Helvetic Confession
Two Reformed creeds from the 16th century bear the name Helvetic Confession (HB) .
First Helvetic Confession
The First Helvetic Confession ( Confessio Helvetica prior ), also known as the Second Basel Confession ( Confessio Basileensis posterior ), was created in 1536 as the first joint confession of the Reformed German-speaking Confederation .
In an effort to establish a union with the Lutherans , delegates from Zurich , Bern , Basel , Schaffhausen , St. Gallen , Mulhouse , Constance and Biel met in Basel from January 30 to March 4 of that year ; then came the theologians Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Capito from Strasbourg .
The Latin version of the 27 articles of the Confession, which was aimed at an inner-Protestant rapprochement, was created under the direction of Heinrich Bullinger , Simon Grynaeus , Leo Jud , Kaspar Megander and Oswald Myconius . However, the German translation by Leo Jud was accepted, which was more clearly based on Ulrich Zwingli's theology than the Latin version .
Second Helvetic Confession
The Second Helvetic Confession ( Confessio Helvetica posterior ) is, alongside the Heidelberg Catechism, still the most widespread Reformed confession today .
From 1561 it was written by Heinrich Bullinger as a personal confession and handed over to the Zurich council (as a spiritual will) in 1564. As Elector Friedrich III. of the Palatinate wanted to justify his conversion to the Reformed faith at the Reichstag in Augsburg, Bullinger sent him this confession at his request. Friedrich arranged for it to be printed by the Swiss Reformed Cantons in 1566 (title: Confessio et expositio simplex orthodoxae fidei et dogmatum Catholicorum syncerae religionis Christianae ), and it was quickly distributed.
The Second Helvetic Confession was accepted by all Reformed churches in German-speaking Switzerland with the exception of Basel, also by Geneva, and also by the Reformed in Scotland , Poland , Austria and Hungary .
The Confession, the most extensive of the Reformed confessional documents, comprises thirty chapters. It is based on the Apostles' Creed , but in the first two chapters it deals with basic hermeneutical questions such as the Reformation principle of scripture ( sola scriptura ) and the relationship between scripture and tradition. The marginal note Praedicatio verbi Dei est Verbum Dei (the sermon of the word of God is the word of God) has become famous , which Bullinger expresses that God's word itself is only present in the preaching of lawfully called preachers in the church. In the second half of the text, in addition to the basic questions of faith, there are also rules for shaping Christian and church life (order of worship, holidays, food order, marriage, etc.).
Editions
- Ernst Saxer (Ed.): Confessio Helvetica Prior from 1536 . In: Heiner Faulenbach, Eberhard Busch u. a. (Ed.): Reformed Confessions. Vol. 1,2: 1535-1549 . Neukirchen-Vluyn 2006, pp. 33-68.
- Emidio Campi (Ed.): Confessio Helvetica Posterior . In: Reformed Confessions. Vol. 2.2: 1562-1569 . Edited by Andreas Mühling u. a., Neukirchen-Vluyn 2009, pp. 243-345.
- Walter Hildebrandt, Rudolf Zimmermann (ed.): The second Helvetian creed . Zwingli-Verlag, Zurich 1936 (TVZ, Zurich, 5th edition 1998).
- Georg Plasger , Matthias Freudenberg (ed.): Reformed confessional writings. Göttingen 2005, pp. 187-220; Text of the Confessio Helvetica Posterior in German only in excerpts.
literature
- Ernst Koch : The theology of the Confessio Helvetica Posterior. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1968.
- Fritz Büsser: Heinrich Bullinger. Life, Work and Effect Vol. 2. Zurich 2005, pp. 163–175: Bullinger and the Second Helvetic Confession.