Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/143

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The Years of Separation
95

On the dispute between Luther and Zwingli, W. Walther74 has shed new light. He discloses the dishonest methods to which the opponents of Luther constantly resorted during the Eucharistic controversy, and thus he explains the feeling of distrust Luther had for Zwingli and his brothers in arms. Jæger and Thimme emphasize the religious interest Luther had in the Real-Presence, whereas Græbke shows the construction of the Lutheran doctrine of The Eucharist in its development, but hardly with sufficient accuracy.74

In 1529 the Religious Discussion at Marburg took place. Kolde, in Hauck's "Realencyklopædie," has furnished us the best treatise on this remarkable occurrence. In his "Augsburger Konfession"75 he has also made easily accessible the text of the Articles of Marburg. H. von Schubert75 showed that the Articles of Marburg were not prior to the Articles of Schwabach, as was formerly thought; that rather the Articles of Schwabach were fundamental to the Articles of Marburg. The Articles of Schwabach very likely were already written by Luther in June, to serve as the basis for a common confession of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Nuernberg and Saxony (cf. also Schornbaum's writings75). Luther took them to Marburg, where they were divested of some of their darts against Zwingli.

The separation from Zwingli and his friends was kept up at Augsburg. Through Kolde's investigations76 we have gained a concrete idea of how much of the Augustana was placed before Luther, and of what great dimensions Melanchthon's lamentable yielding to Rome really was. We now realize all the more why Melanchthon so seldom sent a report to Luther at Coburg, and we can assume that Luther had fulfilled his promise, or rather