BUCER, MARTIN

byooˈsər, bootˈsər, 1491–1551, German Protestant reformer born Martin Kuhhorn. At 14 years of age he joined the Dominican order, and he studied at Heidelberg, where he heard (1518) Luther in his public disputation on the doctrine of free will. Influenced by the reformist thought, Bucer left the order and accepted a pastorate at Landstuhl. In 1523 he entered upon the work of the Reformation in Strasbourg, where he helped to lay the foundations of the Protestant educational system. Many of his activities were attempts to reconcile the differences in regard to the Eucharist (see Lord's Supper) that divided the Lutherans from the Swiss and S German reformers. Bucer's position was closer to that of the Swiss leader, Zwingli, and in this, as in other doctrinal matters, he is credited with a spiritual kinship to Calvin. In spite of his desire for unity, Bucer rejected the Augsburg Confession (see creed), drawn up in 1530 in the hope of achieving religious peace. It was not until a personal meeting with Luther in 1536 that, in the Wittenberg Concord, Bucer was successful in securing agreement on the Eucharist among himself, Luther, and the reformers of S Germany. When Bucer failed to subscribe to the Augsburg Interim (1548)—a compromise between Roman Catholics and Protestants proposed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V—he found it expedient to accept the invitation of Cranmer and moved to England. There, highly honored, he taught at Cambridge and tutored Edward VI, at whose request he wrote De regno Christi.

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