Philippists
Encyclopedia
The Philippists formed a party in early Lutheranism
. Their opponents were called Gnesio-Lutherans
.
. It probably originated among the opposite or Flacian party
, and was applied at first to the theologians of the universities of Wittenberg
and Leipzig
, who were all adherents of Melanchthon's
distinctive views, especially those in which he approximated to Roman Catholic doctrine on the subject of free will
and the value of good works, and to the Swiss Reformers' on the Lord's Supper
. Somewhat later it was used in Saxony
to designate a distinct party organized by Melanchthon's son-in-law Caspar Peucer
, with George Cracovius, Johann Stössel
, and others, to work for a union of all the Protestant forces, as a means to which end they attempted to break down by this attitude the barriers which separated Lutherans and Calvinists. Melanchthon had won, by his eminent abilities as a teacher and his clear, scholastic
formulation of doctrine, a large number of disciples among whom were included some of the most zealous Lutherans, such as Matthias Flacius
and Tilemann Heshusius
, afterward to be numbered among the vehement opponents of Philippism; both of whom formally and materially received the forms of doctrine shaped by Melanchthon. As long as Luther lived, the conflict with external foes and the work of building up the Evangelical Church so absorbed the Reformers that the internal differences which had already begun to show themselves were kept
in the background.
But no sooner than Luther was dead did the internal, as well as the external, peace of the Lutheran Church decline. It was a misfortune not only for Melanchthon but for the whole Lutheran body, that he who had formerly stood as a teacher by the side Luther, the original leader, was now forced suddenly into the position to head not only the University of Wittenberg but the entire Evangelical Church of Germany. There was among Luther's associates, notably Nikolaus von Amsdorf, a disinclination to accept Melanchthon's leadership. When, in the negotiations between German Protestants and Catholics that resulted in the Augsburg Interim
and Leipzig Interim
, Melanchthon showed himself ready to yield and make concessions on matters adiaphora
, he ruined his position with a large part of the Evangelical theologians. An opposition party was formed in which the leadership was assumed by Flacius in view of his learning, controversial ability, and inflexible firmness. Melanchthon, on the other hand, with his faithful followers Joachim Camerarius
, Georg Major
, Justus Menius
, Johann Pfeffinger
, Paul Eber
, Caspar Cruciger the Elder, Victorinus Strigel
, and others saw in the self-styled genuine Lutherans
nothing but a narrow and contentious class, which, ignoring the inherent teaching of Luther, sought to domineer over the church by letter and name, and in addition to assert its own ambitious self. On the other hand, the Philippists regarded themselves as the faithful guardians of learning over against the alleged "barbarism," and as the mean between the extremes. The genuine Lutherans
also claimed to be representatives of the pure doctrine, defenders of orthodoxy, and heirs of the spirit of Martin Luther
. Personal, political, and ecclesiastical animosities widened the breach; such as the rivalry between the Ernestine branch of the Saxon house (now extruded from the electoral dignity) and the Albertine branch; the jealousy between the new Ernestine University of Jena and the electoral universities of Wittenberg
and Leipzig
, in both of which the Philippists had the majority; and the bitter personal antagonism felt at Wittenberg for Flacius, who assailed his former teachers harshly and made all reconciliation impossible.
in 1548 and the following years. In the negotiations concerning the Leipzig Interim
the Wittenberg theologians as well as Johann Pfeffinger
and the intimate of Melanchthon, George of Anhalt
, were on the side of Melanchthon, and thus drew upon themselves
the violent opposition of the strict Lutherans
, under the leadership of Flacius, who now severed his connection with Wittenberg. When the Philippist Georg Major
at Wittenberg and Justus Menius
at Gotha
put forth the proposition that good works
were necessary to salvation
, or as Menius preferred to say "the new obedience, the new life, is necessary to salvation," they were not only conscious of the danger that the doctrine of justification by faith alone would lead to antinomianism
and moral laxity but they manifested a tendency to bring into account the necessary connection of justification
and regeneration
: namely, that justification as possession of forgiving grace by faith is indeed not conditioned by obedience; but also that the new life is presupposed by obedience and works springing out of the same justification. But neither Major nor Menius was sufficiently firm in his view to stand against the charge of denying the doctrine of justification and going over to the Roman camp, and thus they were driven back to the general proposition of justification by faith alone. The Formula of Concord
closed the controversy by avoiding both extremes, but failed to offer a final solution of the question demanded by the original motive of the controversy. The synergistic controversy, breaking out about the same time, also sprang out of the ethical interest which had induced Melanchthon to enunciate the doctrine of free will
in opposition to his previous predestinarianism. After the clash in 1555 between Pfeffinger (who in his Propositiones de libero arbitrio had held closely to the formula of Melanchthon) and Amsdorf and Flacius, Strigel went deeper into the matter in 1559 and insisted that grace worked upon sinful men as upon personalities, not natural objects without a will; and that in the position that there was a spontaneous cooperation of human powers released by grace there was an actual lapse into the Roman Catholic view. The suspicions now entertained against Melanchthon and his school were quickened by the renewed outbreak of the sacramentarian controversy in 1552. Joachim Westphal
accused Melanchthon of agreement with John Calvin
, and from this time the Philippists rested under the suspicion of Crypto-Calvinism
. The more the German Lutherans entertained a dread of the invasion of Calvinism
, the more they mistrusted every announcement of a formula of the Lord's Supper after the form of Luther's doctrine yet obscure. The controversy on this subject, in which Melanchthon's friend Albert Rizaeus Hardenberg of Bremen was involved with Johann Timann and then with Heshusius, leading to his deposition in 1561, elevated the doctrine of ubiquity
to an essential of Lutheran teaching. The Wittenberg pronouncement on the subject prudently confined itself to Biblical expressions and forewarned itself against unnecessary disputations, which only strengthened the suspicion of unavowed sympathy with Calvin.
sought to strike a decisive blow at Philippism. This was apparent at the Weimar meeting of 1556 and in the negotiations of Coswig and Magdeburg
in this and the following years, which showed a tendency to work not so much for the reconciliation of the contending parties as for a personal humiliation of Melanchthon. He, although deeply wounded, showed great restraint in his public utterances; but his followers in Leipsic and Wittenberg paid their opponents back in their own coin. The heat of partizan feeling was displayed at the Conference of Worms
in 1557, where the Flacian party did not hesitate, even in the presence of Roman Catholics, to show their enmity for Melanchthon and his followers. After several well-meant attempts at pacification on the part of the Lutheran princes, the most passionate outbreak occurred in the last year of Melanchthon's life, 1559, in connection with the "Weimar Confutation" published by Duke John Frederick
, in which together with the errors of Servetus
, Schwenckfeld
, the Antinomians, Zwingli, and others, the principal special doctrines of the Philippists (Synergism, Majorism, see Majoristic Controversy, adiaphorism) were denounced as dangerous errors and corruptions. It led, however, to discord among the Jena theologians themselves, since Strigel defended against Flacius Melanchthon's doctrine on sin and grace, and drew upon himself very rough treatment from the impetuous duke. But the ultimate outcome was the decline of the University of Jena, the deposition of the strict Lutheran professors and the replacing of them by Philippists. It seemed for the time that the Thuringian opposition to the Philippism of Electoral Saxony was broken; but with the downfall of John Frederick and the accession of his brother John William to power, the tables were turned; the Philippists at Jena were again. displaced (1568–69) by the strict Lutherans, Johann Wigand, Cölestin, Kirchner
, and Heshusius
, and the Jena opposition to Wittenberg was once more organized, finding voice in the
Bekenntnis von der Rechtfertigung und guten Werken of 1569. The Elector August was now very anxious to restore peace in the Saxon territories, and John William agreed to call a conference at Altenburg (Oct. 21, 1568), in which the principal representatives of Philippism were Paul Eber
and Caspar Cruciger the younger
, and of the other side Wigand, Cölestin, and Kirchner. It led to no result, although it continued until the following March. The Philippists asserted the Augsburg Confession of 1540
, the loci of Melanchthon of the later editions, and of the Corpus Philippicum, met by the challenge from the other side that these were an attack upon the pure teaching and authority of Luther. Both sides claimed the victory, and the Leipsic and Wittenberg Philippists issued a justification of their position in the Endlicher Bericht of 1571, with which is connected the protest of the Hessian theologians in conference at Ziegenhain in 1570 against Flacian Lutheranism and in favor of Philippism.
and the person of Christ. They pacified the elector, who had become uneasy, by the Consensus Dresdensis of 1571, a cleverly worded document; and when on the death of John William, in 1574, August assumed the regency in Ernestine
Saxony and began to drive out not only strict Lutheran zealots like Heshusius and Wigand, but all who refused their subscription to the Consensus, the Philippists thought they were on the way to a victory which should give them all Germany. But the unquestionably Calvinist work of Joachim Cureus, Exegesis perspicua de sacra cœna (1574), and a
confidential letter of Johann Stössel
which fell into the elector
's hands opened his eyes. The heads of the Philippist party were imprisoned and roughly handled, and the Torgau Confession of 1574 completed their downfall. By the adoption of the Formula of Concord
their cause was ruined in all the territories which accepted it, although in
some others it survived under the aspect of a modified Lutheranism, as in Nuremberg
, or, as in Nassau, Hesse
, Anhalt, and Bremen, where it became more or less definitely identified with Calvinism
. It raised its head once more in Electoral Saxony in 1586, on the accession of Christian I
., but on his death five years later it came to a sudden and bloody end with the execution of Nikolaus Krell
as a victim to this unpopular revival of Calvinism
.
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
. Their opponents were called Gnesio-Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
.
Before Luther's Death
Philippists was the designation usually applied in the latter half of the sixteenth century to the followers of Philipp MelanchthonPhilipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
. It probably originated among the opposite or Flacian party
Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albonian family...
, and was applied at first to the theologians of the universities of Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, who were all adherents of Melanchthon's
distinctive views, especially those in which he approximated to Roman Catholic doctrine on the subject of free will
Free will in theology
Free will in theology is an important part of the debate on free will in general. This article discusses the doctrine of free will as it has been, and is, interpreted within the various branches of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism...
and the value of good works, and to the Swiss Reformers' on the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
. Somewhat later it was used in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
to designate a distinct party organized by Melanchthon's son-in-law Caspar Peucer
Caspar Peucer
Caspar Peucer was a German reformer, physician, and scholar.-Biography:Born in Bautzen, Peucer studied mathematics, astronomy, and medicine at the University of Wittenberg from 1540...
, with George Cracovius, Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel was a Lutheran Theologian and Reformer.-Life:...
, and others, to work for a union of all the Protestant forces, as a means to which end they attempted to break down by this attitude the barriers which separated Lutherans and Calvinists. Melanchthon had won, by his eminent abilities as a teacher and his clear, scholastic
Lutheran scholasticism
Lutheran scholasticism was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Lutheran Orthodoxy. Theologians used the neo-Aristotelian form of presentation, already popular in academia, in their writings and lectures...
formulation of doctrine, a large number of disciples among whom were included some of the most zealous Lutherans, such as Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus was a Lutheran reformer.He was born in Carpano, a part of Albona in Istria, son of Andrea Vlacich alias Francovich and Jacobea Luciani, daughter of a wealthy and powerful Albonian family...
and Tilemann Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius (also Hesshus, Heßhusen, Hess Husen, Heshusen (November 3, 1527 in Wesel -- September 25, 1588 in Helmstedt) was a Gnesio-Lutheran theologian.- Life :...
, afterward to be numbered among the vehement opponents of Philippism; both of whom formally and materially received the forms of doctrine shaped by Melanchthon. As long as Luther lived, the conflict with external foes and the work of building up the Evangelical Church so absorbed the Reformers that the internal differences which had already begun to show themselves were kept
in the background.
Opposition to Melanchthon
Augsburg Interim
The Augsburg Interim is the general term given to an imperial decree ordered on May 15, 1548, at the 1548 Diet of Augsburg, after Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, had defeated the forces of the Schmalkaldic League in the Schmalkaldic War of 1546/47...
and Leipzig Interim
Leipzig Interim
The Leipzig Interim was a temporary settlement of 1548 AD in matters of religion, entered into by the Emperor Charles V with the Protestants.The Augsburg Interim of 1548 met with strong opposition. In order to make it less objectionable, a modification was introduced by Melanchthon and other...
, Melanchthon showed himself ready to yield and make concessions on matters adiaphora
Adiaphora
Adiaphoron is a concept of Stoic philosophy that indicates things outside of moral law—that is, actions that morality neither mandates nor forbids....
, he ruined his position with a large part of the Evangelical theologians. An opposition party was formed in which the leadership was assumed by Flacius in view of his learning, controversial ability, and inflexible firmness. Melanchthon, on the other hand, with his faithful followers Joachim Camerarius
Joachim Camerarius
Joachim Camerarius , the Elder was a German classical scholar.-Life:He was born at Bamberg, Bavaria...
, Georg Major
Georg Major
George Major was a Lutheran theologian of the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Nuremberg and died at Wittenberg.-Life:...
, Justus Menius
Justus Menius
Justus Menius was a German Lutheran theologian, whose name is Latinized from Jost or Just Menig.-Early life:...
, Johann Pfeffinger
Johann Pfeffinger
Johann Pfeffinger was a significant theologian and Protestant Reformer.-His life and work:...
, Paul Eber
Paul Eber
Paul Eber , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg and Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon....
, Caspar Cruciger the Elder, Victorinus Strigel
Victorinus Strigel
Viktorin/Victorinus Strigel was a Philippist Lutheran Theologian.-Life:...
, and others saw in the self-styled genuine Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
nothing but a narrow and contentious class, which, ignoring the inherent teaching of Luther, sought to domineer over the church by letter and name, and in addition to assert its own ambitious self. On the other hand, the Philippists regarded themselves as the faithful guardians of learning over against the alleged "barbarism," and as the mean between the extremes. The genuine Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
also claimed to be representatives of the pure doctrine, defenders of orthodoxy, and heirs of the spirit of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
. Personal, political, and ecclesiastical animosities widened the breach; such as the rivalry between the Ernestine branch of the Saxon house (now extruded from the electoral dignity) and the Albertine branch; the jealousy between the new Ernestine University of Jena and the electoral universities of Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
and Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
, in both of which the Philippists had the majority; and the bitter personal antagonism felt at Wittenberg for Flacius, who assailed his former teachers harshly and made all reconciliation impossible.
Open Conflict
The actual conflict began with the controversy over the Interim and the question of AdiaphoraAdiaphora
Adiaphoron is a concept of Stoic philosophy that indicates things outside of moral law—that is, actions that morality neither mandates nor forbids....
in 1548 and the following years. In the negotiations concerning the Leipzig Interim
Leipzig Interim
The Leipzig Interim was a temporary settlement of 1548 AD in matters of religion, entered into by the Emperor Charles V with the Protestants.The Augsburg Interim of 1548 met with strong opposition. In order to make it less objectionable, a modification was introduced by Melanchthon and other...
the Wittenberg theologians as well as Johann Pfeffinger
Johann Pfeffinger
Johann Pfeffinger was a significant theologian and Protestant Reformer.-His life and work:...
and the intimate of Melanchthon, George of Anhalt
George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau , was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau...
, were on the side of Melanchthon, and thus drew upon themselves
the violent opposition of the strict Lutherans
Gnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
, under the leadership of Flacius, who now severed his connection with Wittenberg. When the Philippist Georg Major
Georg Major
George Major was a Lutheran theologian of the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Nuremberg and died at Wittenberg.-Life:...
at Wittenberg and Justus Menius
Justus Menius
Justus Menius was a German Lutheran theologian, whose name is Latinized from Jost or Just Menig.-Early life:...
at Gotha
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
put forth the proposition that good works
Good works
Good works, or simply works, within Christian theology are a person's actions or deeds, contrasting with interior qualities such as grace or faith.The New Testament exhibits a tension between two aspects of grace:...
were necessary to salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
, or as Menius preferred to say "the new obedience, the new life, is necessary to salvation," they were not only conscious of the danger that the doctrine of justification by faith alone would lead to antinomianism
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
and moral laxity but they manifested a tendency to bring into account the necessary connection of justification
Justification (theology)
Rising out of the Protestant Reformation, Justification is the chief article of faith describing God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice....
and regeneration
Regeneration (theology)
Regeneration, while sometimes perceived to be a step in the Ordo salutis , is generally understood in Christian theology to be the objective work of God in a believer's life. Spiritually, it means that God brings Christians to new life from a previous state of subjection to the decay of death...
: namely, that justification as possession of forgiving grace by faith is indeed not conditioned by obedience; but also that the new life is presupposed by obedience and works springing out of the same justification. But neither Major nor Menius was sufficiently firm in his view to stand against the charge of denying the doctrine of justification and going over to the Roman camp, and thus they were driven back to the general proposition of justification by faith alone. The Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith that, in its two parts , makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as...
closed the controversy by avoiding both extremes, but failed to offer a final solution of the question demanded by the original motive of the controversy. The synergistic controversy, breaking out about the same time, also sprang out of the ethical interest which had induced Melanchthon to enunciate the doctrine of free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
in opposition to his previous predestinarianism. After the clash in 1555 between Pfeffinger (who in his Propositiones de libero arbitrio had held closely to the formula of Melanchthon) and Amsdorf and Flacius, Strigel went deeper into the matter in 1559 and insisted that grace worked upon sinful men as upon personalities, not natural objects without a will; and that in the position that there was a spontaneous cooperation of human powers released by grace there was an actual lapse into the Roman Catholic view. The suspicions now entertained against Melanchthon and his school were quickened by the renewed outbreak of the sacramentarian controversy in 1552. Joachim Westphal
Joachim Westphal (of Hamburg)
Joachim Westphal was a German "Gnesio-Lutheran" theologian....
accused Melanchthon of agreement with John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, and from this time the Philippists rested under the suspicion of Crypto-Calvinism
Crypto-Calvinism
Crypto-Calvinism is a term for Calvinist influence in the Lutheran Church during the decades just after the death of Martin Luther . It denotes what was seen as a hidden...
. The more the German Lutherans entertained a dread of the invasion of Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, the more they mistrusted every announcement of a formula of the Lord's Supper after the form of Luther's doctrine yet obscure. The controversy on this subject, in which Melanchthon's friend Albert Rizaeus Hardenberg of Bremen was involved with Johann Timann and then with Heshusius, leading to his deposition in 1561, elevated the doctrine of ubiquity
Ubiquitarians
The Ubiquitarians, also called Ubiquists, were a Protestant sect started at the Lutheran synod of Stuttgart, 19 December 1559, by Johannes Brenz, a Swabian ....
to an essential of Lutheran teaching. The Wittenberg pronouncement on the subject prudently confined itself to Biblical expressions and forewarned itself against unnecessary disputations, which only strengthened the suspicion of unavowed sympathy with Calvin.
Lutheran Strictures
The strict LutheransGnesio-Lutherans
"Gnesio-Lutherans" is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran Church, in opposition to the Philippists after the death of Martin Luther and before the Formula of Concord. In their own day they were called Flacians by their opponents and simply Lutherans by themselves...
sought to strike a decisive blow at Philippism. This was apparent at the Weimar meeting of 1556 and in the negotiations of Coswig and Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
in this and the following years, which showed a tendency to work not so much for the reconciliation of the contending parties as for a personal humiliation of Melanchthon. He, although deeply wounded, showed great restraint in his public utterances; but his followers in Leipsic and Wittenberg paid their opponents back in their own coin. The heat of partizan feeling was displayed at the Conference of Worms
Colloquy of Worms
The Colloquy of Worms was the last colloquy in the 16th century on an imperial level, held in Worms from September 11 to October 8, 1557. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1555 it had been agreed that the dialog on controversial religious issues should be continued. A resolution was passed at Regensburg...
in 1557, where the Flacian party did not hesitate, even in the presence of Roman Catholics, to show their enmity for Melanchthon and his followers. After several well-meant attempts at pacification on the part of the Lutheran princes, the most passionate outbreak occurred in the last year of Melanchthon's life, 1559, in connection with the "Weimar Confutation" published by Duke John Frederick
John Frederick
John Frederick may refer to:* John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Lutheran administrator of the prince-bishoprics of Bremen, Lübeck and Verden * John Frederick, Elector of Saxony , known as "The Magnanimous"...
, in which together with the errors of Servetus
Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation...
, Schwenckfeld
Kaspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig
Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig was a German theologian, writer, and preacher who became a Protestant Reformer and spiritualist, one of the earliest promoters of the Protestant Reformation in Silesia....
, the Antinomians, Zwingli, and others, the principal special doctrines of the Philippists (Synergism, Majorism, see Majoristic Controversy, adiaphorism) were denounced as dangerous errors and corruptions. It led, however, to discord among the Jena theologians themselves, since Strigel defended against Flacius Melanchthon's doctrine on sin and grace, and drew upon himself very rough treatment from the impetuous duke. But the ultimate outcome was the decline of the University of Jena, the deposition of the strict Lutheran professors and the replacing of them by Philippists. It seemed for the time that the Thuringian opposition to the Philippism of Electoral Saxony was broken; but with the downfall of John Frederick and the accession of his brother John William to power, the tables were turned; the Philippists at Jena were again. displaced (1568–69) by the strict Lutherans, Johann Wigand, Cölestin, Kirchner
Timotheus Kirchner
Timotheus Kirchner was a Lutheran theologian, pastor, professor of Theology and superintendent in Weimar.- Life :Kirchner was the son of a teacher...
, and Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius
Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius Tilemann Heshusius (also Hesshus, Heßhusen, Hess Husen, Heshusen (November 3, 1527 in Wesel -- September 25, 1588 in Helmstedt) was a Gnesio-Lutheran theologian.- Life :...
, and the Jena opposition to Wittenberg was once more organized, finding voice in the
Bekenntnis von der Rechtfertigung und guten Werken of 1569. The Elector August was now very anxious to restore peace in the Saxon territories, and John William agreed to call a conference at Altenburg (Oct. 21, 1568), in which the principal representatives of Philippism were Paul Eber
Paul Eber
Paul Eber , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg and Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon....
and Caspar Cruciger the younger
Caspar Cruciger the Younger
Caspar Cruciger the Younger was a German theologian.Born in Wittenberg, he was the son of Caspar Cruciger the Elder and his wife, the hymnwriter and former nun Elisabeth von Meseritz. He was Melanchthon's successor at the University of Wittenberg...
, and of the other side Wigand, Cölestin, and Kirchner. It led to no result, although it continued until the following March. The Philippists asserted the Augsburg Confession of 1540
Augsburg Confession Variata
The Altered Augsburg Confession is a later version of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession that includes substantial changes in the teaching of holy communion and the presence of Christ in bread and wine....
, the loci of Melanchthon of the later editions, and of the Corpus Philippicum, met by the challenge from the other side that these were an attack upon the pure teaching and authority of Luther. Both sides claimed the victory, and the Leipsic and Wittenberg Philippists issued a justification of their position in the Endlicher Bericht of 1571, with which is connected the protest of the Hessian theologians in conference at Ziegenhain in 1570 against Flacian Lutheranism and in favor of Philippism.
Downfall of the Philippists
Pure Lutheranism was now fortified in a number of local churches by Corpora doctrinæ of a strict nature, and the work for concord went on more and more definitely along the lines of eliminating Melanchthonism. The Philippists, fully alarmed, attempted not only to consolidate in Electoral Saxony but to gain ascendency over the entire German Evangelical Church. They met their downfall first in Electoral Saxony. The conclusion of the Altenburg Colloquy prompted the elector, in Aug., 1569, to issue orders that all the ministers in his domains should hold to the Corpus doctrinæ Philippicum, intending thus to avoid Flacian exaggerations and guard the pure original doctrine of Luther and Melanchthon in the days of their union. But the Wittenberg men interpreted it as an approval of their Philippism, especially in regard to the Lord's SupperEucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and the person of Christ. They pacified the elector, who had become uneasy, by the Consensus Dresdensis of 1571, a cleverly worded document; and when on the death of John William, in 1574, August assumed the regency in Ernestine
Ernestine duchies
The Ernestine duchies, also called the Saxon duchies , were a changing number of small states largely located in the present German state of Thuringia, governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.-Overview:The...
Saxony and began to drive out not only strict Lutheran zealots like Heshusius and Wigand, but all who refused their subscription to the Consensus, the Philippists thought they were on the way to a victory which should give them all Germany. But the unquestionably Calvinist work of Joachim Cureus, Exegesis perspicua de sacra cœna (1574), and a
confidential letter of Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel
Johann Stössel was a Lutheran Theologian and Reformer.-Life:...
which fell into the elector
Augustus, Elector of Saxony
Augustus was Elector of Saxony from 1553 to 1586.-First years:Augustus was born in Freiberg, the youngest child and third son of Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, and Catherine of Mecklenburg. He consequently belonged to the Albertine branch of the Wettin family...
's hands opened his eyes. The heads of the Philippist party were imprisoned and roughly handled, and the Torgau Confession of 1574 completed their downfall. By the adoption of the Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord
Formula of Concord is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith that, in its two parts , makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as...
their cause was ruined in all the territories which accepted it, although in
some others it survived under the aspect of a modified Lutheranism, as in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, or, as in Nassau, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Anhalt, and Bremen, where it became more or less definitely identified with Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. It raised its head once more in Electoral Saxony in 1586, on the accession of Christian I
Christian I, Elector of Saxony
Christian I of Saxony was Elector of Saxony from 1586 to 1591.He was the sixth but second surviving son of Elector Augustus of Saxony and Anna of Denmark...
., but on his death five years later it came to a sudden and bloody end with the execution of Nikolaus Krell
Nikolaus Krell
Nikolaus Krell , chancellor of the elector of Saxony, was born at Leipzig, and educated at the university of his native town....
as a victim to this unpopular revival of Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
.
External links
- Philippists article in Christian CyclopediaChristian CyclopediaChristian Cyclopedia is a one-volume compendium of theological data, ranging from ancient figures to contemporary events. It is published by Concordia Publishing House. It should not be confused with The Lutheran Cyclopedia , edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs and Charles A.W...
- Philippism – Melanchthon and the Consequences by Jürgen Diestelmann