Sárospataki Füzetek 13. (2009)

2009 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - I. John Hesselink: Kálvin a jelen és az eljövendő élethez való helyes viszonyulásról

Erik Alexander de Boer

habe synen geyst glych als wol den Tütschen ggeben als den Latinén und Griechen!’) The publication of Von dem Predigtamt clearly declared the establishment of the Prophezei as a form of instruction and training for the office of ministers of the Word.

Zwingli began his letter by presenting a summary of passages in which prophets and prophecy are mentioned. His conclusion from the New Testament, and especially l Corinthians 14, is: in the early church prophets had the duty of expounding Old Testament Scripture. They must have the ability to translate the biblical Hebrew into spoken Greek in order to be able to expound the texts. This is a great thing, Zwingli added, that so many Jews came to believe in Christ and were thus present in great numbers to explain Scripture for the heathens. But ‘he who is not an interpreter or speaker of the languages, should not address the congregation in order to explain the prophecy, but keep silent and speak to God.’

Zwingli’s main statement is: the apostle Paul shows how useful it is for Christians to know the languages in which God’s Word is written.12 But since this is not possible to all, it is good ‘that at least we have in some places teachers who can instruct others in these [languages]’. He even suggests to let ‘the useless clerics’ become extinct, so that their wealth can be used to take care of the poor and to teach the languages. Hebrew and Greek are the tongues, given by the Spirit to the Church, so that the prophecy of Scripture can be translated and expounded in the vernacular.

In Strasbourg Martin Bucer and his colleagues instituted a related form of Bible lectures. In 1526, Bucer proposed to the magistrate that the canonical services be transformed into a Prophezei. That is why some form of service around the biblical lectures was maintained. Every morning and evening a service was held with half an hour of singing the Psalms and half an hour of prophecy or christliche Übung and prayer.13 14 The place of the canons in these services was taken by preachers, schoolmasters, kirchenpfleger, and pious people who wanted to be taught in the Scriptures. The synod of 1533 and the ordonnance of 1534 codified this Convent ecclesiastique.14 During Calvin’s years in Strasbourg the Bible studies were poorly attended.ir> But the name,

12 Zwingli, Von dem Predigtamt, in: Zwingli Werke 4, 417. In 1532 Heinrich Buliinger gave a lecture, shortly after Zwingli’s death, and had it published as De prophetae officio (Zurich: Chr. Froschauer, 1532). It is an analysis of the task of expounding Scripture and of unmasking the enemies of the truth. Zwingli is honored as the outstanding example of such a prophet. Earlier Buliinger had De prophetae libri duo (1524). As such this work was never published (and remains in manuscript in: Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Car. 1166), although it may be regarded as an early draft of his work of 1532. Cf. Fritz Büsser, ‘De prophetae officio. Eine Gedenkrede Bullingers auf Zwingli’, id., Wurzeln der Reformation in Zürich [SMRT 31] (Leiden, 1985), 60-71.

13 Martin Bucer Deutsche Schriften, ed. Robert Stupperich, vol. 2 (Gütersloh - Paris, 1962), 520f.

14 Francois Wendel, L’Église de Strasbourg. Sa constitution et son organisation, 1532- 1535 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1942), i02f, 196-198. On the responsibility of the Convent in matters of preaching, see p. 204.

13 Philippe Denis, « La prophétie dans les Églises de la Réforme au XVIe siécle », in Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 72 (1977), 292-295.

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