Urbanus Rhegius, Die new Leer sambt irer Verlegung, Strasbourg 1527 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Polem. 2285 f)

Urbanus Rhegius (1489–1541) summarised the evangelical-reformatory teaching in his “Nova doctrina” (New Doctrine). The work was published in the spring of 1526 and, due to its success, in the following year a German translation was put onto the market. From today’s perspective, their titles are rather misleading, since Rhegius – together with the other reformers – saw the Reformation as the “old”, true doctrine. To him, it is rather the doctrine of the Roman Church which is “new” and which he classifies as heretical.

Rhegius emphasises the Gospel as the core of the Christian message. By contrast, he sees the ecclesiastical tradition as formed by human intervention. From the point of view of the Roman Church, human conscience must orientate itself on ecclesiastical law. However, the decisive factor is the biblical testimony which alone expresses Christian authority. Rhegius also refers to the doctrine of justification as the “heart” of the Reformation: “The attainment of grace cannot be influenced, it can only be attained through faith and God himself.”

While he is completely on Luther’s side in these passages, in the section on the question of the Lord’s Supper, Rhegius’s proximity to Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) is made apparent. He rejects Luther’s adherence to the actual transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ (transubstantiation). Rhegius rather sympathises with Zwingli’s view according to which the change is to be understood symbolically.

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