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| Arthur |
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| Weicken |
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| Ebenezer |
Our opening paper on day two was a little different in that our speaker Phil Arthur sat, owing to his current health problems. Also, he made good use of the powerpoint facility to guide us through his subject. The subject was Luther and the Peasants revolt 1524, 1525. Owing to Luther's exasperation with the peasants and his outspoken comments this has become a controversial subject. With no attempt to defend the indefensible Phil gave a sympathetic portrait of Luther as he interacted with Thomas Muntzer and the peasants. The famous quote from Luther is as follows
The peasants have taken upon themselves the burden of three terrible sins against God and man; by this they have merited death in body and soul ... they have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers ... now deliberately and violently breaking this oath ... they are starting a rebellion, and are violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs ... they have doubly deserved death in body and soul as highwaymen and murderers ... they cloak this terrible and horrible sin with the gospel ... thus they become the worst blasphemers of God and slanderers of his holy name.
We had a good discussion on the perennial subject of the Christian and the civil government.
In the afternoon Florian Weicken from Zurich spoke on Bullinger and the Decades, the theological writings that had such a widespread effect in their time and beyond. This was an excellent introduction to the Swiss Reformer and his 50 sermon work of systematic theology. Discussion followed.
The last paper of the day marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of John Elias (1774-1841) and was an excellent survey of the who, the what, the how, etc, from Alun Ebenezer. Great conference once again. Can we expect another Elias? A lot has changed but the gospel has not.
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