Emder Religious Discussion
The Emden Religious Discussion was a religious discourse between Reformed and Mennonites , which took place in the spring of 1578 in Emden , East Frisia .
Emden was a center of the Reformed movement in northwest Germany in the 16th century and was accordingly also referred to as the Geneva of the north . In addition to the Reformed congregation, there was also an Anabaptist congregation from 1530. Reformed theologians asked Count Edzard II in January 1577 for a mandate that the activities of the Anabaptists should also end in East Frisia . The specific reason for calling the conversation was the arrest of an Emden Anabaptist teacher who had taken part in a prohibited meeting. When he agreed to take part in a disputation with Reformed theologians, he was allowed to leave the prison.
The religious talk was held from February 27 to May 17, 1578 in 124 sessions. Of the Mennonites, representatives of the Flemish, Frisian and Waterland communities were present. However, only representatives of the Flemish municipalities took part directly in the disputation. On the Reformed side, the theologian Menso Alting took part, who had already published a paper against the Anabaptist movement in advance. It was agreed to deal with 14 points. The individual points included questions about the Trinity and the essence of God, the origin of man, original sin and free will ( predestination ), the essence of Jesus Christ ( Christology ), justification , the righteousness of works , the understanding of the community, the calling of Preachers, baptism , the sacrament , the ban , the government, the oath and the resurrection of the flesh. Most of the disputation took place in the Emden Gasthauskirche .
The entire conversation was recorded and signed by the individual disputants. Already one year after the disputation it was published in Low German under the name Dath is, alle tradelinge des sprecks tho Emden in Oistfrieszlandt with the Wedderdöperen . In 1616 a reprint of the protocol was made. Copies of the minutes are now in the Mennonite libraries in Amsterdam, Bethel and Goshen.
Even before the official protocol was published, the Mennonite side, which expected to take sides in favor of the Reformed, published a reply. Its anonymous author posed as a lover of divine truth ( Liejhebber der Godtlijcker waerheyt ).
Already at the end of January 1544 a religious talk between Menno Simons and the Reformed theologian Johannes a Lasco took place in the church of the Franciscan monastery with the consent of Countess Anna . The incarnation of Christ, infant baptism, original sin, sanctification and the calling of the preachers were disputed, although they could not agree on the points of the incarnation of Christ, infant baptism and the calling of the preacher.