Synod of Homberg
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The Synod of Homberg consisted of the clergy, the nobility, and representatives of European cities, it was convened on October 20–22, 1526. The synod proposed a parochial scheme to introduce democratic church governance and clerical discipline, which failed. The synod was suggested by theological disputations occurring in Zürich regarding the introduction of the Zwinglian Reformation reforms.
Prior to Martin Luther's emergence, authorities in Germany, as well as in France and England, had extended their influence into religious affairs. The Diet of Speyer on August 27, 1526, required that each sovereign authority, pending a general council, could decide matters of faith for its territory, recognizing its accountability to God and the monarch; this laid the groundwork for territorialism in favor of the Reformation.
Landgrave Philip of Hesse took this opportunity and created an assembly of "spiritual and temporal estates" at Homberg on October 20, 1526, "to deal in the grace of the Almighty with Christian matters and disputes." The proceedings commenced in the church at Homberg on Sunday, October 21. To facilitate discussion, the former Franciscan preacher François Lambert (son of a Papal official in Avignon and, at the time, a Protestant reformer) presented 158 articles for debate (paradoxa), which had been posted on the church doors of Homberg.[1][2]
After an opening speech by the chancellor, Johan Friis, Lambert read his theses, supporting them with Scripture and enumerating the abuses of the Church. In the afternoon, Adam Kraft of Fulda translated Lambert's theses into German and challenged anyone who found them "At variance with God's Word" to speak out. The Franciscan prior, Nicholas Ferber, of Marburg, responded the following morning. He contested Landgrave Philip of Hesse's authority to hold a synod, enact ecclesiastical changes, or legislate on matters of Christian faith, arguing that these privileges belonged to the Pope, the bishops, and the clergy.
When Chancellor Johan Friis urged the civil authorities to abolish abuses and idolatry, maintaining Iconoclast stance, Ferber continued to contest the synod, attacking the chancellor's character for seizing church property, without refuting the articles of debate. He soon left Hesse and issued Assertiones trecentat ac viginti adversus Fr. Lamberti paradoxa impia at Cologne, followed by Assertiones aliœ.[3]
On the synod's final day, Master Johann Sperber, of Waldau, near Kassel, attempted to justify the invocation of Mary, the Holy Mother of Jesus Christ, citing the Angelical salutation from the Gospel of Luke.
References
[edit]- ^ "History of the Christian Church".
- ^ "Gothic St. Mary's Church in Homberg". Places of Germany. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
- ^ "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VII. Modern Christianity. The German Reformation - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". ccel.org. Retrieved 2025-01-08.
- Philip Schaff History of the Christian Church, Volume VII, 1882
Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1909). "Homberg Synod and Church Order of 1526". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 5 (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. pp. 337–339.
