Intramural Combat

In his forthcoming, massive Reformations, Carlos M.N. Eire summarizes the conflicts between Philippists and Gnesio-Lutherans following Luther’s death in 1546.

Eire writes, “The most pressing issue in 1548 concerned how much accommodation to Catholicism any Lutheran should be willing to make. Melanchthon’s response to the Augsburg Interim . . . laid out the core compromise he was willing to make concerning theology and ritual, pledging loyalty to the emperor and appealing to the concept of adiaphora, which he defined as ‘matters of indifference that may be observed without injury to the divine scriptures.’” Other Lutherans were much less irenic, “adamantly opposed” to any accommodation to Catholicism (564).

Grace and free will became the focal points of the theological debate: “the Philippists were in favor of assigning the human will some role in salvation. Though they upheld Luther’s sola fide and sola gratia principles, emphasizing that salvation is the unmerited gift of God, the Philippists tended to assign a cooperating role to the human will, which, as they saw it, had a role to play in the redemption of every individual. Melanchthon had laid out their basic premise in his Leipzig Interim, arguing that good works were ‘so highly necessary that if they are not quickened in the heart there is no reception of divine grace.’ The Gnesio-Lutherans [i.e., self-described “authentic” followers of Luther] rejected any such theology as a betrayal of Luther’s uncompromising stance against works-righteousness. Accusing the Philippists of synergism . . . the Gnesio-Lutherans insisted that the human will could contribute absolutely nothing to the process of salvation” (565). Eire isn’t much impressed by these theological debates, and doubtless they are more carefully stated than he suggests.

Accommodation to Catholicism was one dimension of the divide. Accommodation to the Reformed was the other. The Philippist’s “peacemaking tendencies were broad enough to also encompass their Protestant rivals, the Reformed, with whom they sought to form a tighter bond.” Melanchthon sought for Eucharistic formulations that would satisfy both sides, but “To the Gnesio-Lutherans it seems that Melanchthon and the Philippists were not only willing to fudge on this issue, but actually eager to do so, merely for the sake of concord.” Some condemned the Philippists for the “crime” of crypto-Calvinism (566).

Eventually the two sides came to an agreement, summarized in the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, published in 1580. To Eire, this was not really a compromise document but “an absolute surrender by the Philippists” whose articles “were not just a detailed summary of Gnesio-Lutheran theology, but also a thorough condemnation of all of the ‘errors’ of the Philippists” (567).

In short, the internal divisions of Lutheranism, and the eventual adoption of a Gnesio-Lutheran doctrinal standard, were fueled by a passion for maintaining thick boundaries between Lutherans and others. Anti-Catholicism combined with Anti-Calvinism to forge a Lutheranism resistant to reunion. Lutherans divided because of intense hostility to Catholicism, and because they wanted to keep their distance from Reformed churches. Fragmentation bred fragmentation.