The Controversy over the Lord’s Supper in Danzig 1561–1567: Presence and Practice—Theology and Confessional Policy by Bjørn Ole Hovda (review)

Hovda offers a perceptive study of a local controversy over the Lord’s Supper, which raises continuing questions about Lutheran liturgical practices. Presently an archivist in Kongsberg, Norway, Hovda revised his 2014 doctoral dissertation at the University of Oslo under Tarald Rasmussen, with Robert Kolb as a committee member. His writing is clear and his research thorough, as he lays out the historical and sociopolitical dimensions of a nuanced theological debate centered on the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. I found it refreshing to read a historical study that takes theological content and liturgical practices seriously.

Controversies over Christ’s Real Presence in the communion elements have been part of the Christian milieu ever since Radbertus and Ratramnus presented their cases in the ninth century. The specific issue in Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland) centered on the occasion and extent of Christ’s presence in the bread and wine (chapter one). Two major groups (led by Viet Neuber and Erhard Sperber) vied for official recognition, reflecting late sixteenth-century intra- Lutheran struggles between Gnesio-Lutherans and Philippists. Several issues about the Lord’s Supper came to the fore, including the purpose, value, and necessity of the act of consecration, the elevation and/or adoration of the host, and Philipp Melanchthon’s understanding of Christ’s non-presence extra usum (“outside the use”) in the communion service. In addition, issues around the office of the ministry, the power of civil government in theological issues (two kingdoms) and the role of adiaphora were raised.

Neuber initially was accused by Sperber of irreverent (Calvinistic or at least Sacramentarian) treatment of the consecrated elements after communion. In response, Neuber accused Sperber of being a papist. The controversy centered on the consecration of the elements and the question of when the Real Presence ceased, if at all. Each pastor prepared a statement to argue his point. Soon, the city council of Danzig was brought into the fray with its own document, Die Notel, as were other theologians—Johannes Weidner and several Philippists, who rejected adoration and reservation of the communion elements when extra usum (that is, after the consumption), and Johannes Wigand, Benedict Morgenstern, Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Martin Chemnitz and other Gnesio-Lutherans, who defended ecclesiastical freedom and argued for the importance of the consecration.

Debate heated up in the next years, which Hovda details in chapter two by providing an overview of subsequent documents, especially the Sperberian refutation, Widerlegung der Notel and the Neuberian Apologia. Although he does not translate them in full (which might have been helpful for the non-German reader), he alludes to their content in fairly thorough detail. Hovda also discusses the sociopolitical context of late sixteenth-century Danzig (chapter three), including the growth and decline of the Hanseatic League, the involvement of the Polish crown, and Danzig’s mercantile trade with the Dutch and English. This rigorously argued controversy, along with the subsequent Saliger Controversy of 1568–1574 (chapter four), led to a “clarification” in the Lutheran Formula of Concord in 1577 (see FCSD VII 73–91). Hovda’s chapter, “Excursus: The Black Rubric,” describes a controversial sentence from the Book of Common Prayer, which he claims evidenced “an analogous controversy” (273), yet for this reviewer it did not seem as nuanced, or relevant.

Elevation and adoration of the host, the import and necessity of consecration, and the duration of the Real Presence had intriguing consequences. While affirming the Real Presence of Christ in the sacrament, how and when this occurred was a key factor in defining Lutheranism in the sixteenth century. Neither side wished to be accused of being Papists or Sacramentarians; both wanted to respect the nuances of their confession. Hovda summarizes the issue well in his last chapter as he points out “the fact that the controversies were about concrete...