It was good to be at the Evangelical Library today and to hear Austin Walker give an excellent overview of the life of forgotten Reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551). Younger than Luther and Zwingli (by 8 years) and older than Calvin (by 18 years), Bucer is the man who mentored Calvin during his three year exile in Strasbourg, brought about the unsuccessful Marburg Colloquy and spent his final years in Cambridge at the request of Thomas Cranmer.
A fascinating figure he was a Dominican monk who became a zealous Reformer in Strasbourg, where he worked with Capito, Zell and others from 1523-1549. Calvin said of him
"In addition to
his profound learning. abundant knowledge, keenness of intellect. wide
reading, and many other varied excellences, in which he is surpassed by hardly anyone at the present day, this scholar, as we know, is equalled by few and is
superior to very many. It is to his especial credit that no one in our time has
been more precise or diligent in interpreting scripture than he."
Austin surveyed his pastoral theology which has been translated into English by Peter Beale and published by Banner. He went on to talk of his instigation of confirmation for the baptised and his attempt to form fellowships within the state church, a plan doomed to eventual failure.
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