Crypto-Calvinism

Crypto-Calvinism is a pejorative term describing a segment of those members of the Lutheran Church in Germany who were accused of secretly subscribing to Calvinist doctrine of the Eucharist in the decades immediately after the death of Martin Luther in 1546. It denotes what was seen as a hidden (crypto- from Greek : κρύπτω meaning "to hide, conceal, to be hid") ^[1] Calvinist belief, i.e., the doctrines of John Calvin, by members of the Lutheran Church. The term crypto-Calvinist in Lutheranism was preceded by terms Zwinglian and Sacramentarian. Also, Jansenism has been accused of crypto-Calvinism by Roman Catholics. ^[2]

Contents

• Background
• Philippism
• Modern use of the term crypto-Philippist
• History
• Second Sacramentarian Controversy
• Great Adoration Controversy
• In Saxony
• In Scandinavia
• Later history and evaluation
• See also
• References
• Bibliography
• External links

Background

Martin Luther had controversies with "Sacramentarians", and he published against them, for example, in his The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics and Confession Concerning Christ's Supper . Philipp I of Hessen arranged the Marburg Colloquy in 1529, but no agreement could be reached concerning the doctrine of Real Presence. Subsequently, the Wittenberg Concord of 1536 was signed, but this attempt at resolving the issue ultimately failed.

While Lutheranism had weakened after the Schmalkaldic War and Interim controversies, the Calvinist Reformation was spreading across Europe. Calvinists wanted to help Lutherans to give up "remnants of popery", as they saw it. By this time Calvinism had expanded its influence to southern Germany (not least because of the work of Martin Bucer), but the Peace of Augsburg (1555) had given religious freedom in Germany only to Lutherans, and it was not officially extended to Calvinists until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. While Bullinger, Zwingli's successor, had, in 1549, accepted Calvin's much less radical view of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper (that is, that the Eucharist was more than a sign and that Christ was truly present in it and was received by faith), Calvinist theologians thought that Lutheran theology also had changed its view of the Real Presence because the issue was not discussed anymore, and Philippist teaching gave some justification to this conclusion.

Philippism

In Saxony

Controversy about crypto-Calvinism inside of Lutheran Church divides into two stages: 1552–1574 and 1586–1592. It was the most bitter of all controversies after Luther's death.

Crypto-Calvinists had gained the ecclesiastical power in Saxony during the rule of Elector Augustus, but the unquestionably Calvinistic work of Joachim Cureus, Exegesis perspicua de sacra cœna (1574) and a confidential letter of Johann Stössel that 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. Caspar Peucer, not incidentally Melanchthon's son-in-law, was captured and jailed for 12 years in the Königstein Fortress for Crypto-Calvinism. Their cause was thwarted in those territories that adopted the Formula of Concord, 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.

Crypto-Calvinism raised its head once more in the Electorate of 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 murder of Nikolaus Krell as a victim to this unpopular revival of Calvinism. ^[8]

In Scandinavia

In Denmark crypto-Calvinism was represented by Niels Hemmingsen. ^[9] In Sweden, crypto-Calvinism, which was resisted by Archbishop Olaus Martini, was supported by Duke Charles, uncle of Catholic king Sigismund III Vasa. Calvinism was finally banned at the Uppsala Synod of 1593 by the initiative of Bishop of Turku, Ericus Erici Sorolainen, ^[10] and Bishop Olaus Stephani Bellinus.

Later history and evaluation

Following the Prussian Union and other Evangelical unions in Germany, today's Evangelical Church in Germany is an umbrella organisation of Lutheran, Union, and Reformed church bodies. The Leuenberg Concord (1962) made a similar irenic solution between Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines, while Confessional Lutheran church bodies still continue to see Calvinist teaching on the Lord's Supper as a danger to Lutheran faith and identity.

See also

• Crypto-Protestantism
• Eucharistic theologies contrasted
• Saxon Visitation Articles
• Receptionism
• Nicodemite

Related Research Articles

Philip Melanchthon was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and influential designer of educational systems.

Martin Bucer was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled. He then began to work for the Reformation, with the support of Franz von Sickingen.

The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Reformed catechism taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, Germany. Its original title translates to Catechism, or Christian Instruction, according to the Usages of the Churches and Schools of the Electoral Palatinate. Commissioned by the prince-elector of the Electoral Palatinate, it is sometimes referred to as the 'Palatinate Catechism.' It has been translated into many languages and is regarded as one of the most influential of the Reformed catechisms. Today, the Catechism is 'probably the most frequently read Reformed confessional text worldwide.'

Caspar Peucer was a German reformer, physician, and scholar of Sorbian origin.

The Marburg Colloquy was a meeting at Marburg Castle, Marburg, Hesse, Germany, which attempted to solve a disputation between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli over the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It took place between 1 October and 4 October 1529. The leading Protestant reformers of the time attended at the behest of Philip I of Hessen. Philip's primary motivation for this conference was political; he wished to unite the Protestant states in political alliance, and to this end, religious harmony was an important consideration.

Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation German, Evangelical Lutheran, Christian theologian, and a Protestant reformer, churchman, and confessor. In the Evangelical Lutheran tradition he is known as Alter Martinus, the "Second Martin": Si Martinus non fuisset, Martinus vix stetisset goes a common saying concerning him. He is listed and remembered in the Calendar of Saints and Commemorations in the Liturgical Church Year as a pastor and confessor by both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

The Smalcald Articles or Schmalkald Articles are a summary of Lutheran doctrine, written by Martin Luther in 1537 for a meeting of the Schmalkaldic League in preparation for an intended ecumenical Council of the Church.

The Ubiquitarians, also called Ubiquists, were a Protestant sect that held that the body of Christ was everywhere, including the Eucharist. The sect was started at the Lutheran synod of Stuttgart, 19 December 1559, by Johannes Brenz (1499–1570), a Swabian. Its profession, made under the name of Duke Christopher of Württemberg and entitled the "Württemberg Confession," was sent to the Council of Trent in 1552, but had not been formally accepted as the Ubiquitarian creed until the synod at Stuttgart.

Nikolaus Krell, chancellor of the elector of Saxony, was born at Leipzig, and educated at the university of his native town.

Sacramental union is the Lutheran theological doctrine of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Christian Eucharist.

Lutheranism as a religious movement originated in the early 16th century Holy Roman Empire as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church. The movement originated with the call for a public debate regarding several issues within the Catholic Church by Martin Luther, then a professor of Bible at the young University of Wittenberg. Lutheranism soon became a wider religious and political movement within the Holy Roman Empire owing to support from key electors and the widespread adoption of the printing press. This movement soon spread throughout northern Europe and became the driving force behind the wider Protestant Reformation. Today, Lutheranism has spread from Europe to all six populated continents.

Manducatio impiorum refers to those who eat the Lord’s Supper but do not believe all Christian doctrine including the rejection of the real presence in the Lord’s Supper. Martin Luther and the Gnesio Lutherans held to this view, which is codified in the Epitome of the Formula of Concord VII found in the Book of Concord. Philipp Melanchthon and his followers, the Philippists, with the Reformed denied this teaching including Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin Calvin believed that Christ's body is given to all communicants, but only received by those who have faith. Lutherans refer to this as the receptionist error. It relates to doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and, in particular, to the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:27–29:

The Philippists formed a party in early Lutheranism. Their opponents were called Gnesio-Lutherans.

Joachim Westphal was a German "Gnesio-Lutheran" theologian and Protestant reformer.

Reformed Christianity originated with the Reformation in Switzerland when Huldrych Zwingli began preaching what would become the first form of the Reformed doctrine in Zürich in 1519.

Gnesio-Lutherans is a modern name for a theological party in the Lutheran churches, 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. Later Flacian became to mean an adherent of Matthias Flacius' view of original sin, rejected by the Formula of Concord. In a broader meaning, the term Gnesio-Lutheran is associated mostly with the defence of the doctrine of Real Presence, along with the practice Eucharistic adoration.

Joachim Mörlin was an Evangelical Lutheran theologian and an important figure in the controversies following Martin Luther's (1483-1546) death. He was the older brother of Maximilian Mörlin, another Lutheran theologian and Reformer.

Christoph Pezel was an influential Reformed Theologian who introduced the Reformed confession to Nassau-Dillenburg and Bremen.

Maximilian Mörlin was a Lutheran theologian, court preacher, Superintendent in Coburg, and Reformer.

Johannes Saliger was a sixteenth century radical Lutheran theologian and controversialist. He was a leading protagonist in "the Saliger Controversy" which bears his name.

References

Bibliography

• Bouman, Herbert (1977), "Retrospect and Prospect", Sixteenth Century Journal, 8 (4): 84–104, doi:10.2307/2539395, JSTOR   2539395 .
• Brandes, Friedrich (1873), Der Kanzler Krell, ein Opfer des Orthodoxismus (in German).
• Diestelmann, Jürgen (1997), Actio Sacramentalis. Die Verwaltung des Heiligen Abendmahles nach den Prinzipien Martin Luthers in der Zeit bis zur Konkordienformel (PDF) (in German), Groß-Ösingen: Luther in BS, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-20.
• ——— (2007), Usus und Actio – Das Heilige Abendmahl bei Luther und Melanchthon (PDF) (in German), Berlin: Luther in BS, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-21.
• Froner, Hans v (1919), "Der Kryptocalvinismus Wittenbergs", in Weißenborn, Bernhard (ed.), Die Universität Halle-Wittenberg[The Halle-Wittenberg University] (in German), Berlin: Furche.
• Hasse, Hans-Peter, ed. (2004), 'Caspar Peucer (1525–1602): Wissenschaft, Glaube und Politik im konfessionellen Zeitalter (in German), Leipzig: EVA.
• Hardt, Tom GA (1971), "Venerabilis et adorabilis Eucharistia. En Studie i den lutherska Nattvardsläran under 1500-talet", Studia Doctrinae Christianae Upsaliensia, Acta Universitatis Uppsaliensis (in Swedish), 9, Uppsala.
• ——— (1988), "Venerabilis et adorabilis Eucharistia. Eine Studie über die lutherische Abendmahlslehre im 16. Jahrhundert", Forschungen zur Kirchen-und Dogmengeschichte (in German), Göttingen: Band 42.
• ———, The Sacrament of the Altar, America online, archived from the original on June 10, 2001. A book on the Lutheran Doctrine of the Lord's Supper]
• Henke, Ernst Ludwig Theodor (1865), Caspar Peuker und Nikolaus Krell (in German), Marburg: Elwert.
• Koch, Uwe, ed. (2002), Zwischen Katheder, Thron und Kerker: Leben und Werk des Humanisten Caspar Peucer (in German), Bautzen: Domowina.
• Luther, Martin (2000) [1529, The Large Catechism], Kolb, Robert (ed.), The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Fortress Press
• Richard, August Victor (1859), Der kurfürstlich sächsische Kanzler Dr. Nikolas Crell (in German), 2 vols.
• Roebel, Marin (2005), Humanistische Medizin und Kryptocalvinismus. Leben und Werk... Caspar Peucers (PDF) (MD/PhD thesis) (in German), DE: University of Heidelberg .
• Saran, G (1879), "Der Kryptocalvinismus in Kursachsen und Dr. Nikolaus Krell", DEBI (in German): 596–614.

External links

• Calvin, John, The Calumnies of Joachim Westphal, God rules.
• Diestelmann, Jürgen, Philippism – Melanchthon and the Consequences, archived from the original on 2006-06-14, retrieved 2008-02-28.
• Schaff, ed. (1592), The Saxon Visitation Articles .
• ———, "The Eucharistic Controversies", History of the Christian Church, vol. VIII, CCEL .
• Wengert, Timothy J (Spring 2001), "Luther and Melanchthon on Consecrated Communion Wine (Eisleben 1542–43)" (PDF), Lutheran Quarterly (1), archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-26.
• "Articles of Visitation", Christian cyclopedia, LCMS.
• "Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy", Christian Cyclopedia , LCMS.
• "Calvinizing Lutheran Churches", Lutheran Cyclopedia, 1899, p. 71.
• "Augustus I."  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 2 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 914–915..