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.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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