Terminism

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Terminism ( lat. Terminus limit, goal) has been the teaching of pietistic theologians (terminists) in Protestant theology since the 17th century , which says that God set a certain date for people to get better. When the appointed date expires, forgiveness and bliss can no longer be obtained.

Philipp Jacob Spener already represented this doctrine with reference to his Lutheran Orthodox teacher Johann Konrad Dannhauer , without coming into conflict with it. But when the Sorau deacon Johann Georg Böse tightened it in his work Terminus Peremtoris Salutis humanae in 1698 (he primarily contradicted the view that turning away from sinful life should be enough to achieve salvation on the deathbed), theologians turned to the Lutheran Orthodoxy violently against it. Reports by the theological faculties of Rostock and Wittenberg condemned Böse, the Leipzig theological faculty fell out over this question. The controversy, which was also fierce through sermons and pamphlets, only subsided in 1704.

literature

  • Thomas Kaufmann :  Terministic dispute . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 8, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, Sp. 164-165.
  • Andreas Gößner: The terministic dispute: Prehistory, course and meaning of a theological conflict at the turn of the 17th to the 18th century. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2011 ISBN 9783161508516 (Contributions to historical theology ISSN  0340-6741 159)