His father was a barrel-maker and his mother a midwife. Martin Bucer became a Dominican and studied theology for ten years.
He met Luther in 1518 and adopted his ideas. After leaving the Dominicans he married a former nun, and was excommunicated.
Then he went to Strasbourg where he set up Bible reading classes and presented the Reformation in 1529. He received Calvin who had been expelled from Geneva in 1538.
Throughout his life he was a humanist and tried to safeguard the unity of the Church. He attempted but failed in trying to reconcile Luther and Zwingli who disagreed over the Eucharist (Holy Communion). He received in Strasbourg the persecuted anabaptists. He also tried to bring the Catholics and the Protestants to agree on some points, but failed.
Exiled in England
He was expelled from Strasbourg by Charles V, and took refuge in Cambridge. He taught there until his death, and played a major part in establishing the anglican Reformation.
From the start of the Reform, great importance was assigned to reading and writing, tools necessary to religious instruction based on reading the Bible.
A generation after Luther, the Frenchman Jean Calvin became the organiser of the Reformation : he organised the Church, shaped the doctrine and defined the role of the Church in state government.
The expression “radical Reformation” was given to a complex and multifarious movement that found the lutherans and the swiss Reformers not daring enough, and considered that the Reformation had only...
Luther initiated a reformation movement with the aim of correcting the practices as well as the doctrine of the Church. He did not intend to found a new Church. But...
The Reformation began very early in Alsace and was soon well established. In Strasbourg, it had two characteristics : moderation and an insistence on the Bible study. Martin Bucer’s influence spread...
