Philip Melanchthon was an academic who Luther recruited to
the University of Wittenberg to teach Greek. He became critical of the
traditional, scholastic theology being taught in universities at the time. In
1519 he began lecturing on the Gospel of Matthew and Paul’s letters. He was
transferred to the theology department.
He defended Luther’s positions on the papacy while Luther
was at Wartburg Castle. In 1521 he published Loci Communes. It outlines his thoughts on Christian doctrine from
the Epistle to the Romans. Luther said, “Next to Holy Scripture, there is no
better book.” It is considered the first book of Lutheran systematic theology
and grandfathered Protestant scholasticism.
But perhaps his strongest influence was in the Augsburg
Confession, written in 1530, outlining the doctrine of the Protestant
Reformation. Emperor Charles V had called on the German princes to submit their
religious convictions in an effort to establish political unity in the empire
and rally a united support against Turkish invasion. The document contains 21
theses of Lutheran belief and 7 antitheses against the Church.
The Lutheran princes agreed to a military alliance with
Charles V; any city or state that gave official assent to the Augsburg
Confession could be admitted into the alliance. It solidified Protestant
theology as a political player in Europe. The English translation of the
Confession was read and assented to by King Henry VIII of England. The
Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church were strongly influenced by the
Confession. In 1540, Melanchthon revised
the Confession; the revised edition, called the Variata, was signed by John Calvin. Most Lutherans held to the
“unaltered” edition.
The Augsburg Confession and the league did not truly settle
the tension between Charles V and the Lutheran princes. The Schmalkaldic War
took place 1546-1547. In September 1555, Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League
(signers of the Confession) signed the Peace of Augsburg. The treaty legally divided
the Holy Roman Empire and established cuius
region, eius religio (“whose realm, his religion”) This allowed rulers to
choose Lutheranism or Catholicism as their state religion. Citizens who held
different beliefs were given a grace period to freely emigrate to a state
holding to the other religion. There were a few mixed cities, where Lutheranism
had been practiced since the 1520s but the city’s ruler was Catholic; certain
princes and knights were given exemptions.
For the most part, the Augsburg Confession was a success of
modern negotiating. It balanced the rights of Catholic and Lutheran rulers and
also considered the welfare of the subjects under them. However, it only
recognized one Protestant doctrine, Lutheranism; thus, other Protestant sects
that were rising still had no political power. But that would soon be
challenged as well.
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