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Confessional Theology of the Unitas Fratrum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Milos Strupl
Milos Strupl
Affiliation:
Melnik, Wisconsin
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Extract

More than eighty years ago the celebrated church historian Philip Schaff correctly observed that the Czech Brethren “surpass all churches in the number of their confessions of faith.”1 Undoubtedly he too, like any other student of the Unitas Fratrum, was astonished at the number of confessional statements which the Brethren wrote and published within the span of less than two hundred years. While discounting separate printings and translations into Latin, German, and Polish, one still has to take into consideration seventeen documents which must be classified as official apologies or confessions of faith. However, if anyone wished to include all such documents, the number would reach almost forty. This, admittedly, is a difficult task, as in several instances it is not easy to determine which ones of these were directly authorized by the spiritual leadership of the Unitas Fratrum, or at least met with its silent approval.2

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , September 1964 , pp. 279 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1964

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References

1. “Fourth Letter to Rokycana” (also known as “Memorial Writing”); MS, written in Czech by br. Gregory; delivered July 29, 1468.

2. “The Brethren in Anxiety under King George”; MS, written in Czech in September or October 1468, by br. Gregory, possibly in collaboration with other “learned” Brethren.

3. Confession without a title; MS, written in Czech either in 1471 or 72, most likely by John Klenovský.

4. “Second Letter of the Brethren to the Lords of VysokéMýto MS, written in Czech, anonymously, possibly by br. Gregory, either during the second half of 1471 or in the beginning of 1472.

5. Confession without a title; MS, written in Czech, in 1488, possibly by John Klenovský (only fragments preserved).

6. Confession without a title; MS, written in Czech, probably by John Táborský, most likely between the years 1474–80.

7. Oratio excusatoria atque satisfactiva fratrum Waldensium regi Wladislao ad Hungariam missa; written in Czech by br. Lucas of Prague, in July or August 1503, then translated into Latin (Latin version preserved in its entirety, only portions of the Czech original).

8. Confessio fidei fratrum Vandensium regi Vladislao ad Hungariam missa; written by br. Lucas in November 1507, Czech edition printed December 17, 1507 (original Latin printing not extant, only reprints).

9. To the Noble Lords; written by br. Lucas in Czech, delivered December 27, 1507, printed in Litomyšl by Paul Olivetský, in 1508.

10a. Apologia sacre scripture; first sketch written by br. Lucas in 1503, rewritten and enlarged in 1507; published December 4, 1511, in Nuremberg by Hieronymus Hoeltzel, in an anonymous Latin translation.

10b. A Writing Giving Satisfaction of Faith (Which in the Latin Language Is Called Apologia); publication of the Czech original by Nicholas Klaudyán in Mladá Boleslav, August 9, 1518.

10c. Second, somewhat corrected edition of (10b), again by Nicholas Klaudyán in Mladá Boleslav, apparently in 1521.

11. Concerning the Ground of the Common Christian Faith; written by br. Lucas, completed April 28, 1525; printed by Paul Olivetský in Litomyšl, July 22, 1525; in Czech.

12a. Account of the Teaching, of the Religious Services Pertaining to the Faith and Ceremonies, to the Englightened Lord George Margrave of Brandenburg; written in Czech, in 1532 by John Roh with the assistance of others; printed in 1532 in Mladá Boleslav by Henry Šturm (lost).

12b. Translated into German by br. Michael Weisse and printed in 1532 in Zurich as Rechenschft des Glaubens, der dienst und Cerimonien der Bruder in Behmen und Mehrern by Christoffel Froschouer.

12c. Another translation into German by Burián Sobek of Kornice; published in 1533 by Hans Lufft in Wittenberg as Rechenschafft des Glaubens: der dienst vnd Ceremonien, Bruder in Behemen und Mehrern, welche von etlichen Pickarten, und von etlichen Waldenser genant werden.

12d and e. Reprints of (12b and c) in 1532 and 1538 (?) resp., by Philip Ulhart iʼn Augsburg.

13. A considerably enlarged and rewritten edition of (12a), only a portion of the Czech original preserved as MS (written by John Cerný-Nigranus?), never published; Latin translation prepared by Burián Sobek of Kornice, published as Apologia verae doctrinae in November 1538 by Georg Rhaw in Wittenberg.

14a. Account of Faith and of the Christian Teaching, Presented to His Majesty the King in Vienna by the Lords and Knights of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Who Belong to the Unitas Fratrum of the Law of Christ, in the Year 1535; written by John Roli in collaboration with John Augusta and others in Czech, published January 13, 1536, in Mladá Boleslav.

14b. Another edition of (14a), published in Litomyš1, May 9, 1536.

14c. Latia translation by Burián Sobek of Kornice, published as the Confessio Fidei in November 1538 by Georg Rhaw in Wittenberg.

14d. Peter Paul Vergerio's edition of (14c); preface dated in Tübingen, August 1, 1557; published in 1558, most likely in Tübingen.

15a. Second redaction of (14), published in Czech, in 1561.

15b. Polish translation of (15a), published in 1563 in Cracow; printed by Maciej Wierzbieta; presented December 8, 1563, by representatives of the Unitas at the Warsaw Diet to King Sigismund II Augustus.

15c. A new version of (15a), published in 1564; NT quotations from Blahoslav's translation of the same.

15d. New edition of (15c), prepared by John Amos Comenius; printed by John Paskovský in Amsterdam, in 1662.

15e. German translation, based on (15a), prepared by br. Peter Herbert (with the assistance of Dr. Crato); published in 1564.

15f. Latin translation of (15e) by Esrom Rüdinger (with Isaiah Cibulka's assistance); printed by Clemens Schleich and Antonius Schöne in Wittenberg, March 1, 1573, as Confessio Fidei et Religionis Christianae.

15g. Same as (15f), published in Basel, 1575.

15h. i, and j. German translation, ready in April, 1573; published twice by Johannes Schwertel, once anonymously, in 1573; based on Herbert's translation of 1564 (15e).

15k. and 1. Czech edition; reprint of the 1561–64 text with a few minor changes; published twice in 1574.

16a. Third redaction of (14); Czech edition printed at Kralice, in 1607.

16b. German translation of (16a), ready in 1607, published in Herborn, 1612.

16c. Latin translation of (16a), ready in 1609, published in Herborn, 1612.

17. The Bohemian Confession of Faith; written mainly by Dr. Paul Přáza Pressius and Mag. Matthias Dvorský Rozsypal, Bohemian Evangelicals (br. George Strejc from the Unitas Fratrum served on the commission); approved by the Bohemian Diet, May 17, 1575; published by the Brethren as their confession in 1608.

1. The Creeds of Christendom (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1877), I, 578.Google Scholar

2. Cf. my attempt at the compilation of such a list in the “Appendix.”

3. In the chapter “O bratrské theologii,” of Rudolf Ríčan's work Dějiny Jednoty bratrské (Prague: Kalich, 1957), p. 409.Google Scholar

4. “Výhozi z´sady bratrského bohosloví,” Jednota bratrská, XXX (1953), 116Google Scholar, and elsewhere.

5. Molnár, , “O bratrské theologii,” p. 428f.Google Scholar Cf. Aquinas, Thomas Summa theol. ii. 1. 62. 4. and 110. 4.Google Scholar Also Seeberg, R., Text-Book of the History of Doctrines, tr. Hay, Charles E. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1952), II, 118 and 158f.Google Scholar

6. Palmov, Ivan, Cheshskie bratya v svoikh knofessiyakh do nachala sblizheniya ikh s protestantami v kontse pervoy chetverti XVI stoletiya (Prague, 1904) II, 91.Google Scholar Repeated verbatim Ibid., p. 93f.

7. So assert Gindely, A. (“Über die dogmatisehen Ansiehten der böhmischmihrischen Brüder nebst einigen Notitzen zur Geschichte ihrer Entstehung” in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der kaiser- lichen Akademie der Wissenschaften [Vienna, III (1854)Google Scholar], 361), and Müller, J.Th. (Müller-Bartoš, , Dějiny Jednoty bratrské [Prague: Nákladem Jednoty bratrské, 1923], I, 144).Google Scholar

8. Bidlo, J. (ed.), Akty Jednoty bratrské (Brno: Nákladem Historickě; komise při Matici moravské, 1915], I, 651Google Scholar; cf. Ibid., pp. 19 and 238, and Palmov, op. cit., p. 126.

9. Palmov, op. cit., p. 93.

10. Ibid., p. 140.

11. Bidlo, op. cit., pp. 51 and 256, and Palmov, op. cit., p. 139.

12. Molnár, “O bratrské theologii,” p. 413.

13. Palmov, op. cit., p. 285.

14. Ibid., p. 287.

15. Ibid., p. 261.

16. Ibid., p. 288.

17. Molnár, A., Bratr Lukáš, bohoslovec Jednoty (Prague: Husova československá evangelická fakulta bohoslovecká, 1948), p. 46.Google Scholar

18. Ucˇení, Jednoty bratrskéo večeři Páně (Prague: Nákladem A. S. Kalich, 1940), p. 110Google Scholar and ante.

19. Palmov, op. cit., p. 339.

20. Cf. Molnár, , Bratr Lukáš, p. 94f.Google Scholar, and “O bratrskě theologii,” p. 439. Zelený, Also Eugen, “Konfirmace v době reformační a dnes,” Theologická přloha Křestanské revue, (1952), 35–38.Google Scholar

21. Palmov, op. cit., p. 361.

22. Niemeyer, H. A., ed., Collectio Confessionum in ecclesiis reformatis publicatarum (Leipzig: Sumptibus Iulii Klinkenhardti, 1840), p. 793.Google Scholar

23. Lydius, Baithasar, Waldensia (Dort, 1617), Vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 204.Google Scholar

24. So argues F. M. Dobiáš in op. cit., passim, and in Víra a vyzn´ní českých bratří (Prague: Vydavatelské oddělení KSML [YMCA] pro Evangelické dílo, 1941)Google Scholar, passim.

25. Koeeher, Joh. Christoph, Die drey Letzte und Vornehmste Glaubensbekentnisse der Böhmischen Brüder (Frankfurt und Leipzig: Bey Reinhard Eustaehio Möllern, 1741), p. 304.Google Scholar

26. Dobiáš, , Víra a uyznání českýh bratří, p. 21.Google Scholar

27. “O bratrské theologii,” p. 409.

28. Cf. Couček, J. B.. Theologie ýíkladů kralické šestidílky (Prague: Zvláštní otisk z Věstníku Král. Čes. Spol. Nauk. Tř. I. Roč. 1932), p. 134.Google Scholar