Crypto-Calvinism
Encyclopedia
Crypto-Calvinism is a term for Calvinist influence in the Lutheran Church during the decades just after the death of Martin Luther
(1546). It denotes what was seen as a hidden ("crypto" from "kryptein", Greek for "to hide")
Calvinist belief, i.e. the doctrines of John Calvin
, by members of the Lutheran Church. The term applied to those Germans, who secretly held or were accused of holding the Calvinist doctrine of the Eucharist.
The term crypto-Calvinist in Lutheranism was preceded by terms Zwinglian and Sacramentarian.
Also, Jansenism
has been accused of crypto-Calvinism by Roman Catholics.
Martin Luther
had had controversy with "Sacramentarians
", and he published against them, for example, in his The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics
and Confession Concerning Christ's Supper
. Philipp I of Hessen arranged the Marburg Colloquy
in 1529, but no agreement could be reached concerning the doctrine of Real Presence
. Subsequently, the Wittenberg Concord
of 1536 was signed, but this attempt at resolving the issue ultimately failed.
While Lutheranism had weakened after the Schmalkaldic War
and Interim
controversies, the Calvinist Reformation on the other hand was spreading across Europe. Calvinists wanted to help Lutherans to give up "remnants of popery", as they saw it. By this time Calvinism had expanded its influence to southern Germany (not least because of the work of Martin Bucer
),
but the Peace of Augsburg
(1555) had given religious freedom in Germany only to Lutherans, and it was not officially extended to Calvinists until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. While Zwinglians 1549 had accepted
Calvin's much less radical view of the Christs presence in Lord's Supper (The Eucharist was to be more than a sign; Christ was truly present in it, and was received by Faith), Calvinist theologians thought, that Lutheran theology also had changed its view to Real Presence
, because the issue had not been discussed anymore, and Philippist teaching gave
some justification to this conclusion.
became the leading Lutheran theologian of
Protestant Reformation
. He was by training not a theologian but rather a classics scholar, and his theological approach became more or less irenic both toward Catholicism
and toward Calvinism
, which was followed by his disciples called Philippists
. Towards Reformed doctrine of eucharist this had become evident already in 1540, when Melanchthon had published another version of the Augsburg Confession
("Variata
"), in which the article on the Real Presence
differed essentially from what had been expressed in 1530. The wording was as follows:
The altered edition was made the basis of negotiations with the Roman Catholics at the Colloquies of Worms and Ratisbon in 1541, and at the later Colloquies in 1546 and 1557. It was printed (with the title and preface of the Invariata) in Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum in 1559; it was expressly approved by the Lutheran princes at the Convention of Naumburg in 1561,
after Melanchthon’s death, as an improved modification and authentic interpretation of the Confession, and was adhered to by the Melanchthonians and the Reformed even after the adoption of the Book of Concord
(1580). Also John Calvin
signed it. Still it had no legal status given by Peace of Augsburg
, which belonged to original version.
, while for Melanchthon the words spoken during the establishment by Jesus only promised that his body and blood
were received http://comunidad.ciudad.com.ar/argentina/capital_federal/luteranos/El%20Sacramento%20del%20Altar.htm. Melanchthon rejected the doctrine of ubiquity and spoke about the personal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, without any further definitions. The theology of Melanchthon's School in general was opposed by Lutherans, who were called Flacians by their opponents. Later they were called "Gnesio-Lutherans
". Matthias Flacius
had been the leader against Philippism in earlier controversies, but even Gnesio-Lutherans did not pay much attention to the doctrine of the Eucharist, until Joachim Westphal
began to write again in 1552 against those, who deny Real Presence. When John Calvin
himself answered to him in 1555, there was open, inter-Protestant controversy about Eucharist, which involved on the side of the Reformed Lasco, Bullinger
, Ochino
, Valerandus Polanus, Beza
, and Bibliander
; on the side of the Lutherans Timann, Heshusius
Paul von Eitzen, Schnepff
, E. Alberus
, Gallus, Flacius
, Judex, Brenz
, and Andreä
. The Colloquy of Worms
in 1557 was an attempt to achieve unity among Lutherans, but it failed.
During these controversies the State Church
of the Palatinate, where Philippism predominated, changed from the Lutheran to the Reformed faith under Frederick III
(1560). The
Heidelberg Catechism
, which was written there, was also meant to form bridges between Lutherans and Reformed in Germany – the other of its authors, Zacharias Ursinus
, was Melanchthon's disciple.
The earliest of these incidents had happened with Simon Wolferinus, pastor of St. Andreas at Eisleben in 1543, while Martin Luther still lived. The controversy was also about eucharistic adoration
, which was defended by "Gnesio-Lutherans" and also many other Lutherans outside of the Flacian party, like Johann Hachenburg, Andreas Musculus
, Jakob Rungius and Laurentius Petri
. This belief was shared also by Nikolaus Selnecker
, Martin Chemnitz
and Timotheus Kirchner
. A feast of victory of genuine Lutheranism over Philippism was celebrated in one of the German principalities with prayers for the preservation of the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of the adoration of the Sacrament
http://users.aol.com/SemperRef/venerable.html. Paul Eber
was one of the Philippistic main opponents of eucharistic adoration.
Crypto-Calvinists had gained the ecclesiastical power in Saxony during the rule of elector Augustus
, but the unquestionably Calvinistic work of Joachim Cureus, Exegesis perspicua de sacra cœna (1574), and a
confidential letter of Johann Stössel
which fell into the elector
's hands opened his eyes. The heads of the Philippist party were imprisoned and roughly handled, and the Torgau Confession of 1574 completed their downfall (Caspar Peucer
, not incidentally Melanchthon's son-in-law, was captured and jailed in the Königstein Fortress
for Crypto-
Calvinism for 12 years). By the adoption of the Formula of Concord
their cause was ruined in all the territories which accepted it, although in some others it survived under the aspect of a modified Lutheranism, as in Nuremberg
, or, as in Nassau, Hesse
, Anhalt, and Bremen, where it became more or less definitely identified with Calvinism
.
Crypto-Calvinism raised its head once more in Electoral Saxony in 1586, on the accession of Christian I
., but on his death five years later it came to a sudden and bloody end with the murder of Nikolaus Krell
as a victim to this unpopular revival of Calvinism
.
crypto-Calvinism was represented by Niels Hemmingsen
http://runeberg.org/dbl/7/0326.html.
In Sweden, crypto-Calvinism, which was resisted by Archbishop Olaus Martini
, was supported by Duke Charles
, uncle of Catholic king Sigismund III Vasa
. Finally Calvinism was banned at Uppsala Synod
1593 by initiative of Bishop of Turku
, Ericus Erici Sorolainen
http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0409.html together with Bishop Olaus Stephani Bellinus.
and other Evangelical unions in Germany, the Evangelical Church in Germany
is an umbrella organisations of Lutheran, Union and Reformed church bodies
. Leuenberg Concord (1962) has made similar irenic solution between Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines, while Confessional Lutheran
church bodies still continue to see
Calvinist teaching on Lord's Supper as a danger to Lutheran faith and identity.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
(1546). It denotes what was seen as a hidden ("crypto" from "kryptein", Greek for "to hide")
Calvinist belief, i.e. the doctrines of John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, by members of the Lutheran Church. The term applied to those Germans, who secretly held or were accused of holding the Calvinist doctrine of the Eucharist.
The term crypto-Calvinist in Lutheranism was preceded by terms Zwinglian and Sacramentarian.
Also, Jansenism
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
has been accused of crypto-Calvinism by Roman Catholics.
Background
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
had had controversy with "Sacramentarians
Sacramentarians
The Sacramentarians were Christians during the Protestant Reformation who denied not only the Roman Catholic transubstantiation but also the Lutheran sacramental union.They comprised two parties:...
", and he published against them, for example, in his The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics
The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics
The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics is a book by Martin Luther, published in late September or early October 1526 to aid Germans confused by the spread of new ideas from the Sacramentarians...
and Confession Concerning Christ's Supper
Confession Concerning Christ's Supper
Confession Concerning Christ's Supper is a theological treatise written by Martin Luther affirming the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, defining Luther's position as the Sacramental union. Notable among its respondents were Huldrych Zwingli and Johannes...
. Philipp I of Hessen arranged the Marburg Colloquy
Marburg Colloquy
The Marburg Colloquy was a meeting at Marburg Castle, Marburg, Hesse, Germany which attempted to solve a dispute between Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli over the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. It took place between 1 October and 4 October 1529. The leading Protestant reformers of...
in 1529, but no agreement could be reached concerning the doctrine of Real Presence
Real Presence
Real Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
. Subsequently, the Wittenberg Concord
Wittenberg Concord
Wittenberg Concord , is a religious concordat signed by Reformed and Lutheran theologians and churchmen on May 29, 1536 as an attempted resolution of their differences with respect to the Real Presence of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist...
of 1536 was signed, but this attempt at resolving the issue ultimately failed.
While Lutheranism had weakened after the Schmalkaldic War
Schmalkaldic War
The Schmalkaldic War refers to the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, commanded by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League within the domains of the Holy Roman...
and Interim
Interim
Interim is an album by British rock band The Fall, compiled from live and studio material and released in 2004. It features the first officially released versions of "Clasp Hands", "Blindness" and "What About Us?" — all of which were later included on the band's next studio album Fall Heads Roll —...
controversies, the Calvinist Reformation on the other hand was spreading across Europe. Calvinists wanted to help Lutherans to give up "remnants of popery", as they saw it. By this time Calvinism had expanded its influence to southern Germany (not least because of the work of Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...
),
but the Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
(1555) had given religious freedom in Germany only to Lutherans, and it was not officially extended to Calvinists until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. While Zwinglians 1549 had accepted
Calvin's much less radical view of the Christs presence in Lord's Supper (The Eucharist was to be more than a sign; Christ was truly present in it, and was received by Faith), Calvinist theologians thought, that Lutheran theology also had changed its view to Real Presence
Real Presence
Real Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
, because the issue had not been discussed anymore, and Philippist teaching gave
some justification to this conclusion.
Philippism
When Luther died in 1546, his closest friend and ally Philipp MelanchthonPhilipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
became the leading Lutheran theologian of
Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. He was by training not a theologian but rather a classics scholar, and his theological approach became more or less irenic both toward Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and toward Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, which was followed by his disciples called Philippists
Philippists
The Philippists formed a party in early Lutheranism. Their opponents were called Gnesio-Lutherans.-Before Luther's Death:Philippists was the designation usually applied in the latter half of the sixteenth century to the followers of Philipp Melanchthon...
. Towards Reformed doctrine of eucharist this had become evident already in 1540, when Melanchthon had published another version of the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
("Variata
Augsburg Confession Variata
The Altered Augsburg Confession is a later version of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession that includes substantial changes in the teaching of holy communion and the presence of Christ in bread and wine....
"), in which the article on the Real Presence
Real Presence
Real Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
differed essentially from what had been expressed in 1530. The wording was as follows:
- Edition of 1530: "Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed (communicated) to those that eat in the Lord's Supper; and they disapprove of those that teach otherwise."
- "Variata" edition of 1540: "Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that with bread and wine are truly exhibited the body and blood of Christ to those that eat in the Lord's Supper." http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15117a.htm
The altered edition was made the basis of negotiations with the Roman Catholics at the Colloquies of Worms and Ratisbon in 1541, and at the later Colloquies in 1546 and 1557. It was printed (with the title and preface of the Invariata) in Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum in 1559; it was expressly approved by the Lutheran princes at the Convention of Naumburg in 1561,
after Melanchthon’s death, as an improved modification and authentic interpretation of the Confession, and was adhered to by the Melanchthonians and the Reformed even after the adoption of the Book of Concord
Book of Concord
The Book of Concord or Concordia is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century...
(1580). Also John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
signed it. Still it had no legal status given by Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
, which belonged to original version.
The Second Sacramentarian Controversy
The Real Presence for Luther was beyond any doubt: The host consecrated is Christ’s bodyBody of Christ
In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ has two separate connotations: it may refer to Jesus's statement about the Eucharist at the Last Supper that "This is my body" in , or the explicit usage of the term by the Apostle Paul in to refer to the Christian Church.Although in general usage the...
, while for Melanchthon the words spoken during the establishment by Jesus only promised that his body and blood
were received http://comunidad.ciudad.com.ar/argentina/capital_federal/luteranos/El%20Sacramento%20del%20Altar.htm. Melanchthon rejected the doctrine of ubiquity and spoke about the personal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, without any further definitions. The theology of Melanchthon's School in general was opposed by Lutherans, who were called Flacians by their opponents. Later they were called "Gnesio-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
". Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albonian family...
had been the leader against Philippism in earlier controversies, but even Gnesio-Lutherans did not pay much attention to the doctrine of the Eucharist, until Joachim Westphal
Joachim Westphal (of Hamburg)
Joachim Westphal was a German "Gnesio-Lutheran" theologian....
began to write again in 1552 against those, who deny Real Presence. When John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
himself answered to him in 1555, there was open, inter-Protestant controversy about Eucharist, which involved on the side of the Reformed Lasco, Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger was a Swiss reformer, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Zurich church and pastor at Grossmünster...
, Ochino
Bernardino Ochino
Bernardino Ochino was an Italian Reformer.-Biography:Bernardino Ochino was born in Siena son of the barber Domenico Ochino, and at the age of 7 or 8 around 1504 was entrusted to the Minorite order of Franciscan Friars, then from 1510 he studied medicine at Perugia.-1534, transfer to the...
, Valerandus Polanus, Beza
Theodore Beza
Theodore Beza was a French Protestant Christian theologian and scholar who played an important role in the Reformation...
, and Bibliander
Theodore Bibliander
Theodore Bibliander was a Swiss Orientalist, publisher, and linguist. Born Theodor Buchmann in Bischofszell, he studied Latin under Oswald Myconius, and Greek and Hebrew under Jakob Ceporin, and attended lectures in Basel between 1525-7 given by Johannes Oekolampad and Konrad Pelikan...
; on the side of the Lutherans Timann, Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius (also Hesshus, Heßhusen, Hess Husen, Heshusen (November 3, 1527 in Wesel -- September 25, 1588 in Helmstedt) was a Gnesio-Lutheran theologian.- Life :...
Paul von Eitzen, Schnepff
Erhard Schnepf
Erhard Schnepf was a German Lutheran Theologian, Pastor, and Reformer.- Life :...
, E. Alberus
Erasmus Alberus
Erasmus Alberus , German humanist, reformer, and poet, was born in the village of Bruchenbrücken about the year 1500. Although his father was a schoolmaster, his early education was neglected....
, Gallus, Flacius
Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albonian family...
, Judex, Brenz
Johannes Brenz
Johann Brenz was a German theologian and the Protestant Reformer of the Duchy of Württemberg.-Early Advocacy of the Reformation:...
, and Andreä
Jakob Andreae
Jakob Andreae was a significant German Lutheran theologian, involved in the drafting of major documents.-Life:He was born in Waiblingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the University of Tübingen from 1541...
. The Colloquy of Worms
Colloquy of Worms
The Colloquy of Worms was the last colloquy in the 16th century on an imperial level, held in Worms from September 11 to October 8, 1557. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1555 it had been agreed that the dialog on controversial religious issues should be continued. A resolution was passed at Regensburg...
in 1557 was an attempt to achieve unity among Lutherans, but it failed.
During these controversies the State Church
State church
State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state...
of the Palatinate, where Philippism predominated, changed from the Lutheran to the Reformed faith under Frederick III
Frederick III, Elector Palatine
Frederick III of Simmern, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach, branch Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim. He was a son of John II of Simmern and inherited the Palatinate from the childless Elector Otto-Henry, Elector Palatine in 1559...
(1560). The
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism
The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine...
, which was written there, was also meant to form bridges between Lutherans and Reformed in Germany – the other of its authors, Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus was a sixteenth century German Reformed theologian, born Zacharias Baer in Breslau . He became the leading theologian of the Reformed Protestant movement of the Palatinate, serving both at the University of Heidelberg and the College of Wisdom...
, was Melanchthon's disciple.
The Great Adoration Controversy
There were a number of local controversies, like the Saligerian Controversy in Lübeck in 1568 and 1574, in Rostock in 1569, controversy in Bremen in 1554 involving Melanchthon's friend Albert Rizaeus Hardenberg, and controversy in Danzig in 1561/62.The earliest of these incidents had happened with Simon Wolferinus, pastor of St. Andreas at Eisleben in 1543, while Martin Luther still lived. The controversy was also about eucharistic adoration
Eucharistic adoration
Eucharistic adoration is a practice in the Roman Catholic Church, and in a few Anglican and Lutheran churches, in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to and adored by the faithful....
, which was defended by "Gnesio-Lutherans" and also many other Lutherans outside of the Flacian party, like Johann Hachenburg, Andreas Musculus
Andreas Musculus
Andreas Musculus was a German Lutheran theologian. The name Musculus is a Latinized form of Meusel.Musculus was born in Schneeberg, Saxony, "generally called only Musculus" and educated in Leipzig and Wittenberg. He became professor in university of Frankfurt an der Oder...
, Jakob Rungius and Laurentius Petri
Laurentius Petri
Laurentius Petri Nericius was a Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and his brother Olaus Petri are, together with the King Gustav Vasa, regarded as the main Protestant reformers of Sweden...
. This belief was shared also by Nikolaus Selnecker
Nikolaus Selnecker
Nikolaus Selnecker was a German musician and theologian. He is now known mainly as a hymn writer. He is also known as one of the principal authors of the Formula of Concord along with Jakob Andreä and Martin Chemnitz.At a young age he was an organist in Nuremberg...
, Martin Chemnitz
Martin Chemnitz
Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation Lutheran theologian, reformer, churchman, and confessor...
and Timotheus Kirchner
Timotheus Kirchner
Timotheus Kirchner was a Lutheran theologian, pastor, professor of Theology and superintendent in Weimar.- Life :Kirchner was the son of a teacher...
. A feast of victory of genuine Lutheranism over Philippism was celebrated in one of the German principalities with prayers for the preservation of the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of the adoration of the Sacrament
http://users.aol.com/SemperRef/venerable.html. Paul Eber
Paul Eber
Paul Eber , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg and Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon....
was one of the Philippistic main opponents of eucharistic adoration.
In Saxony
Controversy about crypto-Calvinism inside of Lutheran Church divides into two stages: 1552–74 and 1586–92. It was the most bitter of all controversies after Luther's death.Crypto-Calvinists had gained the ecclesiastical power in Saxony during the rule of elector Augustus
Augustus, Elector of Saxony
Augustus was Elector of Saxony from 1553 to 1586.-First years:Augustus was born in Freiberg, the youngest child and third son of Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, and Catherine of Mecklenburg. He consequently belonged to the Albertine branch of the Wettin family...
, but the unquestionably Calvinistic work of Joachim Cureus, Exegesis perspicua de sacra cœna (1574), and a
confidential letter of Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel was a Lutheran Theologian and Reformer.-Life:...
which fell into the elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
's hands opened his eyes. The heads of the Philippist party were imprisoned and roughly handled, and the Torgau Confession of 1574 completed their downfall (Caspar Peucer
Caspar Peucer
Caspar Peucer was a German reformer, physician, and scholar.-Biography:Born in Bautzen, Peucer studied mathematics, astronomy, and medicine at the University of Wittenberg from 1540...
, not incidentally Melanchthon's son-in-law, was captured and jailed in the Königstein Fortress
Königstein Fortress
Königstein Fortress , the "Saxon Bastille", is a hilltop fortress near Dresden, in Saxon Switzerland, Germany, above the town of Königstein on the left bank of the River Elbe...
for Crypto-
Calvinism for 12 years). By the adoption of the Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith that, in its two parts , makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as...
their cause was ruined in all the territories which accepted it, although in some others it survived under the aspect of a modified Lutheranism, as in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, or, as in Nassau, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Anhalt, and Bremen, where it became more or less definitely identified with Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
.
Crypto-Calvinism raised its head once more in Electoral Saxony in 1586, on the accession of Christian I
Christian I, Elector of Saxony
Christian I of Saxony was Elector of Saxony from 1586 to 1591.He was the sixth but second surviving son of Elector Augustus of Saxony and Anna of Denmark...
., but on his death five years later it came to a sudden and bloody end with the murder of Nikolaus Krell
Nikolaus Krell
Nikolaus Krell , chancellor of the elector of Saxony, was born at Leipzig, and educated at the university of his native town....
as a victim to this unpopular revival of Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
.
In Scandinavia
In DenmarkDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
crypto-Calvinism was represented by Niels Hemmingsen
Niels Hemmingsen
Niels Hemmingsen was a Danish Lutheran theologian. He studied at the University of Wittenberg 1537 to 1542 under Melanchthon. Returning to Denmark, he became a prolific author of works in Latin...
http://runeberg.org/dbl/7/0326.html.
In Sweden, crypto-Calvinism, which was resisted by Archbishop Olaus Martini
Olaus Martini
Olof Mårtensson also known in the Latin form Olaus Martini, was Archbishop of Uppsala from 1601 to his death.Born in Uppsala, Sweden, he first enrolled in the University of Uppsala, but when it was temporarily closed in 1578 he travelled abroad...
, was supported by Duke Charles
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
, uncle of Catholic king Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
. Finally Calvinism was banned at Uppsala Synod
Uppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
1593 by initiative of Bishop of Turku
Bishop of Turku
The bishop of Turku was the medieval catholic religious leader of Finland.Influenced by Papal bulls Swedish magnates in the 12th century set up crusadeing expeditions to convert the heathens in the eastern Baltic. This resulted in the establishment of the Catholic Church, the Christian religion...
, Ericus Erici Sorolainen
Ericus Erici Sorolainen
Ericus Erici Sorolainen was a Finnish Lutheran bishop, a Bishop of Turku from 1583 to 1625 as the successor to Paulus Juusten; and the administrator of the Diocese of Viipuri....
http://runeberg.org/nfbg/0409.html together with Bishop Olaus Stephani Bellinus.
Later history and evaluation
Following the Prussian UnionPrussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...
and other Evangelical unions in Germany, the Evangelical Church in Germany
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
is an umbrella organisations of Lutheran, Union and Reformed church bodies
Landeskirche
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany or Cantons of Switzerland , that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland , respectively.-Origins in the Holy Roman...
. Leuenberg Concord (1962) has made similar irenic solution between Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines, while Confessional Lutheran
Confessional Lutheran
Confessional Lutheran is a name used by certain Lutheran Christians to designate themselves as those who accept the doctrines taught in the Book of Concord of 1580 in their entirety, because they believe them to be completely faithful to the teachings of the Bible...
church bodies still continue to see
Calvinist teaching on Lord's Supper as a danger to Lutheran faith and identity.
See also
- Eucharistic theologies contrastedEucharistic theologies contrastedThis article contrasts the views of a number of churches regarding Eucharistic theology:-Roman Catholic Church:* Transubstantiation as a statement of what is changed when the bread and wine are consecrated, not an explanation of the means or mode by which the Real Presence is effected, since "[t]he...
- Saxon Visitation ArticlesSaxon Visitation ArticlesVisitation Articles in the Entire Electorate of Saxony are a Lutheran doctrinal statement written by Aegidius Hunnius and other theologians against Crypto-Calvinism on request of administrator Frederick William...
- ReceptionismReceptionismReceptionism is a Christian theological doctrine that in the Eucharist service the communicant receives the body and blood of Christ, but that the bread and wine are not the body and blood of Christ outside the moment of reception.-Church of England:...
External links
- Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy from Christian CyclopediaChristian CyclopediaChristian Cyclopedia is a one-volume compendium of theological data, ranging from ancient figures to contemporary events. It is published by Concordia Publishing House. It should not be confused with The Lutheran Cyclopedia , edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs and Charles A.W...
- The Saxon Visitation Articles 1592
- Calvinizing Lutheran Churches, from the Lutheran Cyclopedia (1899) (Google Books)
- 1911encyclopedia.org: AUGUSTUS I
- The Calumnies of Joachim Westphal by John CalvinJohn CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
- The Eucharistic Controversies. History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII (CCEL)
- Articles of Visitation
- Philippism – Melanchthon and the Consequences by Jürgen Diestelmann
- Luther and Melanchthon on Consecrated Communion Wine (Eisleben 1542–43) by Timothy J. Wengert (Lutheran Quarterly)