Concerning the True Care of Souls

For more than twenty-five years Martin Bucer was the undisputed leader of the Protestant Reformation in the city of Strasbourg. Yet he never managed to achieve all that he wished due to the opposition of the city’s political leaders. In 1549 he moved at the invitation of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to England, where he spent the last few years of his life as Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge.

Ten years earlier, in 1538, Bucer produced what he called ‘this little book’. A Reformation handbook of pastoral theology, it sets out his ideal of a godly Christian society, and was ‘written solely for the Lord’s glory and the improvement of his church at this time when Christ’s sheep are so deplorably scattered’. He commended it ‘to the Christian consideration of all God’s children, asking only that nothing should be judged according to carnal standards, but everything according to the word of the Lord.’ And added, ‘May the Lord grant that it will be of much use for his kingdom.’

Though largely rejected by the government of Strasbourg, Bucer’s Concerning the True Care of Souls met with much more success further afield and was to exercise a vast influence in later history. In Hesse, for example, a church order was introduced based on Bucer’s ideas, and in Strasbourg itself they were implemented in the French refugee community pastored from 1538 to 1541 by the young John Calvin, who had a great respect for Bucer and worked closely with him.

Nearly 500 years later we can still benefit greatly from Bucer’s spiritual wisdom as he sets out, in a vivid and persuasive way, biblical principles for church life, ministry, and discipline. Translated into English for the first time through the labours of Peter Beale, the publishers send it forth, re-echoing Bucer’s prayer: ‘May the Lord grant that it will be of much use for his kingdom.’

Contents

1. The nature of the church
2. Christ’s rule in his church
3. How the Lord carries out his pastoral office and the work of our salvation in his church through his ordained ministers
4. The various ministers the Lord has and uses in his church: the ministry of teaching and spiritual discipline, and the ministry to the needs of the body
5. How and by whom elders are to be chosen and installed, and the choosing and installation of ministers
6. What the principal work and activity of careers of souls and ministers are to be for the flock of Christ in general and individual members in particular
7. How the lost sheep are to be sought
8. How the stray sheep are to be restored
9. How the hurt and wounded sheep are to be bound up and healed, and the imposition of penance and exclusion form the Lord’s table in the case of those who have in some matter grievously sinned
10. How the weak sheep are to be strengthened
11. How the healthy and strong sheep are to be guarded and fed, and the exclusion of those who trouble the church and refuse to listen and mend their ways
12. The obedience of Christ’s sheep
13. Summary of chapters

Endorsement

‘This book was Bucer’s effort to reintroduce church discipline, establish multiple-elder rule, and maintain the practice of evangelical penance in Strasbourg…[His] concern for the church and conception of pastoral ministry are historically important and personally challenging.’
—Kevin DeYoung