Martin Bucer

Martin Bucer: Influence on the Christian Reformation

Martin Bucer is considered the most influential leaders of the German reformation. He was born in Schlettstadt, Alsace on November 11, 1491. He was born Martin Kuhhorn. His name has been written in several different ways including Martinus Buccer, Martinus Bucerus, and Martin Butzer. Martin Bucer lived a fulfilling life with the ultimate goal of reforming against the Roman Catholic Church which can be seen by his influential involvement in both the German and English Reformation.

At the young age of fifteen, Bucer was enrolled in the Order of St. Dominic in his native town of Schlettstadt where he became ordained to priesthood. He did not join the Dominican Order to pursue a monastic lifestyle, but instead, with the sole purpose of receiving a quality education. In 1517, Bucer was sent to the University of Hieldberg so that he may continue to pursue his studies and he graduated on January 31, 1517. At the University of Hieldberg Bucer became exposed to the works of great theologians such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas Aquinas, and the great Martin Luther. When Martin Luther had his disputation at Heidelberg, Bucer attended and was also presented with the opportunity to become personally acquainted with him over supper. Eventually, Bucer was won over by Luther's beliefs and was inspired to withdraw from the Dominican Order and become an avid disseminator for the reform.

In 1521, Bucer was allowed to withdraw from the Dominican Order by papal dispensation of his monastic vows. Papal dispensation is a reserved right of the Pope that allows for individuals to be exempted from a specific Canon Law. In 1521 he became court chaplain of Frederick the Elector Palatine. In 1522 he worked as the priest at Landstuhl, in the Palatinate. During his term he married a former nun, Elizabeth Silbereisen (sometimes known as Elizabeth Palast). Bucer is considered one of the first priests to break his vow of celibacy openly, even though it had been going on for years. Erasmus humorlessly remarked that the reformation was not so much a tragedy, as a comedy, because it always ended in a wedding.

Bucer was forced to move from Landstuhl to Strasburg in 1523 where he became the chief reformer of the city. The city had been known for having been blessed by such great preachers such as Matthew Zell, Wolfgang Capito, Casper Hedio, Johann Sturm, Calvin and now Martin Brucer. Here Bucer began to lay the foundation for the Protestant educational system. As chief reformer, Bucer enforced the idea that everything that we do must be according to the will of God.

Bucer's view on various theological topics originate from the works of many reformers, but is most like the views of Huldrych Zwingli, the famous Swiss reformer. Since Bucer was an avid follower of both Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli, he was able to find a balance between their beliefs except for a single topic: the Eucharist. Martin Luther believed that consubstantiation occurred and that the bread and wine, at the same time, were the body and blood of Christ, whereas Zwingli believed that the bread and wine are merely symbolic. Bucer agreed with Zwingli on the topic of the eucharist. Bucer believed that the focus of communion should be more on the commemoration of the death of Jesus than what we are eating and drinking.

Bucer's first wife, Elizabeth, died from the plague in 1541. Elizabeth bore 13 children, but only one survived. Bucer's new wife, Wibridis Rosenblatt, was the widow of former reformers Cellarius, Oecolampadius,