When light comes after a period of darkness, it is to be celebrated! This made the phrase ‘After Darkness, Light’ (Post Tenebras Lux) one of the most recognisable slogans of the Protestant Reformation. It is also behind an extremely popular set of engravings entitled ‘The Candle is Lighted, We Cannot Blow It Out’.
There are multiple versions of this, but the basic composition is always the same: it shows a table with the key figures of the Protestant Reformation gathered around it, with Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli at the centre. At the bottom of the image, there are figures representing the Catholic Counter-Reformation unsuccessfully trying to blow out a candle representing the light brought by the Reformation.
It is interesting to reflect on the fate of the Reformation figure whose name most closely resembles the candle. In some versions, he is entirely absent; in others, he is relegated to the margins. In the image above, you can see him in the top left corner. His name is Johannes Oecolampadius.
The situation has not improved since the time the candle images were created. It is fair to say that Oecolampadius does not have instant name recognition today, even among people who are historically aware. Yet, I believe the ‘Reformer of Basel’, as he was known in his day, has much to teach us as 21st-century Christians.
The Making of a “House Lamp”
Johannes Oecolampadius was born in 1482 in Weinsberg in the Holy Roman Empire, today located in Germany. His name at birth was Johannes Hausschein (which means “house lamp”). However, after gaining a humanist education, he followed the practice of Latinising it. Hence Oecolampadius, which is a fitting name for someone who sought to bring the light of the gospel to his city and to the world.
By all accounts, he was a precocious child with a deep hunger for learning. In his early years and well into his thirties, this seems to have been his major preoccupation. In this sense, the path that he took was quite different from those of many other reformers, who were active in the world of church reform early on. Instead, he spent many years immersed in study, focussing on law, philosophy, and theology, and taking in the universities of Heidelberg, Tübingen, and Bologna along the way. He finally gained his doctorate when he was 36 years old.
His studies made him one of the most intellectually equipped among the Reformers, particularly in the field of linguistics. He had total mastery of Greek and Hebrew, to the extent that he was appointed as an assistant in the project to produce a new Greek version of the New Testament. This was published by Desiderius Erasmus in 1516.
This description of Oecolampadius’ academic achievements should not leave us with the impression that he was entirely focussed on intellectual pursuits. His formative years were also characterised by a profound spiritual restlessness. This culminated in his decision to enter a monastery in 1520, at age 38, in the hope of deepening his spiritual life.
This date is obviously a few years after the launching of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, and Oecolampadius soon got into trouble with monastic authorities because of his Lutheran sympathies, particularly his insistence on the authority of Scripture and his rejection of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. This eventually led to a very dramatic exit from the monastery, where in 1522 he declared to his brother monks that he should be expelled as a heretic! However, he did not wait for them to take this action. He followed this statement by walking out of the cloister, getting on a waiting horse, and eventually making his way to the city of Basel to start a new life.
The Reformer of Basel
The Swiss city of Basel, on the Rhine, sits very neatly at the crossroads between the German and French-speaking worlds, and it was here that Oecolampadius would make his major impact. He was appointed priest at St. Martin’s Church and as a professor at the university. At this stage, he was seemingly set for a quiet career as a scholar-priest.
This role would have suited him to a tee, as he had a quiet, introverted personality with zero experience of political leadership. Yet, it seemed that the Lord had other plans. Almost overnight he was transformed into the leader of the Reformation in Basel. At the heart of this was his clear and fearless preaching and teaching of the Word.
He started his ministry in Basel by lecturing on the book of Isaiah. His insights captivated the student body and the wider community, causing many people to move towards the acceptance of Protestant ideas. As was common in the Swiss context, the religious differences between Protestants and Catholics led to a series of disputations before the City Council.
In Basel, these were held in 1523 and 1524, where Oecolampadius very successfully and forcefully argued for Protestant ideas. In implementing these ideas, he followed a far more gradualist course to implementing the Reformation than the one Ulrich Zwingli was charting in Zurich.
In fact, it was only by 1529 that the Reformation was formally adopted in Basel. Even then, Oecolampadius retained some elements of worship that were familiar to the community, for example, morning and evening prayers, certain festivals, and a greater degree of liturgical continuity with the past.
In terms of his contribution to the wider Reformation, Oecolampadius is perhaps best remembered above all for his contribution to the Eucharistic controversy. At the Colloquy of Marburg, held in 1529, he was one of Zwingli’s most famous and effective collaborators in opposing Martin Luther’s doctrine of the real presence in the Eucharist. He very effectively went toe-to-toe with Luther and earned his grudging respect. He also emphatically declared that both sides of the debate were deeply in need of God’s grace.
Why is He Less Well Known?
This description of his life and contribution leads to the question as to why someone who championed the Reformation in one of Europe’s most important cities and took centre stage in the most hotly contested intra-Protestant debate, effectively disappeared from the consciousness of most Protestant Christians today. There are probably a few reasons for this.
Firstly, Oecolampadius operated very much in the shadow of Ulrich Zwingli. Before John Calvin, Zwingli was seen as the uncontested leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Zwingli had a very forceful personality and suffered a very dramatic death by being killed at the Second Battle of Kappel in 1531. In contrast, Oecolampadius’ life and ministry were far less forceful; he preferred to do his work quietly and somewhat in the background.
One might say that history favours the forceful and those drawing rigid lines. Instead, in an age of vigorous debate, Oecolampadius looked for consensus and acted as a peacemaker. This means that there was never any party that rallied to him, and he did not establish any lasting structures or denominations that looked to him as their primary inspiration.
Another factor is that he had a very short career, whereas Luther and Calvin, for example, ministered for decades. In contrast, Oecolampadius’ involvement as a leader in the Reformation lasted only nine years, from 1522 until his death in 1531. In fact, he died only weeks after Zwingli, leaving the Swiss Reformation in a very precarious position. Thankfully, the ship was steadied through the influence of Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli’s successor, which solidified the place of Zurich as the centre of the German-speaking Swiss Reformation.
Lessons for 21st Century Christians
Let’s now turn to what we can learn from Oecolampadius, the ‘House Lamp of the Reformation’, for the Church in our day and age. I believe that the lessons to be learnt from his life are needed today as much as in his own time. Here are five key takeaways from his ministry for modern Christians:
1. The power of patient bridge-building.
We live in an extremely polarised cultural moment. As Christians, we can sometimes feel the need to adopt ultra-aggressive tactics in order to be heard and make an impact. Oecolampadius operated with a different spirit. His temperament and approach were always geared at achieving consensus and cooperation among those who were in dispute. While Zwingli was willing to go to war, literally, for his convictions, Oecolampadius sought to gently persuade through solid arguments. He lived in a winsome manner. His ministry shows us that one can be utterly uncompromising on the truth, as he was, for example, in his convictions on the Eucharist, without seeking to tear down and destroy those you are debating with. He consistently sought to be firm without being fractious, and we would do well to pay attention to this, especially in settings where debates on secondary issues can become so heated that they risk alienating brothers and sisters in Christ from each other.
2. Integrating family and ministry.
It has often been noted that the parsonage, the household of the minister, has been one of the gifts of Protestant Christianity to the Church. Oecolampadius was a pioneer in this, showing that discipleship should also be faithfully practised in the domestic sphere. Oecolampadius married quite late in his life, in 1528 at age 45. His wife was Wibrandis Rosenblatt, who was a remarkable woman in her own right. She is sometimes known as the “Bride of the Reformation” as she would go on to marry two other reformers, namely Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer, after Oecolampadius’ passing.
Oecolampadius did not see his marriage as an impediment to his ministry. Instead, he found it to be a spiritual asset, describing Wibrandis as a woman who was used to bearing the cross, which is exactly what he needed in a companion. In breaking with tradition, he did not name their three children after family members, but after the spiritual qualities that he prized most. Their names were Eusebius (Godliness), Aletheia (Truth), and Irene (Peace). This was a statement about the qualities that he wanted to have in his home, seeing it as a seedbed of Christian faith and virtue. As 21st-century Christians, we can so often struggle with the demands of ministry, work, and family. Oecolampadius reminds us that our families are one of the primary settings in which we should seek the glory of God.
3. The importance of deep scholarship.
We live in a very superficial age where public discourse can sometimes be dominated by soundbites and memes. Oecolampadius stands as a powerful corrective to this, as we are reminded of his commitment to slow, profound, and deep learning. He did not rush into a position of leadership at the first opportunity. Instead, he spent years preparing himself, including mastering Greek and Hebrew along the way. He did not pursue these studies for the sake of academic prestige, but in order to be more useful to the church. The linguistic skills that he developed allowed him to assist Erasmus in the publication of the new Greek New Testament, a project that was at the very heart of the unfolding of the Reformation. Later on, his teaching transformed the city of Basel. His life and ministry remind us that our faith is about both heart and mind. True Reformation is not only about zeal and passion, but also about applying the truths of God’s Word to the mind.
4. Ministering with pastoral patience.
People often find change hard and difficult, and pastors can sometimes struggle to take people with them. This can happen either through moving too fast, thus alienating people, or too slow, meaning that no meaningful change occurs. Oecolampadius strove to embody a middle way. He was uncompromising on core theological truths, for example, through his insistence on the ultimate authority of Scripture and rejection of transubstantiation. However, he took a patient approach in terms of applying these truths in practice. For example, for a time he retained morning and evening prayers, which is something that his parishioners had been used to. He also worked hard to explain certain changes. Oecolampadius moved slowly, not because he was wedded to tradition, but because he cared for the consciences of weaker brethren. We would all do well to learn from his patient yet firm application of truth. He reminds us that true reform starts by the changing of the heart through the Word, and that this will eventually translate into profound life change.
5. Faithfulness away from the spotlight.
A striking feature of Oecolampadius’ ministry was that he was willing to serve diligently and faithfully without being the star of the show. He was content to assist Erasmus, to support Zwingli, and to serve faithfully without being the Luther or Calvin in the Reformation story. In a culture that can sometimes elevate celebrity as a substitute for truth or faithfulness, he reminds us that these things are not measured by fame. He was content to be a house lamp, not a blinding spotlight, a steady warm presence that illuminated his own house, and those in his circles, with the truth of the Gospel.
Johannes Oecolampadius died in November 1531, shortly after hearing about the death of Ulrich Zwingli. At that moment it seemed that the Reformation in Switzerland was in deep peril, but God in His kindness raised up a new generation of leaders. One of these, who would eventually go on to become a leader of the Reformation in the Rhineland, was Martin Bucer, who stated of Oecolampadius, “We had no greater theologian.”
Oecolampadius did not leave behind a denomination named for him. His books are today barely read outside of specialist circles, yet some of his key convictions would become essential parts of the DNA of Reformed Christianity. His emphasis on the original languages, on marrying mind and heart, and his cherishing of the Christian family as a primary focus for discipleship still have much to teach us. We should also pay careful attention to his winsome engagement with those with whom he disagreed, patiently explaining and expounding his convictions without compromise, but also without alienating those who disagreed with him. So, in this way too, Oecolampadius invites us to a life of patience, and to seek paths of deep discipleship, as we glorify God and share the gospel.