Reformation Sunday
Presbyterians celebrate the tradition that grounds their faith on Reformation Sunday. It is always the last Sunday in October, marking the occasion in 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
To the University of Ingolstadt: Writings of Argula von Grumbac
Download the bulletin insert: Full Page Letter | Half-Letter | Half-Legal
Download a Reformation Sunday advertisement for your church newsletter: JPEG | PDF
Argula von Grumbach (1492-c.1554) wrote forcefully in defense of the Reformation, becoming the first published author among Protestant women.
In 1523, von Grumbach gained notoriety in elite circles when she authored a letter challenging the arrest of a former student at the University of Ingolstadt, Arsacius Seehofer, for teaching Lutheran views. She addressed her published letter, “To the honorable, worthy, highborn, erudite, noble, stalwart Rector and all the Faculty of the University of Ingolstadt: When I heard what you had done to Arsacius Seehofer under terror of imprisonment and the stake, my heart trembled and my bones quaked. What have Luther and Melanchthon taught save the Word of God? You have condemned them. You have not refuted them.” She went on to cite over 80 scripture passages in defense of her Reform views, and she directly challenged the University theologians to a public debate with her in German on the legitimacy of their conduct in persecuting Seehofer.
Her published letter, To the University of Ingolstadt, provoked a huge reaction. To have a woman call out eminent theologians and challenge them to a debate was unheard of. In the new age of the printing press, von Grumbach’s views spread quickly, and the letter went through 14 printed editions in two months. Critics and opponents slandered von Grumbach, calling her a “shameless whore” and a neglectful wife and mother. The Ingolstadt theologians wanted the “silly bag” punished, and von Grumbach’s husband, who remained a Catholic, lost his administrative post for not properly controlling his wife. In the end, University authorities ignored her challenge, and no public debate occurred. Von Grumbach’s voice lives on through her writings. As she concluded toward the end of the letter, “What I have written to you is no woman’s chit-chat, but the word of God.”
