# Ecumenicity after the reformation



## Presbyrino (Jul 7, 2004)

A question for our resident church historians: What were the attempts at ecumenicty by the early reformers? Are there any books or papers that detail any attempts by lutherans, calvinists, and Rome at joining together again after the reformation?

Do you believe in our lifetime (in the span of 50 yrs), there will ever be a merging of one reformed church (Reformed &amp; Presbyterian)?


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Jul 7, 2004)

If you are talking about &quot;the&quot; reformers, (i.e. Calvin, Zwingli and Luther), you have the historic meeting of Oecolampadius and Zwingli with Luther and Melancthon trying to work out mutual theology. They agreed on every point but the Lord's Supper. 

Calvin seemed to mediate this position later, and Luther liked what he wrote, but never officially changed his position. 

The church then was divided by the Melancthonians (those who followed Melancthon after Luther died and were &quot;deemed&quot; Lutherans) and those of the Swiss Reformed Church following Zwingli and Calvin.

When the Anabaptists came on the scene, Zwingli and Calvin attempted to help them see the light. Many did actually turn back, but some were too obstinate thinking the Church should have no authority other than its appointed officers and so the Civil Magistrate for them was a big no no. they had other problematic theological difference, but the reformers tried to help them not to break away, but they did anyway. That cause a number of sects to pop up all around the reformation. But, you still had 3 main views - Lutherans, Reformed and the Catholics.

Later, the biggest ecumenical plea would have been Westminster in 1643.


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## yeutter (Jul 7, 2004)

What the webmaster says is entirely correct. 

Later Melancthon wrote a modification of the Augsburg Confession that satisfied Calvin. This caused a split in the Lutheran ranks between the ultra Lutherans who held to the original form of the Augsburg Confession and the Reformed wing of Lutheranism who subscribed to the 1540 revision. The Heidelberg Catechism was written to defend and more fully setforth the faith of those who held to the 1540 version of the Augsburg Confession.

A great achievement of ecumenical unity was achieved by the Dutch Church at the Synod of Dordt. They had delegates there from almost all of the generally Reformed Churches including the Church of England.


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## Puritan Sailor (Jul 7, 2004)

There was also alot of relations and correspondence established between the English/Scot reformers and the continental reformers too. Many fof the Brits and Scots fled to Germany and Geneva during Mary's reign and learned quite a bit, and brought back what they learned. Knox was a more prominent one of these men. These guys also essentially started the early Puritan movement in the Church of England.

There was also a lot of interaction between the Brits and the Dutch enduring for quite a while from the Reformation through the 1600's. 

[Edited on 7-8-2004 by puritansailor]


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