Consensus Bremensis

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Christoph Pezel (1539–1604), author of the consensus .
Engraving from 1598.

The Consensus Bremensis , actually Consensus Venerandi Ministerii Bremensis , is a confession of Protestant reformers in Bremen written in 1595 .

In 1522 the Reformation found its way into Bremen . Since the middle of the 16th century, a dispute over the direction between Lutherans and followers of Melanchthon determined the discussion not only among theologians but also crucially in the Bremen Council . The so-called " Second Reformation ", which also Bremen increasingly clear the Reformed doctrine turned, but without Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin to follow in all, found its expression in the codified largely by Christoph Pezel written consensus Bremensis . Formally, the authorship of this program was with the Venerandum Ministry , an organ of the Bremen Church, which consisted of the clergy of the four old, new and suburban churches. The council was not bound by the decisions of the church organ.

The consensus was signed by all city clergymen, and of course it also applied to the preachers in the Bremen countryside. The council tacitly recognized the new church constitution. Until 1608 and from 1628 to 1635 all new clergymen had to sign them.

The first section deals with the validity of the Augsburg denomination and other fundamental Protestant confessions. The second section deals with current Protestant doctrines and takes a position against Martin Luther , Kaspar Schwenckfeld , the Anabaptists and ubiquitists . The doctrine of predestination is extended in the spirit of Melanchthon and Calvin. With his statements about the ceremonies, Pezel sets himself apart from Luther and Melanchthon. The sacraments are not a condition for achieving bliss, fasting, veneration of saints, vestments and private communion are discarded, images are to be removed from the churches. The third main section concerns ecclesiastical discipline and the relationship between ecclesiastical and secular jurisdiction.

In the 18th century, the previously incomplete validity of the consensus is completely lost. Its printed version, first published in 1860, only had scientific and ecclesiastical source value.

text

literature

  • Ernst Friedrich Karl Müller : The Confessions of the Reformed Church. In authentic texts with a historical introduction and index. Leipzig 1903, pp. 739–798 (text edition).
  • Johann Friedrich Iken : The Consensus Ministerii Bremensis of 1595. In: Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 10, 1878, pp. 95-105. ( Digitized version )
  • Otto Veeck : History of the Reformed Church in Bremen. Bremen 1909, pp. 46-65.
  • Jürgen Moltmann : Christoph Pezel (1539-1604) and Calvinism in Bremen (= Hospitium ecclesiae , Volume 2). Einkehr, Bremen 1958, DNB 480673896 ( habilitation thesis Uni Göttingen February 27, 1957). Pp. 146-166.
  • Friedrich Seven: Theological Notes on the Consensus Bremensis. In: Leather is bread. Contributions to the North German regional and archive history (Festschrift Andreas Röpcke ). Schwerin 2011, pp. 79-86.
  • Ortwin Rudloff: Der Consensus Bremensis 1595 , in: Bremen Church History from the Reformation to the 18th Century , Bremen 2017, pp. 196–206.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Veeck, pp. 60-65 and pp. 157-160.
  2. ↑ Helmar Junghans : Martin Luther and the world of the Reformation. In: Lutherjahrbuch 72, 2005, p. 114 ( also digital here ).
  3. ^ Iken, pp. 88-90.
  4. ^ Iken, p. 85.