Councils and Synods
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Reformation-Era Councils and Diets (22) Synods and Assemblies (3)
Councils and Synods
Explore the councils, diets, colloquies, and synods that shaped the Protestant Reformation, arranged in chronological order.
Disputations
A chronological guide to major public theological disputations that shaped the Protestant Reformation from 1518 to 1554.
Reformation-Era Councils and Diets
Baden Disputation (1526)
Baden Disputation (1526): The Swiss divide becomes public. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Bern Disputation (1528)
Bern Disputation (1528): The Word and a city’s decision. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Dispute de Rive (1535)
Dispute de Rive (1535): Geneva before Calvin. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Flensburg Disputation (1529)
Flensburg Disputation (1529): A contest over the Lord’s Supper. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Heidelberg Disputation (1518)
Heidelberg Disputation (1518): Luther’s theology of the cross. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Ilanz Disputation (1526)
Ilanz Disputation (1526): A parish’s freedom to choose. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Lausanne Disputation (1536)
Lausanne Disputation (1536): Reform in the Pays de Vaud. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Leipzig Disputation (1519)
Leipzig Disputation (1519): Luther and Eck debate papal authority, councils, and Scripture.
Locarno Disputation (1549)
Locarno Disputation (1549): A congregation under pressure. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Münster Disputation (1533)
Münster Disputation (1533): The struggle over baptism. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Oldersum Colloquy (1526)
Oldersum Colloquy (1526): A printed debate in East Frisia. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Oxford Disputations (1554)
Oxford Disputations (1554): Conscience under Mary I. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Oxford Eucharistic Disputation (1549)
Oxford Eucharistic Disputation (1549): The Lord’s Supper in Edwardian England. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
The Colloquy of Marburg
The Colloquy of Marburg, 1529: Philip of Hesse's attempt to unite Luther and Zwingli, the fifteen Marburg Articles, the one point they could not sign together, and why the division over the Lord's Supper still matters.
The Colloquy of Regensburg
The Colloquy of Regensburg (1541): Charles V’s attempt to reunite Protestants and Catholics, the agreed article on justification, the break over the church and the Mass, and Calvin’s warning against a “half-Christ.”
The Council of Geneva
The Council of Geneva of 1536: the Dispute de Rive, the suspension of the mass, and the vote of 21 May 1536 by which the citizens of Geneva swore to live according to the Gospel and the Word of God — two months before Calvin arrived.
The Diet of Augsburg
The Diet of Augsburg of 1530: why Charles V called it, the three confessions submitted to him, the Confutation, the Recess of 19 November and its ultimatum, and the Schmalkaldic League that answered it.
The Diet of Worms
The Diet of Worms, 1521: Luther before Charles V, drawn chiefly from Roland Bainton's Here I Stand — the two hearings, the request for a day's delay, the answer of 18 April, the committee that nearly broke him, and the Edict passed by a rump.
The Diets of Speyer
The Diets of Speyer (1526 and 1529): the Word of the Lord endures forever, the recess that let each state answer to God, the Protestation that named the Protestants, and Calvin’s plea at Speyer in 1544.
The Zurich Disputations
The Zurich Disputations of 1523: Zwingli's Sixty-Seven Articles, the first Reformed confession; a city council that made Scripture the judge; and the question from Conrad Grebel that split the Reformation in two.
Zürich Baptism Disputations (1525)
Zürich Baptism Disputations (1525): The fracture over baptism. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Zürich Disputations (1523)
Zürich Disputations (1523): Scripture before the city council. A concise account of the debate and its place in the Protestant Reformation.
Synods and Assemblies
The Synod of Dordrecht
The National Synod of Dordrecht of 1578: the first national synod of the Dutch Reformed churches held on Dutch soil, its church order, its stand on the crown rights of Christ, and its concession to the magistrate.
The Synod of Dort
The Synod of Dort, 1618-1619: the Arminian Remonstrance that occasioned it, the international assembly that answered it, the God-centered theology of the Canons, its historical legacy, and conservative Reformed resources for study.
The Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly, 1643 to 1653: called by the Long Parliament in the middle of a civil war, 1,163 sessions in the Jerusalem Chamber, four contending parties, and the standards that failed in England and governed Presbyterianism everywhere else.
