Hearing the “Accused”

The emperor invited Luther to speak for himself at the Diet of Worms. By that time, the Pope had already had a stack of Luther’s writings, enough to identify 41 errors that he wanted Luther to retract. Eck knew full well what Luther had written; he had a table full of books at the Diet itself. The Diet met to demand that Luther retract. But the Diet met with Luther, personally.

For reasons that Paul Fowler’s convoluted explanation certainly did not clarify, the PCA study committee on the Federal Vision decided not to contact any of the “accused” personally. They were satisfied with a stack of papers and web printouts.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and say, Hmmm.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Battle of Minneapolis

Pavlos Papadopoulos

The Battle of Minneapolis is the latest flashpoint in our ongoing regime-level political conflict. It pits not…

Of Roots and Adventures

Peter J. Leithart

I have lived in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia (twice), Pennsylvania, Alabama (also twice), England, and Idaho. I left…

Our Most Popular Articles of 2025

The Editors

It’s been a big year for First Things. Our website was completely redesigned, and stories like the…