Arnoldshainer Lord's Supper Theses
The Arnoldshain Last Supper Theses (title: What do we hear as members of the one Apostolic Church as the decisive content of the biblical testimony to the Last Supper ?; often simply Arnoldshainer Theses ) are a series of eight theses that were published in 1957 by a commission of 19 Lutheran , Uniate and Reformed Churches Theologians in the Evangelical Academy in Arnoldshain (since 1972 part of the Schmitten community in the Hochtaunus district ). They should bring about an understanding of the different understandings of the Lord's Supper among the denominations involved and thereby enable complete communion in the communion of the Evangelical Church in Germany .
background
Because of the difference of opinion about the presence of Christ in the Eucharist (s. Real Presence ), which in the Eucharistic controversy could not be resolved to the reformers, made up of centuries no altar fellowship between Lutheran and Reformed churches. Up until the first half of the 20th century, the Lutherans in particular declared that neither Reformed people in Lutheran nor Lutherans were allowed to participate in Reformed communion celebrations. However, the experience of the church struggle brought the churches closer together, and so in connection with the founding of the EKD the desire arose to conclude an agreement on mutual admission to the Lord's Supper. That is why the second church assembly in Treysa in June 1947 asked the EKD Council “to endeavor to ensure that a binding discussion about the doctrine of Holy Communion with regard to church fellowship comes about”. A commission was then convened, to which theologians of different denominations, including Helmut Gollwitzer , Walter Kreck , Ernst Sommerlath , Peter Brunner , Ernst Bizer , Ernst Wolf , Hans Joachim Iwand , Eduard Schweizer , Ernst Käsemann and Günther Bornkamm belonged. Hermann Dietzfelbinger and Volkmar Herntrich left at their own request over the course of ten years. In the closing session on November 1st and 2nd, eight theses were adopted, which should summarize the discussion and open the way to the communion of communion. Only Sommerlath voted against the theses.
content
The starting point of the theses is the conviction already formulated by the fourth Synod of Confession of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union in Halle (Saale) in 1937 that Jesus Christ is the one who invites to the Lord's Supper (thesis 1) and in it "appropriates the gifts of the saving gospel" ( Thesis 2). Bread and wine belong to the Lord's Supper like prayer, thanksgiving and praise and the words of institution (thesis 3,3). The central thesis 4 states that Christ himself, not the elements of the Lord's Supper, is the actual gift: “... He ... lets himself be divorced in his body given to all for all and his blood shed for all through his promising word with bread and wine take us ... ".
Thesis 5 differentiates it from other positions, whereby both the Roman Catholic and the Zwinglian doctrine of the Lord's Supper are rejected. Theses 6–8 describe the effects and consequences of the Lord's Supper.
effect
In July 1958, the EKD Council presented the results of its work to the church public. A lively theological discussion then broke out, in which Lutheran theologians (e.g. Sommerlath, Ernst Kinder , August Kimme , Hermann Sasse ) exercised severe criticism. At the request of the EKD Council in 1960, the commission responded to the comments received and supplemented the theses with detailed explanations, which were published in 1962.
After the discussion had ended, some United State Churches (e.g. the Evangelical State Church of Anhalt ) expressly declared their consent to the Lord's Supper theses. However, the Lutheran churches could not make up their minds to do so, so that the Arnoldshain Last Supper theses initially had no effect. It was not until 1973 that their basic ideas and individual formulations were included in the Leuenberg Agreement . After all the regional churches of the EKD had signed the Agreement, the communion of communion in the EKD was also reached.
literature
- Conversation about the sacrament. The Arnoldshainer theses in the theological debate . Berlin, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 1959.
- August Kimme: The content of the Arnoldshain Last Supper theses. Critically analyzed mainly on the basis of the official explanations of the EKD's Last Supper Commission . Lutherisches Verlags-Haus Hannover 1960.
- Heinrich Benckert : The materiality of the Lord's Supper. To the conversation about the Arnoldshain Last Supper theses . Luther-Verlag, Witten 1961.
- Gottfried Niemeier (Ed.): Doctrinal discussion about the Holy Communion. Voices and studies on the Arnoldshain theses of the EKD commission for the Lord's Supper discussion . Christian Kaiser Verlag , Munich 1961.
- Gottfried Niemeier (ed.): On the doctrine of the Holy Communion. Report on the EKD's Communion Discussion 1947–1962 . Kaiser Verlag, Munich 1964.
- Wim Luurt Boelens: The Arnoldshainer Last Supper Theses . The search for a Last Supper consensus in the Evangelical Church in Germany 1947–1957 and an appreciation from a Catholic perspective . van Gorcum, Assen 1964.
- Alex Funke : Come here, you're invited. The direction of the Arnoldshain theses for understanding the Lord's Supper . Gladbeck / Westf., Schriftenmissions-Verlag 1966.
- Karl-Hermann Kandler : Luther, Arnoldshain and the Last Supper. The challenge of the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper through the Arnoldshain Lord's Supper theses . Berlin, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 1970.
- The Lord's Supper. 25 years after Arnoldshain. A vote of the theological committee of the Arnoldshainer Conference . Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1982.
Web link
- The Arnoldshain Last Supper Theses with commentary (PDF file; 37 kB)