Editing Martin Bucer (section)

==Advice to Philip of Hesse (1538–1539)==
When Philip of Hesse's law on the protection of the Jews in his territory expired in 1538, he commissioned Bucer to create a new policy. Philip gave him a draft that was tolerant in the regulation of their affairs. Bucer rejected the favourable conditions and recommended that Jews be prohibited from all trades except those providing minimum subsistence.  His ''Judenratschlag'' also included his first use of negative stereotypes of the Jews. Philip's ordinance of 1539 represented a compromise. He allowed the Jews to engage in trade and commerce but included strict rules on their association with Christians. The potential for an arbitrary enforcement of the new policy was frightening, and as a result many Jews chose to leave Hesse. For this Bucer must share part of the blame.{{Sfn |Eells|1931|pp=240–1}}{{Sfn |Greschat|2004|pp= 156–8}}

In November 1539, Philip asked Bucer to produce a theological defence of bigamy, since he had decided to contract a [[bigamy|bigamous]] marriage. Bucer reluctantly agreed, on condition the marriage be kept secret. Bucer consulted Luther and Melanchthon, and the three reformers presented Philip with a statement of advice (''Wittenberger Ratschlag''); later, Bucer produced his own arguments for and against bigamy. Although the document specified that bigamy could be sanctioned only under rare conditions, Philip took it as approval for his marriage to a [[lady-in-waiting]] of his sister. When rumours of the marriage spread, Luther told Philip to deny it, while Bucer advised him to hide his second wife and conceal the truth. Some scholars have noted a possible motivation for this notorious advice: the theologians believed they had advised Philip as a pastor would his parishioner, and that a lie was justified to guard the privacy of their confessional counsel.{{Sfn | Brecht |1993|p=206}}{{Sfn |Bainton|1995|p=293}}  The scandal that followed the marriage caused Philip to lose political influence, and the Reformation within the Empire was severely compromised.{{Sfn |Selderhuis|1999|pp = 149–61}}{{Sfn |Eells|1931|pp=258–69}}{{Sfn |Greschat|2004|pp= 158–60}}