving its first extensive treatment in the debate between the Lutheran theologians of Tübingen and Giessen in,the early seventeenth century. Attention then turns to the nine-teenth century, when doctrinal tensions resulting from the enforced union of the Prussian Lutheran and Reformed churches created the conditions for a new flowering of kenotic Christology in the theologies of Ernst Sartorius and, subsequently, Gottfried Thomasius. Kenotic Christology ultimately originates with Luther, however, for it owes its existence to the creative theological energies he unleashed and which remain his lasting legacy.

Luther and the Eucharistic Controversy

AbstractLuther wrote That These Words of Christ … Still Stand Firm to teach people what they should believe about the Lord's Supper and to refute the arguments of his opponents. Luther saw the devil as responsible for the rejection of Christ's substantial presence in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The disagreement concerning the eucharist rested on the opposing exegesis of key Scripture texts and had implications for Christology and the understanding of the relationship between theology, science, and human reason. Luther believed that his opponents taught a heretical position that endangered people's souls, and so their ideas could not be tolerated.

Tamara Atkin, The Drama of Reform: Theology and Theatricality, 1461–1553. (Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies 23.) Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. Pp. x, 195. €70. ISBN: 978-2-503-54651-3.

Tamara Atkin, <i>The Drama of Reform: Theology and Theatricality, 1461–1553</i>. (Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies 23.) Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. Pp. x, 195. €70. ISBN: 978-2-503-54651-3.

Of Bread and Wine, and Ghosts: Eucharistic Controversy and Hamlet's Epistemological Quest

The critical epistemological conundrum, faced alike by characters within and audiences of Hamlet, concerns the ambiguous ontology of the ghost. What is the nature of this supernatural being that so resembles the father and whose enigmatic advent will overturn the world of the son? Irreconcilable disputes over the essential nature of the sacrament of the Eucharist created a similar pressing epistemological conundrum in Shakespeare's world that contributed to its overturning. With allusions to the Eucharist by both the revenant and Hamlet, the playwright imports into the world of Elsinore the contemporary hermeneutic and epistemological anxiety, as well as the tension, associated with the theological controversy, especially the interpretation of Christ's words of institution ‘Hoc est corpus meum’. The oblique analogies drawn between the ghost and aspects of the sacrament imply that the former is an intentionally opaque and ambiguous site of knowledge, a parody of Christ. Furthermore, the Eucharistic debates aid in elucidating the hermeneutic conditions that affect Hamlet's pursuit of epistemological certainty, suggesting that it is adumbrated with a sense of confusion, eternal peril, and futility.

A Neglected Eucharistic Controversy: The Afterlife of John Wyclif's Eucharistic Thought in Bohemia in the Early Fifteenth Century

The renewed interest in John Wyclif (d. 1384) has brought this late medieval figure back into the spotlight of historians, giving rise to numerous studies evaluating his thought and its implications in the context of late fourteenth century England. However, it is not possible fully to appreciate Wyclif's importance in late medieval European culture without understanding the legacy of his ideas on the continent. According to the accepted narrative, John Wyclif's thought was mediated to the continent through the scholarly contacts between the universities in Oxford and in Prague, and re-emerged in the Latin writings of Jan Hus. This article argues that John Wyclif's thought, especially his critique of the church's doctrine of transubstantiation, found a larger audience among the rural clerics and laity in Bohemia, whom it reached through Peter Payne, who simplified and disseminated the works of the Oxford master. Wyclif's critique of transubstantiation sparked a nationwide debate about the nature of the Eucharist, generating numerous treatises, both in Latin and in the vernacular, on the subject of Christ's presence in the sacrament of the mass. This debate anticipated, a full century earlier, the famous debate between Luther and Zwingli and the Eucharistic debates of the sixteenth century Reformation more generally. The proliferation of vernacular Eucharistic tractates in Bohemia shows that Wyclif's critique of transubstantiation could be answered in a number of different ways that included both real presence (however defined) and figurative theologies—a fact, which, in turn, explains the doctrinal diversity among the Lollards in England.

The Role of the Eucharist in the making of an Ecclesiology according to Haimo of Auxerre’s Commentary on I Cor

Carolingian biblical exegesis presents itself as a synthesis of exegetical and theological patristic tradition in order to make it affordable to the Christians of that time. The result of that process are interpretations of biblical texts that can be considered new, though based on the texts of the Fathers. Among them it is possible to find images of the Church containing ideas about power or how to govern and to order society. This paper studies Haimo of Auxerre’s commentary on I Cor 12, 12 et seq in order to establish the author’s concept of ’body of Christ’, in the context of the Eucharistic controversy of the ninth century. It also studies the ideological consequences of his exegesis.

A Real Presence: Religious and Social Dynamics of the Eucharistic Conflicts in Early Modern Augsburg, 1520–1530 by Joel Van Amberg (review)

A Real Presence: Religious and Social Dynamics of Eucharistic Conflicts in Early Modern Augsburg, 1520-1530. By Joel Van Amberg. [Studies in History of Christian Traditions, Vol. 158.] (Leiden: Brill. 2012. Pp. x, 270. $143.00. ISBN 978-90-04-21698-3.)The Eucharistic Controversy was perhaps most significant crisis to afflict early Protestantism, leading to division between Lutherans and reformed Protestants. In this study of controversy in Augsburg, Joel Van Amberg presents laity as critical arbiters in struggle over doctrine. Opposition to Catholic and Lutheran views on sacrament-what author deems anti-corporealism-represented a rejection of series of overlapping, mutually reinforcing hierarchies (p. 4), and political, that came to dominate social, economic, and political life in late-medieval Augsburg. The revolutionary implications of anti-corporealism ensured, however, that it could never become dominant faith within city. Rather, by 1530, author maintains, sectarian groups had already begun move toward Anabaptism, redefining themselves around rejection of infant baptism rather than real presence.There is much about thesis that is attractive, but serious problems emerge on close examination of case studies that form core of book. A key figure is Hans Schilling, a radical who encouraged revolution ideas in minds of some of his congregants by providing them with religious vocabulary through which to express their discontent (pp. 56-57). The problem is, we do not know what Schilling actually said. None of his sermons survived, and comments preserved in chronicles and other sources-themselves very few in number- refer to Schilling's behavior rather than his words. Consequently, author can only speculate on content of sermons. We are told that the first chapters of Luke provide some passages for a fiery populist preacher (p. 59). These are enumerated, but there is no evidence that Schilling actually preached on these irresistible passages. Indeed, author discusses revolutionary content of Luke 6 all while admitting that Schilling would never get chance to preach beyond chapter three (p. 59). A report that Schilling engaged in insulting (p. 63) about reserving host in ciborium is used as evidence of his anticorporealist theology even though details of this talk are lacking. Schilling was supposed to have cut up a radish and distributed it to a group of people at a dinner in mockery of sacrament. This act is provided as evidence of Schilling's views on Eucharist, although author admits that this story only appears in a seventeenth-century text and is not corroborated by any contemporary source. …

Karlstadt and the Origins of the Eucharistic Controversy: A Study in the Circulation of Ideas (review)

Reviewed by: Karlstadt and the Origins of the Eucharistic Controversy: A Study in the Circulation of Ideas Richard A. Beinert Karlstadt and the Origins of the Eucharistic Controversy: A Study in the Circulation of Ideas. By Amy Nelson Burnett. [Oxford Studies in Historical Theology.] (New York: Oxford University Press. 2011. Pp. xxviii, 234. $74.00. ISBN 978-0-199-75399-4.) Within the annals of historical theology, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt often gets a bad rap. Maligned by Martin Luther and rejected by Ulrich Zwingli, his role within the development of the Eucharistic debates among the emerging evangelical movements of the early-sixteenth century has been largely overlooked beneath a cloud of rhetoric and caricatures. In this book, however, Amy Nelson Burnett digs beyond the rhetoric to crack open a fresh look at both Karlstadt and his views on the sacrament within the broader context of the sixteenth-century evangelical movement. Those looking for a systematic theology of Karlstadt’s views, however, will not find it here. Instead, Burnett plies her skills as an historian to trace the interaction of key themes within Karlstadt’s Eucharistic theology with the theologies of both major and minor Reformers of the 1510s to the 1520s through the various tracts and essays that were published on this theme. In so doing, she sketches a new picture of Karlstadt’s role as a catalyst of debate within the Eucharistic controversy that ended up fracturing the nascent evangelical movement into competing factions. Perhaps the greatest strength of Burnett’s book is that she approaches her topic as a study in the “circulation of ideas.” This allows her to move beyond the polemics that characterized the debate and to focus instead on the way in which Karlstadt’s ideas circulated throughout German-speaking territories to seed dissent reaction to these emerging discussions concerning the nature of the presence of Christ’s body and blood within the elements of the sacrament. After providing a brief outline of key themes within his Eucharistic thought, she traces the movement of these ideas not only in relationship to Luther but also to Zwingli and a host of lesser Reformation figures—a connection that has not yet been adequately explored—to illustrate the way in which his views acted like shepherding moons so as to shape and define the [End Page 564] diverging views on the sacrament that eventually fractured the evangelical movement into different confessional camps. Burnett’s genius shines in the way that she traces the circulation of these ideas from the ground up through an examination of the publication history of the various writings that constituted the substance of this debate. One could only wish that she had included more direct quotations from her primary texts within the body of her work to allow students and readers to see for themselves the way in which Karlstadt and the various Reformers stated their positions. She also does not connect the Eucharistic controversy with the earlier medieval debates concerning the nature of the sacrament, leaving the impression that the differences that surfaced during this time period were something new rather than a progression of intellectual currents with deeper historical roots. Burnett does periodically hint at what she calls “practical consequences” (p. 10) that divided the evangelical Reformers from one another; but by opting instead to follow the debate in terms of more abstract intellectual differences, her work misses the more profound connection to questions of faith formation and the relationship between objective means and subjective faith that emerged across Europe during this period. As a result, she falls short of grasping the shifting patterns of spiritual formation which went hand-in-glove with the more abstract theological debates—or at the very least, the reason behind the polemical rhetoric that divided Luther and Karlstadt from one another. In the end, her work remains (as her title suggests), not a study of shifting patterns of early-modern spirituality, but a study in the circulation of ideas. Burnett’s book breaks important ground for the historian and theologian alike. Like a good work of scholarship, it also hints at new areas of creative inquiry. As a landmark study, it will be of use...

Karlstadt and the Origins of the Eucharistic Controversy: A Study in the Circulation of Ideas. By AMY NELSON BURNETT.

Amy Nelson Burnett’s latest book fills an important gap in the scholarly literature on the early Reformation by providing a historical prelude to the eucharistic controversy which erupted towards the end of 1524 between Wittenberg and Zurich. This study focuses on Andreas Karlstadt, Luther’s early colleague and later antagonist, both as a catalyst for theological controversy and as a connecting link between late medieval eucharistic heresies and the eucharistic theologies of the emerging Protestant movements. The stated aims of the book are three: first, to describe the various eucharistic theologies that quickly developed in the early evangelical movement and explain why they were so hotly contested; second, to describe how these ideas were received, modified, and transmitted as the controversy developed; and third, to argue for the central role of Karlstadt in the early stages of the controversy. Burnett begins her account by examining Karlstadt’s earliest writings on the mass, published in June 1521 while Luther was in hiding following the Diet of Worms. Although Karlstadt’s eucharistic theology at this early stage has often been seen as merely a repetition of Luther’s ideas, Burnett detects some significant differences of emphasis which foreshadow later developments. From the start, Karlstadt emphasized much more strongly than Luther the difference between the sign and the thing signified, a difference she attributes to ‘the influence of a neoplatonic/Augustinian and Erasmian dualism that Luther did not share’. Despite this difference of emphasis, however, Karlstadt initially adhered firmly to the literal understanding of the words of institution which would be so important for Luther later in the controversy, defending the corporeal presence of Christ in the eucharist against the more radical spiritualizing of the Wittenberg Augustinian Gabriel Zwilling.

Humanism and style: essays on Erasmus and More

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Styles and Mixed Genres in Erasmus's The Praise of Folly Chapter 3 2. Some Medieval Elements and Structural Unity in Erasmus's The Praise of Folly Chapter 4 3. The Liturgical and Historical Context of Erasmus's Hymns Chapter 5 4. The Logic and Rhetoric of Proverbs in Erasmus's The Praise of Folly Chapter 6 5. The Epigraphs of More and Erasmus: A Literary Diptych Chapter 7 6. Style and Meaning in More's Utopia Hythloday's Sentences and Diction Chapter 8 7. More's Use of Patristic Evidence in the Eucharistic Controversy Chapter 9 8. The Heart of the Final Struggle: More's Commentary on The Agony in the Garden Chapter 10 9.Thomas More, a Man for All Seasons:Robert Bolt's Play and the Elizabethan Play of Sir Thomas More Chapter 11 10. Extraordinary Friends Chapter 12 Notes Chapter 13 Bibliography Chapter 14 Index