23.10.1999
Augsburg, Luther and the Fuggers
History fused with theological, political and economic implicationsGENEVA, 23 October 1999 (lwi) – Would Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg’s castle church, on 31 October 1517, have been just a marginal, local event in history, if it had not been for Jakob Fugger of Augsburg, one of the richest men of his time? There are many reasons to say yes, even though historical watersheds on this scale can never be explained from one dimension.
In any case, the choice of Augsburg for the ceremony confirming the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a reminder of the theological, political and economic ins and outs of the Reformation period. There is hardly another city where they are so clearly visible.
The Augsburg Confession, the Confessio Augustana (CA), has become world famous as the Lutheran churches spread to every continent. In 1530 it was read out in Augsburg, before the Emperor and the Holy Roman Empire, as an offer of unity from the Protestant princes and the free cities of the Empire. Emperor Charles V, however, used his power to try to have it rejected. Today the CA is the fundamental confession of the Lutheran churches, many of which even include its name in theirs.
But even before Luther’s posting of his theses in little Wittenberg became a major political event, Jakob Fugger had taken notice of it. The attack on the sale of indulgences had a direct bearing on the economic interests of the Fuggers, since they had one of the biggest banks and business firms of their time. Only by means of credit from the Fuggers had Charles become Emperor.
Only with credit, which he had to repay with income from the sale of indulgences by the preacher Tetzel, had Albrecht of Brandenburg been able to buy himself worldly and church offices. It was in Fugger’s house in Augsburg that the papal legate Cajetan met with Luther in 1518 to try to silence this annoying critic. And it was the theologian Johannes Eck, who was supported by the Fuggers and gained his fame with theses in justification of the five per cent interest rate, who was put up against Luther.
Thus it was in Augsburg that Martin Luther’s ideas took on the political and economical explosiveness which gained him recognition for his teaching on justification by God’s grace alone. Four hundred fifty years of political tensions, wars and reciprocal condemnations between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches were the consequences. This history of suffering, which has so heavily affected the credibility of the Christian churches, is now coming to an end with the confirmation, again in Augsburg, of the Joint Declaration.
In view of a successful conference on the social consequences of the doctrine of justification, held last year in Wittenberg by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Joint Declaration also takes on importance for future cooperation among the churches on social and economic issues. These are fundamental changes.
When Ishmael Noko and Idris Cardinal Cassidy, together with other LWF and Vatican representatives, place their signatures on the Common Statement confirming the Joint Declaration in St. Anne’s Church in Augsburg, they will not be far away from the grave of one of Luther’s most decisive opponents during the early Reformation. Jakob Fugger died in 1525 and was buried in St. Anne’s.
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