Interest in Martin Bucer has grown in the last half-century, with Marijn de Kroon and Willem van ‘t Spijker making enormous contributions. These two scholars have widened perceptions of Bucer as an ecumenical theologian to include his exegetical work and his pastoral concerns, so the Reformer is recognized as significant for ecclesiology and spirituality as well as theology. This highly helpful collection of twenty-two articles from these two scholars will now be an indispensable resource for Bucer studies. The pieces are in English and German, some being published in English for the first time. The breadth of this collection is seen in the book's seven sections. These are “Bucer and Tradition,” “Bucer and Calvin,” “Bucer in Dispute,” “Bucer and Justice,” “Bucer: Aspects of His Person,” “Bucer and City Reformation,” and “Bucer and Ethics.” The essays are all carefully crafted and documented, making this volume an invaluable source of Bucer material.

A number of important themes are found throughout the volume. One of these is Bucer's convictions about the truth and justness of the Reformation. This is seen in Bucer's recognition of the authority of the early church fathers—which is beneath that of scripture but to which he could appeal in showing “the Reformation was not a novatio, but a return to the Early Church with its apostles and teachers” (44). Bucer's strong desire for unity in the face of fragmenting occurring in reform movements was put to the test in his relationship with Luther. This was intensely dramatized at the Colloquy of Marburg, discussed in van ‘t Spijker's, “‘You have a different spirit from us’: Luther to Bucer in Marburg, Sunday 3 October 1529.” Here Zwingli and Bucer were denounced by Luther. He did not wish to look at the two Reformers as “brothers”—as he wrote to Katie: “We do not want this ‘brothering’ and ‘membering’” (221). This marks, says van ‘t Spijker, “the moment when within the Reformation the division became visible between what would develop into Lutheranism on the one hand, to reformed Protestantism on the other.”

The colloquy revealed the irreconcilable differences of the Reformers’ views on the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Van ‘t Spijker writes: “When Luther and Bucer met in October 1529, the initial encounter was cool, the parting was disastrous” (227). Here, “Luther addressed Bucer in a rather unpleasant way; ‘You are a good for nothing,’ ‘Tu es nequam.’ And at the end: ‘You have a different spirit.’ Luther regarded Bucer as a changeable, perhaps well-meaning but unreliable follower of Zwingli and Karlstadt, a spiritualist, idealist, a political operator, supporting a non-existent and impossible unity: Your Spirit and ours do not agree with each other!” (227). But, for his part, Bucer called Luther “a specially glorious instrument of God” (236). Bucer persisted in seeking ways the reforming movements—including Anabaptism (see 395–96)—could work toward more unified understandings.

A particular value of this book is the number of essays on the relationship between Bucer and Calvin. Their friendship was grounded theologically: “The communion that existed between Bucer and Calvin was based on their shared communion cum Christo” (155). After Calvin's sojourn in Strasbourg with Bucer (1538–41), a growing “mutual influence” (164) can be discerned through a number of topics in Calvin's developing theology. These are tracked in the essays “Prädestination bei Bucer und Calvin: Ihr gegenseitige Beeinflussung und Abhängigkeit,” “Die Lehre vom Heiligen Geist bei Bucer und Calvin,” “Bucer und Calvin,” “Bucer's Influence on Calvin: Church and Community,” by van ‘t Spijker, and de Kroon's, “Bucer und Calvin: Das Obrigkeitsverständnis beider Reformatoren nach ihrer Auslegung von Romer 13.”

This splendid volume serves as an outline of Bucer's theology and ethics as well as his relationships with other Reformers and reforming developments. “Behind his theology,” says van ‘t Spijker, “true devotion, piety is the keyword” (316). Despite failures to bring reforming movements together in a stronger unity, Bucer persisted with his “ecumenical and irenic activities” (317). These expressed what was deepest in the Reformer: “For only the Christian life is a happy and blessed life” (165).