Friday, August 2, 2024

It is the 2nd of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

I’m sure it has brought down many a good preacher or teacher- the desire to make a pun about the thing that, during the Holy Roman Empire, used to be called a council- a gathering of people of significance to discuss empire-wide matters.

Throughout the Middle Ages, especially later, as the Emperor usurped some of the churches' claimed authority, an imperial gathering was more important than a church council. These gatherings tended to rotate between cities, long, well-trafficked, and convenient crossroads. And yes, the most famous was at Worms (there is a “w” so you can say “worms”)—the “Diet” of Worms.

These “diets” or meetings tended to happen in the same places because of their convenience, so we must distinguish between the various Diets of Worms, Speyer, Regensburg, etc…

The word “Diet” seems to be etymologically related to words for ‘an appointed time’ and ‘allotment.’ So, both a meeting and only consuming a certain allotment make sense.

You can learn the history of the early Reformation by jumping from diet to diet.

Luther declared his 95 Theses to be his own and according to Scripture at the Diet of Worms in 1521.

At the Diet of Speyer in 1526, a council voted to grant Lutherans religious tolerance until a later council could confer.

At the Diet of Speyer in 1529, these concessions were rescinded, and the followers of Luther protested against the closing of the council against their will. This protesting got them the name “Protestant,”- so the next time a Lutheran claims not to be Protestant… enter shrugging shoulders emoji.

In 1530, the Lutherans made their first real official move—they presented a confession of faith written by Luther’s second-in-command, Philip Melanchthon. This “Augsburg Confession” would become the doctrinal basis of the Lutheran church (some added to it and compiled the larger “Book of Concord”).

Interestingly, the Lutheran issue was not the Emperor's primary concern in 1530. He had the Turks on his mind as they pressed towards Vienna at the Danube. Secondly, new goods and currencies flooding the market made for a tricky economy. But the presentation of the confession was a second volley after the 95 Theses 13 years prior.  

But all of that may have been for naught if not for another Diet- this time in Regensburg (also called Ratisbon) in 1532.

It was called because those “protestants” who had recently coalesced around a confession of faith in Augsburg had two things change in their favor. The first was the creation of the Schmalkaldic League. This “league” included princes and electors who had joined the Reformation cause, and they were bound now by alliances such that to attack one Protestant group was to attack the other.

Secondly, despite being turned back in 1529, Suleiman the Magnificent had come up through modern Hungary to the banks of the Danube opposite Vienna.

Charles was concerned because Austria was one of the territorial lands of his Hapsburgs, and his son, the heir and Archduke of Austria, Philip, needed help.

Emperor Charles V couldn’t risk alienating the Protestants lest they turn on him and ally with the Turks (this was not out of the question). Instead, he proposed an alliance with the Protestant league (at this point, it was still open to multiple branches of Reformation Christianity- it was only made exclusively Lutheran later). This alliance would bring together Western Europeans to fight for territorial sovereignty against a common foe. Furthermore, Philip had a religious truce drafted at Nuremberg, which was approved by his father, along with the alliance with the Protestants, on the 2nd of August in 1532. Even amidst the early Reformation battles, it is interesting to see the groups rally together against a foe deemed greater by both parties.

The rest of the German Reformation runs through these Diets- the Emperor wasn’t an all-power despot and needed a “diet” to affirm his policies. And it was especially helpful amidst the Reformation- as there were multiple Diets from Worms in 1521 to Regensburg in 1532 and beyond in places like Augsburg where both an “interim” and a “peace” finish the story of the early Lutheran Reformation. Today, we remember one of those important “Diets” at Regensburg in 1532 that set the stage for the others and the course of Reformation history.

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- as the story of David is unfolding in the Old Testament reading- if you’re following that story- a few stanzas of Psalm 51 are good for that and at all times.

You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

    and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

    and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

    and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

    and sustain in me a willing spirit.

  

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose own diet has been moulded by his hometown’s breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches (at least that what it says on the internet about West Lafayette, Indiana) He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who promised I wouldn’t make a “diet pun”…. And now I have to eat my words… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.