Confessio Bohemica

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Memorial plaque on the Lesser Town Hall in Prague, where the Confessio Bohemica was written

The Confessio Bohemica (dt. Bohemian Confession, Czech. Česká konfese) is a Protestant confession .

Emergence

It was created in 1574/75 on behalf of the non-Catholic estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia . Theologians of the various Protestant currents represented in the country (especially neo-traquists and Lutherans ) were involved in their formulation . Theologically one leaned closely on the Confessio Augustana . The aim was to create a uniform creed that was acceptable to all and that could be submitted to the emperor for sanctioning. With this, the Protestants wanted to achieve their legal recognition at the state level, as the Altutraquists had done with the Basel compacts in the 15th century . As a result, the establishment of an independent Protestant church organization was planned, which should be under the influence of the estates.

Further course

In 1575 the Confessio Bohemica was given to Emperor Maximilian II . However, the latter only accepted the confession orally. A state law anchoring could not be achieved. This also did not lead to the establishment of a regional Protestant church in Bohemia. Another problem was that the Calvinist tendencies, which were more prevalent at the end of the 16th century, were not covered by the statements of the Bohemian Confession. Otherwise there was no true union of the different Protestant denominations under the umbrella of the Bohemian denomination. The neighboring countries of the Bohemian Crown were not included at all. In the German-speaking Lusatia and Silesia , the majority of Protestants adhered to the Confessio Augustana .

In 1609 , the evangelical estates of Bohemia were able to wrest the issue of a majesty letter from Emperor Rudolf II , in which the evangelical confession was permitted. This majesty letter was declared invalid by Ferdinand II after the Battle of White Mountain (1620).

expenditure

  • Confessio Bohemica, hoc est, Confessio Sanctae Et Christianae Fidei, Omnium Trium Ordinum Regni Bohemiae, Corpus & Sanguinem Domini nostri Jesu Christi in Coenâ Sub Utraque specie accipientium . Prague [1619] (printed original Latin text).
  • All three evangelical estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia unanimous declaration of faith, so profess to the testament of the body and blood ... Jesus Christ ... Amberg 1609 (German version of the Confessio Bohemica).
  • Alfred Eckert (Ed.): Bohemian Confession = Confessio Bohemica . Wolfach-Kirnbach (Black Forest) 1976 (modern edition in German).
  • Jiří Just, Martin Rothkegel : Confessio Bohemica. 1575/1609 . In: Andreas Mühling and Peter Opitz on behalf of the EKD (ed.): Reformed confessional writings. Vol. 3/1: 1570-1599 . Neukirchener Verlag Neukirchen-Vluyn 2012, pp. 47-176 ISBN 978-3-7887-2528-0 .

literature

  • Hrejsa, Ferdinand: Česká konfesse, její vznik, podstata a dějiny. Prague 1912.
  • David, Zdeněk V .: Finding the Middle Way. The Utraquists' Liberal Challenge to Rome and Luther, Washington DC - Baltimore Md. 2003

Web links