During the Reformation, few doctrines were as controversial as those of the sacraments. While the Roman church taught seven sacraments (baptism, confirmation, penance, the Mass, ordination vows, marriage, and the anointing of the sick), the reformers affirmed only two as having the scriptural mandate to be considered sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist. As Basel Reformer…

Despite the upheaval of the Reformation, the need for the people of God to gather regularly was never questioned, even by those seeking the most drastic changes to late medieval piety. Here, the importance of church meetings is attested by Austrian Radical elder Leupold Scharnschlager (d. 1563), who argues that the community should come together…