Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig
Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (also as Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig) (
1490-
1561) was a Silesian nobleman who became a
Christian Reformer and
spiritualist. Cf.
Protestant reformers.He was a nobleman from
Liegnitz, he was one of the earliest promoters of the
Reformation in
Silesia. He came to Reformation principles through
Muntzer and
Karlstadt. However he developed his own principles and fell out with
Luther over the eucharistic controversy (1524). He had his own views on the sacraments - the Heavenly Flesh doctrine. His followers became a new sect, which was outlawed in Germany, but his ideas influenced
Anabaptism,
Puritanism in
England and the
Pietistic Movement on mainland Europe.
Kaspar Schwenkfeld was born in Ossig, Silesia (a small province in central Europe) to noble parents in
1489¹. From 1505 to 1507 he was a student in
Cologne, and in 1507 enrolled at the University of Frankfurt on the Oder. Between 1511 and 1523, Schwenkfeld served his country as an adviser to Duke Karl I (1511-1515), Duke Georg I (1515-1518), and Duke Friedrich II (1518-1523).
In 1518 or 1519, he experienced an awakening that he called a "visitation of God." Martin Luther's writings had a deep influence on Schwenkfeld, and he embraced the "Lutheran" Reformation and became a student of the Scriptures. In 1521, Schwenkfeld began to preach the gospel, and in 1522 won Duke Friedrich II over to Protestantism. He organized a
Brotherhood of his converts for the purpose of study and prayer in 1523. In 1525, he rejected Luther's idea of
Real Presence and came to a spiritual interpretation of the
Lord's Supper (which was subsequently rejected by Luther). Schwenkfeld began to teach that the true believer ate the spiritual body of Christ. He took strong efforts toward reformation wherever he went, but also criticized reformers that he thought went to extremes. He emphasized that for one to be a true Christian, one must not change only outwardly but inwardly. Because of the communion and other controversies, Schwenkfeld broke with
Martin Luther and followed what has been described as a "middle way". He voluntarily exiled himself from Silesia in
1529 in order to relieve pressure on and embarrassment of his duke.
Teachings
Some of his other teachings of Kaspar Schwenkfeld included opposition to war, secret societies, and oath-taking, that the government had no right to command one's conscience, that regeneration is by grace through inner work of the Spirit, that believers feed on Christ spiritually, and that believers must give evidence of regeneration. He rejected
infant baptism, outward church forms, and "denominations".
Publications
In
1541, he published the
Great Confession on the Glory of Christ. Many considered the writing to be heretical. He taught that Christ had two natures, divine and human, but that he became progressively more divine. The details of this view caused his followers to call themselves
Confessors of the Glory of Christ.
Death
In 1561, Schwenkfeld became sick with dysentery, and gradually grew weaker until he died in Ulm on the morning of
December 10,
1561. Because of his enemies, the fact of his death and the place of his burial were kept secret.
Schwenkfeld did not organize a separate church during his lifetime, but followers seemed to gather around his writings and sermons. In
1700 there were about 1500 of them in lower
Silesia. Many fled Silesia under persecution of the Austrian emperor, and some found refuge on the lands of
Count von Zinzendorf. These followers became known as
Schwenkfelders. A group arrived in Philadelphia in 1731, followed by five more migrations up to 1737. In
1782, the
Society of Schwenkfelders was formed, and in
1909 the
Schwenkfelder Church was organized.
The
Schwenkfelder Church has remained small, and currently there are six
² churches with about 3000 members in southeastern Pennsylvania. All of these bodies are within a fifty-mile radius of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
*R. Emmet McLaughlin:
Caspar Schwenckfeld, reluctant radical : his life to 1540, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1986 ISBN 0-300-03367-2
*Rufus M. Jones:
Spiritual reformers in the 16th and 17th centuries. London: Macmillan, 1914
*
The Life & Thought of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig*
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center*
Schwenkfelders: Who Are They?*
Adherents.com*
Caspar von Schwenckfeld in
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online*1. some sources give 1490, but late in 1489 appears to be preferable
*2. for a number of years there were only five churches, but the
Schwenkfelder Missionary Church was recently formed in Philadelphia
