Marburg Colloquy

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The Marburg Colloquy was a meeting which attempted to mediate between the different opinions of the Lutherans and Zwinglians over the Lord's Supper, and issues relating to transubstantiation. It took place between October 1 and October 4, 1529. The leading protestant reformers of the time attended at the behest of Philipp I of Hessen. Philipp's primary motivation for this conference was political; he wished to unite the protestant states in political alliance, and to this end, religious harmony was an important constituent.

After the Diet of Speier had confirmed the edict of Worms, the need was felt to reconcile the diverging views in particular of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli to have a unified protestant theology. Besides these two, the reformers Johannes Agricola, Johannes Brenz, Martin Bucer, Caspar Hedio, Justus Jonas, Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Oecolampadius, and Andreas Osiander participated in the disputation.

Although the two prominent reformers, Luther and Zwingli, found a consensus on fourteen points, they kept differing on the last one on the Eucharist: Luther maintained that by Sacramental Union, the consecrated bread and wine in the Lord's Supper were united to the true body and blood of Christ for all communicants to eat and drink; whereas, Zwingli considered bread and wine only symbols of the body and blood of Christ. On this issue they parted without having reached an agreement.

At the later Diet of Augsburg the Zwinglians and Lutherans again explored the same territory as that covered in the Marburg Colloquy, and presented separate statements which showed the differences in opinion.