The
Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its
Latin name,
Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the
Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the
Lutheran reformation. The Augsburg Confession was written in both
German and
Latin, and was presented by a number of
German rulers and free-cities at the
Diet of Augsburg on
June 25,
1530. The
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had called on the Princes and Free Territories in
Germany to explain their religious convictions in an attempt to restore religious and political unity in the Holy Roman Empire, and rally support against the
Turkish invasion. It is the fourth document contained in the Lutheran
Book of Concord.
Background
Diet of Augsburg by Christian Beyer.
On
January 21,
1530, the
Emperor Charles V issued letters from
Bologna, inviting the German
diet to meet in
Augsburg April 8, for the purpose of discussing and deciding various important questions. Although the writ of invitation was couched in very peaceful language, it was received with suspicion by some of the Evangelicals. The far-seeing
Landgrave of Hesse hesitated to attend the diet, but the Elector
John of Saxony, who received the writ
March 11, on
March 14 directed
Martin Luther,
Justus Jonas,
Johannes Bugenhagen, and
Philipp Melanchthon to meet in
Torgau, where he was, and present a summary of the Lutheran faith, to be laid before the emperor at the diet.
This summary has received the name of the "Torgau Articles". On
April 3 the elector and reformers started from
Torgau and reached
Coburg on
April 23. There Luther was left behind because he was an outlaw according to the
Diet of Worms. The rest reached Augsburg
May 2. On the journey Melanchthon worked on an "apology", using the Torgau articles, and sent his draft to Luther at Coburg on
May 11, who approved it. Several alterations were suggested to Melanchthon in his conferences with Jonas, the Saxon chancellor
Bruck, the conciliatory
Christopher von Stadion,
bishop of Augsburg, and the imperial secretary
Alfonso Valdez.
On
June 23 the final form of the text was adopted in the presence of the Elector John of Saxony, the Landgrave
Philip of Hesse, the Margrave
George of Brandenburg, the Dukes Ernest and
Francis of Luneburg, the representatives of
Nuremberg and
Reutlingen, and other counselors, besides twelve theologians. After the reading the confession was signed by the Elector John of Saxony, Margrave George of Brandenburg, Duke
Ernest of Luneburg, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the Prince
Wolfgang of Anhalt, the representatives of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, and probably also by the electoral prince John Frederick and Duke Francis of Luneburg.
During the diet the cities of
Weißenburg in Bayern,
Heilbronn,
Kempten, and
Windesheim also expressed their concurrence with the confession. The emperor had ordered the confession to be presented to him at the next session,
June 24; but when the Evangelical princes asked that it be read in public, their petition was refused, and efforts were made to prevent the public reading of the document altogether. The Evangelical princes, however, declared that they would not part with the confession until its reading should be allowed. The 25th was then fixed for the day of its presentation. In order to exclude the people, the little chapel of the episcopal palace was appointed in place of the spacious city hall, where the meetings of the diet were held. The two Saxon chancellors Bruck and Beyer, the one with the Latin copy, the other with the German, stepped into the middle of the assembly, and against the wish of the emperor the German text was read. The reading lasted two hours and was so distinct that every word could be heard outside. The reading being over, the copies were handed to the emperor. The German he gave to the imperial chancellor, the Elector of Mainz, the Latin he took away. Neither of the copies is now extant.
The first official publication (
Editio princeps) was edited by
Philipp Melanchthon, a professor at the
University of Wittenberg and close friend of
Martin Luther.
Contents
The 28 Articles
The Augsburg Confession consists of 28 articles presented by Lutheran princes and representatives of "free cities" at the Diet of Augsburg that set forward what the Lutherans believed, taught and confessed in positive (theses) and negative (antitheses) statements. The theses are 21 Chief Articles of Faith describing the normative principles of Christian faith held by the Lutherans, the antitheses are seven statements describing what they viewed as abuses of the Christian faith present in the Roman church.
The Chief Articles of Faith (Theses)
Abuses Corrected
Conclusion
"That in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic." Signatures of several secular leaders in Saxony.
thumb|Illustration of the first 21 articles by Wenceslas Hollar.
Impact of the Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession became the primary confessional document for the Lutheran movement, even without the contribution of Martin Luther. Following the public reading of the Augsburg Confession in June of 1530, the expected response by Charles V and the Vatican representatives at the Diet of Augsburg was not immediately forthcoming. Following debate between the court of Charles V and the Vatican representatives, the official response known as the
Pontifical Confutation of the Augsburg Confession was produced to the Diet, though the document was so poorly prepared that the document was never published for widespread distribution, nor presented to the Lutherans at the Diet.
However, in September Charles V declared the response to be sufficient and gave the Lutheran princes until April 15 of 1531 to respond to the demands of the Confutation. In response, Phillip Melancthon wrote a lengthy and sustained argument both supporting the Augsburg Confession as well as refuting the arguments made in the Confutation. This document became known as the
Apology of the Augsburg Confession and was soon translated into German and was widely distributed and read throughout Germany.
The Lutheran princes at the diet concurrently agreed to a military alliance in the event of action by Charles V known as the
Schmalkaldic League. By 1535, the League admitted any city or state to the alliance that gave official assent to the Augsburg Confession and the Apology. Significantly, the Confession was translated into English in 1536 and
King Henry VIII was given opportunity to sign the confession and join the league, but theological and political disputes would prevent the English church from joining. The English translation of the Augsburg Confession and German Lutheran theologians would influence the composition of the first of the Anglican
Thirty-Nine Articles in the latter 1530s.
In 1540, Melanchthon produced a revised edition, the
Variata, which was signed by
John Calvin. Many Lutheran churches specify in their official documents that they subscribe to the "Unaltered Augsburg Confession", as opposed to the Variata.
The political tensions between the
Schmalkaldic League and the forces of Charles V and the Vatican eventually lead to the
Schmalkaldic War in 1546-1547 which was won convincingly by Charles V. The war, however, did not resolve the religious and political situation. Eight years later the Lutheran princes and Charles V agreed to the
Peace of Augsburg which granted Lutheranism legal status within the Holy Roman Empire.
Theological disputes within the expanding sphere of Lutheranism to other territories in the latter half of the 16th Century lead to the compilation of a definitive set of Lutheran Confessions in the
Book of Concord in 1580. The
Book of Concord includes the Augsburg Confession and the
Apology of the Augsburg Confession as the foundational confessions of the Lutheran faith.
In 1976,
Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) suggested that the Augsburg Confession might possibly be recognized as a Catholic statement of faith. This however did not happen.
In Music
Felix Mendelssohn's 5th Symphony (actually his 2
nd Symphony in order of composition) was composed to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession and thus bears the title
The Reformation Symphony. The Symphony, however, was not commissioned for the celebrations, because of either the composer's Jewish origins, or because of the inappropriateness of a symphony for the celebrations. Instead, Eduard Grell's work for four men's voices a capella was commissioned.
See also
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