Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Historical Theology

First Advisor

Gerhard Bode

Scripture References in this Resource

Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22–24; Luke 22:19–20; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; John 6

Abstract

Grünbaum, Sebastian, A. Studies in the Reception of the Council of Trent in 16th-Century Lutheranism as Seen in the Eucharistic Theology of Martin Chemnitz’s Examen Concilii Tridentini. Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2025. “[338]” pp.

This dissertation focuses on the intra-Tridentine dialogue during the Council of Trent Session XIII (1551), which treated question related to the Lord’s Supper, and the Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz’s (1522–1586) examination of it.

The Council of Trent (1545–1563) largely defined the theological and administrative direction of the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. On the one side the Council tried to systematize, organize, and understand the church’s medieval heritage, while at the same time it defended itself against different theological schools during the reformation (i.e., modern day Reformed and Lutherans) and offered an official refutation of their teachings.

In 1564 the Portuguese theologian Diego Andrada published a work called Ten Books of Orthodox Explanations against Martin Chemnitz. This work is significant because it shifted Chemnitz’s attention towards the Council of Trent. Andrada, who attended the Council personally, claimed to speak on the behalf of the Council. Andrada’s work arrived in Braunschweig, Chemnitz’s hometown, at the same time as the decrees of Trent. The work of Andrada likely provoked Chemnitz to write his massive Examen, which to this day remains the most extensive reply to the Council of Trent. Neither Chemnitz nor anyone else had access to the intra-Tridentine dialogue during the Council. Pope Pius IV planned to publish the proceedings of the Council, but died before he could. Thus, the proceedings were sealed for the next 300 years. This meant that Chemnitz read the Council’s decrees through the eyes of Andrada, and the rest of the protestant world read them for centuries through the eyes of Chemnitz.

This dissertation studies Chemnitz’s Examen and the intra-Tridentine dialogue during the Council, during Session XIII, and imagines a conversation between the Tridentine fathers and Chemnitz. Thus, it asks what Chemnitz thought he knew and what the real conversation during the Council was. The findings shed new light upon previous research concerning Chemnitz and the Council of Trent and reveal how much they thought they had, and how much they truly had in common. The dissertation discusses different topics related to the Lord’s Supper, specifically focusing on questions concerning Real Presence, transubstantiation, and practices related to the Eucharist.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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