Lutheran Orthodoxy

O texto apresentado nesta edição do Catálogo das Testemunhas é o mesmo presente na Concordia Triglotta de Bente, edição de 1921. Mas foi consultado também o The Book of Concord-Readers Edition de 2006, editado pela CPH. O texto dos "Pais" foi traduzido do original grego e latino, respectivamente. As introduções dos tópicos são baseadas no texto latino, fazendo referência ao texto germânico sempre que necessário. O texto deste Catálogo das Testemunhas procura manter a tonalidade mais formal da nossa edição Livro de Concórdia, mas sem comprometer o entendimento claro. Sempre que o texto germânico oferecer uma clareza para o texto dos "Pais", então será destacado em [colchetes] e com nota de rodapé. Quando o texto latino apresenta uma complementação do texto grego ou uma expressão se faz necessária para a clareza do texto, então o termo estará também em [colchetes]. Os (parênteses) são originais do texto dos "Pais" ou do texto latino. Algumas vezes eles aparecerão na tradução para indicar uma nota da edição original do Catálogo, mas são facilmente conferidos com o texto abaixo. Em partes específicas, os parênteses serão empregados juntamente com um "t.", isso indica uma coerência interna das citações e outra possível tradução. Quando os Confessores que editaram o Catálogo usarem parênteses, este será respeitado. As referências às obras originais foram mantidas. Os Confessores que editaram o Catálogo já haviam colocado o nome original do escrito, se qualquer leitor quiser buscar o texto completo, será possível. Mas, em breve, serão adicionadas as referências às edições críticas e mais recentes dos "Pais". Nesta edição, foi adicionada a numeração dos parágrafos, facilitando para o leitor referenciar os textos. Qualquer outra informação referente a um testemunho será expressa em nota de rodapé. Qualquer crítica ou sugestão de tradução que o leitor queira nos enviar será bem-vinda e estudada cuidadosamente. A tradução do texto germânico das Escrituras ainda será adicionada junto ao texto latino, já incluído. Os textos já estão referenciados, o leitor pode conferi-los na tradução que preferir. Cabe ainda uma palavra de agradecimento ao Dr. Vilson Scholz, ele que sugeriu, incentivou e auxiliou na tradução deste Catálogo. Todos quantos que desejam usar este catálogo em aulas, trabalhos e semelhantes, lhes é permitido. Moacyr Alves Jr.

40 essays by Ronnie Hsia, Ulrich Leinsle, Marius Reiser, Thomas Marschler, Trent Pomplun, Jean-Louis Quantin, William O'Brien SJ, Stefania Tutino, Carl Trueman, Andreas Beck, Willem van Asselt, Eric Carlsson, Stephen Hampton, Benjamin Mayes, Robert Kolb, Risto Saarinnen, Ola Tjorholm, Sarah Mortimer, Jeff Bach, Keith Stanglin, Hartmut Lehmann, Jonathan Strom, Craig Atwood, Stephen Burnett, Emanuele Colombo, Aza Goudriaan, Carolina Armenteros, Eric Watkins, Maria Rosa Antognazza, Stephen Gaukroger, Jonathan Israel, John Henry.

The wisdom and biblical teaching of the early Lutheran Church has been locked away in German and Latin for centuries. A key to this treasure chest, Lives and Writings of the Great Fathers of the Lutheran Church is a handbook that introduces the chief confessional Lutheran theologians from the era of Lutheran Orthodoxy (1580–1700).

Short biographical sketches reveal the little-known life stories of these pastors and theologians, while selections of many of their best writings are presented in first-time English translations. Each chapter also lists all English translations of their work, along with their greatest writings in the original languages.

“This volume is offered as a means for familiarizing readers with a too-often neglected, if not maligned, period in the history of God’s people and perhaps also to entice some into moving into the deeper waters just described. Taking these fellow believers as conversation partners cannot help but deepen and expand our knowledge of how the Christian faith has come to us as we experience it in our time.”

—Introduction excerpt by Robert Kolb, professor emeritus of systematic theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

This article focuses on Hermann Sasse's theology of scripture and its influence from 1949–1966 leading up to unification of the Lutheran Church in Australia. Context is provided by first exploring Sasse's personal life and upbringing and how this shaped his theology from a liberal to conservative confessional position. Discussion then moves to the question of his theology of scripture. This sheds light on the historical context of scripture's doctrinal trifecta: authority, inspiration and particularly inerrancy ('Irrtumslosigkeit'). A finding of the archival research conducted is that Sasse's personal work leading to unification is much behind the scenes and unseen, spending countless hours, weeks, months – even years – preparing documents for discussions, Joint Union Committees (JUC), churches, laypeople, pastors, General Synods, often in his spare time outside of teaching hours. His personal understanding of authority of scripture was originally very controversial and had in part been publicly retracted after being provoked particularly by members of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). This change was not cultural, but confessional, drawn from years of living under a reality through a 'theology of the cross' (theologia crucis). 1 His unwavering confession would be the one thing Lutherans would remember of him: his loyalty to scripture and the church's confession, which he made his own. The fruit of his confession contributed in a gentle spirit to the 7 critical JUC dialogues of 1950–1951 that afforded the LCA such a rich, confessional, biblical Theses of Agreement (TA) on scripture. These continue to shape the LCA today – a church 'where love comes to life.' 2

As a disclaimer, if this article at points seems to be a little disjointed in telling the narrative of the JUC meetings leading to union and post-union, please note the story is difficult to tell, as one of the participants has publicly stated. 3

Memories of the 1717 Reformation Jubilee in Hungary in the Manuscript Collection of Ernst Salomon Cyprian (1673–1745) of Gotha:
Ernst Salomon Cyprian did a great service to posterity by compiling the documents of the Reformation anniversary in 1717 and publishing them in 1719. He entrusted the preacher to the Danish embassy in Vienna, Johann Jacob Langjahr, with collecting the documents from Hungary and Transylvania. After the peace treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the Danish preacher finally got to Sopron, where he asked his fellow ministers for help with collecting material. He also sent his own Vienna sermon of October 31, 1717 in full text to Cyprian. The expedition of the extensive fascicle caused him concern and the printer further delay, because the sensitive material could not simply be sent by post, on the contrary, one had to wait for a safe opportunity to smuggle the fivesheet bundle out of the Habsburg Empire. The safe opportunity mentioned above was delayed until the beginning of 1719, when, after repeated urgings, Langjahr forwarded the collected commemorative speeches and sermons. Moreover, at the right time, because the material from Vienna and Hungary actually enriched the handbook published at Easter 1719. There are in all ten pages about the celebrations in Hungary and Vienna. On the other hand, it turns out from Langjahr’s letter of February 11, 1719 that his attempts in Transylvania
were not crowned with success at all.

Many premodern insights into the Bible seem to be lost since exegesis is widely limited to historical issues. The article deliberates on a concept of exegesis connecting historical-critical and traditional approaches, which also serves to assess premodern exegetical positions as they are found e.g. in the commentaries of the Lutheran orthodox scholar A. Calov.

Der Aufsatz bietet eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit Hans-Georg Kempers Konzeption der Geschichte der Lyrik in der Frühen Neuzeit. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Bedeutung der lutherischen "Orthodoxie" und der Hermetik. Vgl. dazu die Reaktion von Hans-Georg Kemper: Hermetik - das 'Andere' im Luthertum. In: Zeitsprünge 20 (2016).

History, Sweden, 18th century, Pietism, Lutheran orthodoxy, natural law, protestantism, confessionalism, secularization, early modern, christianization, view of man, concept of society, religious rhetoric, theological conflict, freedom of conscience, religious tolerance

What is theology? How is it related to personal faith and pastoral practice? How does one go about studying theology? This book explores how one prominent Lutheran theologian, Johann Gerhard (1582-1637), addressed these enduring questions at the beginning of the ‘Age of Orthodoxy’ during a time of tension between those who viewed theology as personal piety and those who considered it an academic discipline. This makes his understanding of theology rather insightful and quite unique. Fluegge closely examines a wide variety of Gerhard’s writings and proposes a more nuanced understanding of this important theologian’s transitional concept of theology and its connection to other aspects of life. Throughout one gains a deeper appreciation for this often neglected period of Christianity.

The present paper explores the repression of Lutheran and evangelical theological writings and bibles in the Habsburg Low Countries during the 1520s, in the aftermath of the Edict of Worms. The way in which different jurisdictions dealt with a work entitled “Summa der Godliker Scrifturen” (“The Sum of the Holy Scripture”) provides material for a comparative analysis of techniques of repression. This paper also examines the rise of predecessors of the Index of Forbidden Books, and provides a facsimile of a previously unknown such list, the earliest yet identified, promulgated in the diocese of Vienna in 1528.
The first appendix identifies the mysterious “Ioannes Zel” censored in the 1529 Brussels proto-index as the Antwerp printer Jan van Ghelen.
A second appendix provides the first accurate and comprehensive bibliography of the editions of the “Summa der Godliker Scrifturen,” including recently recovered photographs of the title page and colophon of an edition of which the last known copy was destroyed during WWII.

Reviews
(1) Kant-Studien 101 (2010): 119–120 [R. Pozzo].
(2) Journal of Ecclesiastical History 57 (2006): 790-791 [W. P. Ward]
(3) Theological Studies 68 (2007): 471-472 [J. Betz]
(4) Journal for the History of Modern Theology  15 (2008): 173–174 [J.  Wischmeyer].
(5) Theologie und Philosophie 81 (2006): 585-587 [G. Sala]
(6) Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 53 (2006): 527-531 [S. Knebel]
(7) Theologische Revue 103 (2007), 516-518 [A. Winter]

This paper is an essay overviewing the doctrine of the Real Presence as found in Article X of the Augsburg Confession (1530). Written originally to be presented as a lecture in class at ALC 2017, it has been modified to be slightly more readable rather than spoken publically. Examined firstly is Article X, the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, secondly is an overview of Gassmann and Hendrix’s Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions, which has become amalgamated with a brief overview of the sacramental history of the Lord’s Supper on the Real Presence and its controversies. Thirdly is a look at Luther, his theology on the Real Presence, his thinking and role he played leading up to the Marburg Colloquy and then on to Augsburg fallout. I argue these two events are vital to understanding the doctrine of the Real Presence in its historical context. Lastly examined will be how article X relates to several other key articles within the Augsburg Confession that are most notable, indeed critical to this fundamental doctrine. It is significant to acknowledge the Marburg Colloquy as one of the distinguishing events that divided Protestantism forever concerning the doctrine of the Real Presence. By all means, history teaches much about the theological understanding of this doctrine as much as the theology divides Church history itself. I have learnt the Real Presence is something that was exceptionally dear to Luther’s heart, so much that he understood solemnly that he would have to give an account to God almighty for what he believed and confessed. Moreover I think I personally shed a tear when I read about the Swiss, when Zwingli, with tears in his eyes went to shake Luther’s hand but he refused saying; ‘you Swiss have a different spirit to us.’  The unity of the Christian-Protestant body rather than this doctrine was more important to Zwingli than the Church getting its doctrine right every time. On one hand I have learned to see Zwingli’s heart and compassion, but on the other hand I can see Luther and Melanchthon’s hearts with their frustration trying to achieve a greater unity within Christendom altogether. The doctrine of Real Presence is rich, intimate and pastorally beneficial for all true Christians and yet—it was the very thing that separated Lutheranism from the rest of Protestantism.  The other side of the coin is that the Real Presence still unites Lutheranism with Roman Catholicism to this very day—even though Lutheranism rejects that last step of Transubstantiation.

This study complicates one part of the scholarly legend that Gottlob Christian Storr infused the Kantian letter with an Orthodox spirit. In §§17-18 of his DC, Storr positions Immanuel Kant’s physico-theological and moral arguments for rational belief in God within an argument for the divine authority of Scripture—on which he suggests the reliability of the book’s dogmatic statements rest. By foregrounding some versions of Kant’s arguments (while hiding others) and by illegitimately drawing biblical-theological conclusions from transcendental and limited-speculative premises, the scholarly story goes, Storr made it seem as if Lutheran Orthodoxy follows from Kant’s arguments for rational belief in God. I argue rather that Storr put Kant’s arguments in the mouth of reason—construed as a figure in a traditional Lutheran story of transformation. In this story—told from a post-transformation perspective—reason’s awareness of God is both transformed by an encounter with Word and it is a placeholder that makes a comparison between ‘pre’ and ‘post’ transformation visible. In this encounter with Word, reason comes to trust that the God who is able to help is also willing to help, and to trust that the God who reveals his willingness to help is also the divine Author of Scripture. Because Kant’s arguments—on Kant’s own terms—concern only reason’s Because Kant’s arguments—on Kant’s own terms—concern only reason’s rational belief in a God who is able to see the secrets of our hearts and are cognitive symbolic, Storr is able (while keeping within the bounds of the Lutheran dogmatics genre) to (re)present them as symbolic summaries of Scripture (i.e., as dogmatic statements) that harmonize neatly with reason’s self-understanding. Storr does not cherry-pick the Kantian words that support his cause, but exploits the compatibility of Kant’s heuristic language with the Lutheran heuristic. And he does not cast methodological rigor aside so much as he incorporates Kant’s arguments into a Lutheran rule for hierarchically combining human- relative modes of argumentation and measures of reliability with divine or Scripture- relative modes and measures. While he owes much to sixteenth-century thinking, Storr answers a pressing question of the late eighteenth-century: how to reliably bring together multiple modes of argumentation and measures of reliability.

Christoph Ernst Luthardt lived in Germany during 19th century and was a Christian apologist, theologian & Bible commentator of the Lutheran faith. He was one of the conservative Lutheran faculty at the University in Leipzig. This paper is a very brief overview about him and his career with respect to human reason and the role it played in his life and work.

The present study is concerned with aspects of the complex forming of modern European states in the works of the Lutheran jurist Dietrich Reinking. Reinking is well-known for his loyalty to the German emperor in the so-called Reichspublizistik (the new science of German imperial constitutional law). However, only few scholars have further elaborated on his late work "Biblische Policey" (1653), which is at the centre of this article about Reinking’s state theory. As a so-called politica Christiana (Gute-Policey literature), the "Biblische Policey" reveals as the basic theological framework an enriched lore of the Lutheran three-estate theory. Reinking refers not only directly to Luther’s Lectures on Genesis, but also, for instance, to the shaping of later orthodox Lutheran theologians (as a principle of church constitution). And yet the difference to contemporary theological works is most obvious, as Reinking did not show much interest in denominational positioning, but was rather concerned with the fundamental controversy of the reason of state (Staatsraison). Since, overall, one can determine tensions and progress in the gradual integration of the theory of reason of state (anti-Machiavellism, neo-Stoicism respectively Tacitism) as well as in his construction of a “biblical state” (the relation of the empire to the territorial state, and the three estates to monarchy; differentiation of the state and society; separation of church and state competences), it is plausible to consider Reinking a paradigm for emergent processes and trends of modern stateformation. Ultimately, the question of the relevance of religious, denominational, and explicitly biblical orientations and models is raised again.

I denna uppsats studeras den pietistiska väckelsen bland krigsfångar från Karl XII:s armé i Sibirien under åren 1709-1722. Undersökningen har gjorts i form av ett historiskt studium
av både tidigare publicerat och i Sverige opublicerat material. Studien har visat att orsakerna till väckelsens framväxt framförallt var den karolinska fromheten som fångarna bar med sig in i fångenskapen kombinerat med påverkan från den sociala situation som fångarna befann sig i, framförallt under fälttåget före fångenskapen. Studien har dessutom visat att väckelsens spiritualitet kan karakteriseras som hallepietism genom dess betonande av omvändelsen, kampen mot synden och bedrivande av konventikelverksamhet kombinerat med socialt engagemang för utbildning genom drivandet av en skola som i praktiken kom att fungera som ett barnhem. Den pietistiska spiritualiteten bar på stora likheter med den samtida lutherska ortodoxins spiritualitet. Gemensamt för de båda var bibelläsningen, synen på gudomlig vedergällning och tron på nåden allena. Skillnaderna bestod främst i synen på läran och dess funktion samt synen på det individuella kontra det kollektiva i tron. Den sibiriska pietismen saknade vissa av de separatistiska drag som senare kommit att bli typiska för pietismen. Detta gjorde att svenska lutherska ledare under fångenskapen lät pietisterna utöva sin tro så länge denna inte konkurrerade med eller gick
emot den lutherska tron.

In the seventeenth century, Lutheran ecclesiastical authorities commissioned Konfessionsbilder (images depicting the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, 1530 and illustrations of Lutheran ecclesiastical life). These images help illuminate the theory of " confessionalization, " especially in light of the particular anti-Reformed emphasis of the paintings. These paintings reveal a concern for the rise of Reformed theology, prompted by the Peace of Westphalia, in the century and a half before the rise of the Prussian Union Church (1817).

The purpose of this paper is to present a study of "Martin Luther as Preacher."  After a brief biographical sketch of the significant events in Luther's life, the paper explores Luther's approach to preaching in general.  The paper concludes with several examples of Luther's preaching with special emphasis on several important themes (The Centrality of Christ, The Importance of Faith, The Christian Cross).

Taking his cue from Scripture and the Confessions, Tomczak addresses the issue of liturgical uniformity in Lutheran worship. How much is too much, too little, or just right? Is uniformity good, necessary, or beneficial? What questions should we be asking as we approach liturgical discussions and debates in the 21st century?

Though Lutheranism's illustration of salvation shifted from a mobile discussion to a uniform model in the ordo salutis, its revelation in hymnody manifested itself differently. Its impact, as shown by this study, appeared not in the microstructure of the content, but in the thematic direction, and thus the superstructure of the hymnal.

Catholic theologians after Trent saw the Protestant teaching about the remnants of original sin in the justified as one of the ‘chief ’ errors of Protestant soteriology. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Martin Chemnitz, and many Protestant theologians believed that a view of concupiscence as sinful, strictly speaking, did away with any reliance on good works. This conviction also clarified the Christian’s dependence on the imputed righteousness of Christ. Catholic theologians condemned this position as detracting from the work of Christ who takes away the sins of the world.

The rejection of this teaching—and the affirmation of Trent’s statement that original sin is taken away and that the justified at baptism is without stain or ‘immaculate’ before God—is essential for understanding Catholic opposition to Protestant soteriology. Two Spanish Dominican Thomists, Domingo de Soto and Bartolomé de Medina, rejected the Protestant teaching on imputation in part because of its connection with the view on the remnants of original sin in the justified. Adrian and Peter van Walenburch, brothers who served as auxiliary bishops of Cologne in the second half of the seventeenth century, argued that the Protestants of their time now agreed with the Catholic Church on a number of soteriological points. They also drew upon some of their post–Tridentine predecessors to offer a Catholic account of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Nonetheless, the issue of sin in the justified remained a point of serious controversy.

TO READ THE PREVIEW SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE PREVIEW SCROLL DOWN

The Bridge carries the essential meaning of Objective Mind as a finite pathway between two eternities. Great bridges (an illustrative photo is provided) do this wherever they are constructed since they really express an eternal idea of infinite power--an insight gifted to us by the Serbian poet and novelist Ivo Andric (d. 1975). The skyline of the U.S. City of Saint Paul is read to reveal The Bridge in the guise of significant historical development, the final element of which (the massive Shrine of the Apostle Paul, 1907) here is interpreted as a further and final instantiation of The Bridge, representing the passage to individualized Divine Action by voluntary abnegation of finite will. Sudden appreciation arises of an Eternal Triangle encompassing Real Landscape. Are there others in the world?

N.B.: Readers are advised of the subsequent substantial conceptual concretion of the foregoing thesis in a series of studies by the same author, to be found here:

'Totalization of Universal History by Meta-Analytic Ascent (URLs)'
(https://www.academia.edu/43292436/Totalization_of_Universal_History_by_Meta-Analytic_Ascent_URLs_)

Perceptive readers of the author's various studies will notice that the question posed here about "Real Landscape" is actually answered in the mentioned meta-analytic studies (particularly 'How the German Spirit Died' and 'How the Human Spirit Died'), where a global schema ("Concretion of the World Stage") does indeed represent the highest possible instauration of the Real Landscape as a logical process--one triadic conceptual solution underlain by sublated moments, e.g., Being (the Bridge), Essence (reflections of historically contingent development), and the Notion ("Begriff") or Concept (here the Holy Church), which in genuine cases totalizes the sublated components and represents (as repeatedly noted by idealists from Pythagoras to Boehme to Hegel), the End finding itself in the Beginning. Is this clear?

The author would like to note that less-than-global solutions to the conundrum of Real Landscape have been posed and fulfilled (at least potentially) by the Creator of Creators, and are discernible in the Old World/New World dichotomy; the "One [Triadic] Continent Many Islands" notion accurately discerned by the influential Halford Mackinder (d. 1946); partially hidden formations, such as the geological sub-reality underlying Hadrian's Wall, which marks the spiritual separation of Scotland and England; and globally significant straits (the English Channel, the Bosporus Strait, the Korea Strait, etc.), and even the "negative" of such straits (such as the Isthmus of Panama). In other words, properly cogitated, the World is chock full of Real Landscape and this could easily fill the pages of a good book.

Der Aufsatz verfolgt die Entwicklung des physikotheologischen Gedankens, demzufolge Gott in der Natur alles sinnvollen Zwecken gemäß eingerichtet hat, so daß der Mensch, der dies erkennt, Gott deswegen zu preisen angeregt wird. Bei Johann Albrecht Fabricius (1668-1736) verbleibt dieser Gedanke noch ganz im Zusammenhang der orthodox lutherischen Lehre von der Providenz. Bei Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) wird dieser Gedanke ein Satz einer vom Offenbarungsglauben losgelösten natürlichen Theologie, die auch gegen den Glauben an die biblische Offenbarung gewendet werden kann. Das Gleiche findet sich bei Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747). Der Aufsatz verfolgt die Entwicklung des Gedankens und seine schrittweise Auflösung weiter bei Kant und Darwin.

A collection of prayers from the history of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church from Luther to Loehe. The collection includes prayers by Johannes Bugenhagen, Georg C. Dieffenbach, Veit Dietrich, Matthias Flacius, Wilhelm Loehe, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Joachim Mynsinger, Johann G. Olearius, Johann Jacob Rambach, and the early agendas and prayer books of the Austrian, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lueneberg, Norwegian, Nuremberg, Pomeranian, Riga, Russian, Saxon, Schleswig-Holstein, and Swedish Evangelical-Lutheran churches.
Now available on Amazon.com

By asking a specific question which is, what human characteristics are implicit in the teachings of Jesus? This paper will aim at centering a discussion on the teachings of Jesus and what sort of anthropological implications they contain. In this way, this paper will ultimately repeat the question that Jesus asked His disciples back to him, who do You say that I am?

Johan Kemper of Uppsala (born Moses Aaron of Kraków; c. 1670–1716) converted to Lutheran Christianity in the aftermath of the Sabbatian messianic uproar. The threads of his boundary-crossing story can be seen as emblematic of the sea-changes of his era: geographic, religious, intellectual, and cultural. His journey from Poland through the German-speaking lands and finally to Sweden mirrors his personal journey from Jew to Christian and provides a window into the struggles of an often voiceless strata of Jewish society. The very ordinary episodes of his life form an exceptional story. Upon settling in the Kingdom of Sweden, what he had perhaps hoped would provide rupture in his life, in fact, formed a continuity. While there, under the strict censorship of the Lutheran Church he needed and sought to be both an insider and outsider, inconspicuous Christian and expert Jew, which found its most paradigmatic expression in his magnum opus, a Lutheran commentary to the Zohar.

Prayers from the Pomeranian Agenda, translated from German by Paul C. Stratman. This translation is based on Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda: nebst den Legibus praepositorum, statutis synodicis und der Vistitations-Ordnung von 1736. Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche in Pommern, C. A. Koch, 1854, and is available on Google Books.

The purpose of the article is to look at the theological tendencies and attitudes of the early modern University of Tartu, based on disputations in Tartu (Pärnu) and outside Estonia. In terms of the number of disputations, the period of the Academia Gustaviana (1632–1656) in Tartu clearly seems to be more active theologically than the later Academia Gustavo-Carolina period (1690–1710). While there was a total of 211 disputations presented in the Faculty of Theology during the Swedish time, 202 of these were presented in the first period, and only nine in the second period. The article focuses firstly on the relationship between the official Ramist constitutions of Academia Gustaviana and Lutheran Orthodoxy; and secondly, it examines the Lutheran Orthodoxy that was officially established during time of Academia Gustavo-Carolina and its relationship to Pietism.

Wissenschaftliche Leitung:
Maarten J.F.M. Hoenen (Universität Basel / Albert-Ludwigs- Universität Freiburg i.Br.)
Marco Lamanna (Scuola Normale Superiore - Pisa)
Roberto Lo Presti (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Die päpstliche Bulle Apostolici Regiminis, die als Ergebnis aus der 8. Sitzung des 5. Laterankonzils (1513) hervorging, hatte tiefgreifende Auswirkungen auf die philosophische Kultur der Frühen Neuzeit. Die Bulle bezog insbesondere Position in Bezug auf die philosophischen Theorien über die menschliche Seele, indem sie die Lehren eines sterblichen individuellen Intellekts oder eines einzigen, kollektiven Intellekts als ketzerisch verurteilte und festlegte, dass auch von Philosophen stets die christliche Lehre einer unsterblichen Seele zu verteidigen sei.
Im Hintergrund dieser päpstlichen Bestimmung stand die so genannte Lehre der ‚Einheit der Wahrheit’ (omne verum vero consonat). Hierunter verstand man, dass jede wahre, durch rationale Schlussfolgerung erlangte Erkenntnis stets im Einklang mit den Inhalten der christlichen Offenbarung stehe. Eine Wahrheit könne einer anderen Wahrheit schließlich nicht widersprechen. Dieses seit der christlichen Antike mehrfach formulierte Programm geriet im Zusammenhang der Reformation jedoch mit Martin Luthers Lehren in Konflikt und gipfelte später in der kosmologischen Kontroverse um die Lehren Galileo Galileis.
Die Tagung möchte ausgehend von der Bulle von 1513 die historischen Ursprünge und Folgen der Lehre von der Einheit der Wahrheit nachzeichnen. Hierfür gilt es zunächst, ihre Vorläufer in der Geschichte der philosophischen Bildung zu untersuchen, etwa die Verurteilung zahlreicher Thesen durch den Pariser Bischof im Jahre 1277. Anschließend sollen die unmittelbaren Entstehungsumstände und Folgen der Bulle in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts untersucht werden, insbesondere die philosophischen Seelenlehren der Renaissancephilosophen Pietro Pomponazzi und Gasparo Contarini. Zuletzt gilt es, die Auswirkungen dieser Debatte auf die so genannte ‚wissenschaftliche Revolution’ nachzuvollziehen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit Philosophen wie René Descartes oder Galileo Galilei wird zeigen, dass die Akteure dieser vermeintlichen Revolution mithin keinen Widerspruch zwischen Religion und Wissenschaft zu etablieren versuchten.
Übergreifend für das gesamte Ziel der Tagung sollen insbesondere die Rolle von Reformation und katholischer Gegenreformation als wesentliche Merkmale der Diskussionen identifiziert werden sowie die Beziehungen, die zwischen den philosophischen und theologischen Debatten und den jeweiligen Institutionen bestanden, in denen die Debatten ausgetragen wurden. Die frühneuzeitliche ‚Konfessionalisierung der Wissenschaften’ und die Entstehung ‚weltlicher Bildungsinstitutionen’ lassen sich im Spiegel der Debatte um die Einheit der Wahrheit klar konturiert nachzeichnen, ohne dabei den Blick für die vielen Nuancen und Eigenheiten dieser beiden wesentlichen Momente westlicher Ideen- und Philosophiegeschichte der Moderne zu verlieren.
Die letzte Sitzung der Tagung widmet sich einer erkenntnistheoretischen Debatte, die im Anschluss an die Wissenschaftliche Revolution nicht nur die Vereinbarkeit einer „Wahrheit der Wissenschaft“ und einer „Wahrheit des Glaubens“ betrifft. Vielmehr kreist jene Debatte um so genannte „übernatürliche“ Konzepte, die – insbesondere seit Newton bis in zeitgenössische Entwürfe hinein – für wissenschaftliche Modelle grundlegend sind: Hierunter fallen etwa Konzepte wie ‚Raum’, ‚Zeit’, ‚Kausalität’ oder ‚Materie’. Die Definitionen solcher Begriffe sind im Wesentlichen philosophischer Natur und daher außerhalb der Zuständigkeit der einzelnen Naturwissenschaften. Die hierin angelegte Spannung zwischen wissenschaftlicher Praxis und metaphysisch-philosophischer Definitionsarbeit ist noch heute kontrovers diskutiert und soll im Rahmen der Tagung vor dem historischen Hintergrund der Vorstellung einer ‚Einheit der Wahrheit’ erneut debattiert werden.

Paul Gerhardts Liedern ist eine durchaus bewußte Poetik unterlegt. Gerhardt nimmt teil an der lutherischen Bildungswelt des 17. Jahrhunderts und rezipiert den platonischen Gedanken von dem göttlich Schönen in einem christlichen Kontext. Gott als die Schönheit vermittelt sich dem Menschen durch die Menschwerdung und durch das Wort, das im höchsten Sinne poetisch gestaltetes, von Schönheit erfülltes Wort ist.

Feasting in a Famine of the Word (abb. FFW) is a recent book published in 2016 comprising of a collection of essays written by leading Lutheran scholars in the subject of preaching. Opening with the idea that ‘Lutheran preaching is both in need and worthy of rehabilitation…’  FFW covers a wide range of issues from preaching and the Divine Service, to homiletics, hermeneutics, historical preaching, current cultural issues surrounding preaching, preaching as a sacramental act of divine speech of God, as well as theological, practical application and spirituality of the person in the pew in relation to the sermon. The research is fresh and some articles cut to the core of what is happening in churches (esp. American Protestantism) with preaching that commits to ‘idealism’ rather than the text in God’s Word. As the title of the book implies eschatologically one-day there will be a ‘famine…of hearing the word of the Lord’ (Amos 8:11) and such a deprivation of hearing God’s Word is to be a judgement from the Lord himself to his people and/or those who reject his Word. Each of the writers of this book are regularly engaged with preaching as they are currently Pastors in congregations, seminary professors, emeritus/locum preachers etc., hence it comes as no surprise the issues in preaching are from a practitioner’s perspective, not just theory or knowledge, but much of the data is in fact robustly, tested, tried, is biblical and stands on its own merit.

Johann Gerhard’s concept of theology lies between two ways of understanding theologia within Lutheranism. Both existed during Gerhard’s time, although one was waning while the other was waxing. The tension between these divergent views traces back to the rivalry between monastic and scholastic approaches to theological learning during and even before the Reformation and revolves around the disputed relation between spirituality (pietas) and erudition (eruditio). One’s position between these two conceptualizations of theologia could often be determined by one’s response to three questions: What is theology (theologia)? How are theology (theologia), faith (fides), and piety (pietas) related? And, how are the personal and professional orientations of theologia related? This study conducts a close linguistic analysis of Gerhard’s 1625 definition of theologia in its literary and historical contexts and concludes that, according to Gerhard, theologia is a God-given habitus that constitutes the “suitability” of the mind to understand the divine mysteries of Scripture and, as such, is part and parcel of the psychological faith event (fides), distinct from but inseparable phenomenologically from pietas, foundationally focused on personal faith edification and only secondarily oriented toward professional ministerial practice.

The Altenburger Bibelwerk was a devotional edition of the Bible based on the notes and commentaries by Luther, his associates and students. It was different from the study Bibles we have today. Chapters or parts of chapters had a written introduction followed by the Bible text, a summary or commentary, and a short reflective prayer or blessing (called a Votum). These prayers or blessings were written by Franciscus Vierling and were first published in the 1676 edition. What follows are translations of all the Vota from the Gospel of Matthew. These can be used devotionally as you read the given portion of the Scripture, or they can be used on their own as prayers and blessings. ​