Apology of the Confessio Augustana

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Front page of the AC (1531)
Cover picture of the Apology of the Confessio Augustana in German by Justus Jonas the Elder

The Apology of the Confessio Augustana (abbr .: AC ; Latin Apologia Confessionis Augustanae ) is the defense of the Confessio Augustana (CA) against the arguments put forward by the Catholics in the Confutatio Augustana . Responsible was Philipp Melanchthon , but with noticeable influence of Martin Luther .

The AC was originally intended to be presented to Emperor Charles V at the Augsburg Reichstag , but was rejected by him. It was first published at the end of April 1531.

The AC was officially declared a Protestant confession at the Schmalkaldic Convention in 1537 .

history

The roots of the AC lie in the so-called Augsburg Apology , which was to be handed over to Emperor Charles V on September 22, 1530 at the Augsburg Reichstag, but this was rejected by him. The Augsburg Apology was only aware of the Confutatio on the basis of notes made by Protestant theologians when the Confutatio was read out at the Augsburg Diet.

This Augsburg apology was developed by Melanchthon by January 1531 into a so-called “preliminary draft”, in which he was also able to consider a written copy of the Confutatio. However, this preliminary draft was rejected by Melanchthon.

The lines of argument of both the Augsburg Apology and the “preliminary draft” flowed into the fourth edition , which was published by Georg Rhau as a double edition together with the CA at the end of April 1531 .

The so-called octave edition followed in September , the v. a. The content of the articles of justification has been revised. In 1584 it was supposed to supplant the fourth edition from the Lutheran Book of Concords on the grounds that it would offer the more original text and was closer to Lutheran teaching.

content

Like the CA, the AC has the same 28 articles, which, however, are dealt with in much more detail. In particular, the articles dealing with the doctrine of justification (Art. 4, 12, 20) grew considerably in size: they make up almost half of the total AC.

The AC was described by Melanchthon with a certain cynicism as disputatio brevis ("brief argument"), which it is certainly not with 300 printed pages. It can be better described as a "theological treatise" or a "commentary".

Contrary to the assumptions, the AC hardly goes into the arguments put forward in the Confutatio, but develops a doctrine of justification in contrast to the younger scholastics like Gabriel Biel , who are attacked as the main opponent. Their tone is extremely aggressive, the opponents are insulted as godless and fanatics and also expressly condemned. One's own position is often presented as an understandable and clear teaching that does not require any argument.

See also

literature

Sources and translations

  • The confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1930 (12th edition, ibid 1998, ISBN 3-525-52101-4 ), (Urtext).
  • Rudolf Mau (Ed.): Evangelical Confessions. Confessions of the Reformation and recent theological declarations. Volume 1. Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-7858-0386-9 (with the translation of the fourth edition).
  • Horst Georg Pöhlmann (ed.): Our faith. The confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 5th edition. Gütersloher Verlags-Haus, Gütersloh 2004, ISBN 3-579-01289-4 ( Gütersloher Taschenbücher 1289), (with the translation of the octave edition).

Secondary literature

  • Christian Peters: Apologia Confessionis Augustanae. Investigations into the text history of a Lutheran confession (1530–1584). Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7668-3467-3 ( Calwer theological monographs. Series B: Systematic Theology and Church History 15), (At the same time: Münster, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1995/96), (kirchengeschichtlicher Access, with extensive literature list).
  • Gunther Wenz: Theology of the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. A historical and systematic introduction to the Concord Book. 2 volumes. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1996–1997, ISBN 3-11-015238-X (vol. 1), ISBN 3-11-015756-X (vol. 2), ( De Gruyter textbook ), (dogmatic approach).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ AC 4: 389 (BSLK 232, 37).
  2. ↑ Horst Pöhlmann: Our faith ; P. 124.
  3. ^ Bernhard Lohse: From Luther to the Konkordienbuch ; in: Carl Andersen (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Dogmen- und Theologiegeschichte. Volume 2: The development of teaching within the confessional framework ; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998 2 ; P. 93.
  4. ^ "Impius": AC 4: 244 ( BSLK 207, 43); 253 (BSLK 209,54); 300 (BSLK 219, 11) and ö.
  5. ↑ “furor”: AC 4: 298 (BSLK 219, 1).
  6. ↑ "Et maledicti sint pharisaei [ie the Catholics] adversarii nostri"; AC 4: 269 (BSLK 214, 10 f.).
  7. ↑ The accumulation of simple assertions is striking: The teaching is "easily understandable" ( facile (20x), AC4: 49, 51, 79, 84, 118, 171, 183, 219, 244, 290, 291, 294, 297, 303 (2x), 304, 316, 343, 388, 396), "clear" ( aperte (14x), AC 4: 33, 50, 63, 65, 86, 89, 97, 145, 244, 262, 286, 293, 298 (2x)) and "clearly" ( clare (22x), AC 4: 74, 83, 97, 106, 107, 152, 161, 163, 195, 240, 257, 262, 267, 304, 314, 323, 325, 334, 345, 356, 367, 396.).

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