View source for Crypto-Calvinism

{{Short description|Pejorative term in 16-th century Germany}}

'''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 {{langx|el|κρύπτω}} meaning "to hide, conceal, to be hid")<ref>{{cite web | last = Strong | title =Lexicon :: Strong's G2928 - kryptō (κρύπτω)| url = http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2928 | work =Blue Letter Bible|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Carraud">{{cite web|url=http://www.amisdeportroyal.org/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=282 |type=lecture |title=Le jansénisme |language=fr |trans-title=Jansenism |author-last=Carraud |author-first=Vincent |date=21 January 2008 |orig-date=20 June 2007 |website=Bibliothèque électronique de Port-Royal |publisher=Société des Amis de Port-Royal |issn=1776-0755 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111071230/http://www.amisdeportroyal.org/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=282 |archive-date=11 November 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Background ==
[[Image:Martin-Bucer 1.jpg|thumb|[[Martin Bucer]], one of the Sacramentarians]]
[[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 [[Heinrich Bullinger|Bullinger]], [[Huldrych Zwingli|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 ==
{{main|Philippism}}

=== Modern use of the term crypto-Philippist ===
Beginning in the 20th century, some scholars began using the term crypto-Philippist in place of the word crypto-Calvinist. However, there is no change in the meaning of the term.<ref>''The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church''. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, editors. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8006-2740-7}}. (Second English translation of ''The Book of Concord'' texts as published in ''Die Bekenntnisschriften''</ref>

=== History ===
When Luther died in 1546, his closest friend and ally, [[Philipp Melanchthon]], became the leading Lutheran theologian of the [[Protestant Reformation]]. He was by training not a theologian but rather a classics scholar, and his theological approach became more or less [[Irenism|irenic]] both toward [[Catholicism]] and toward [[Calvinism]], an approach that his disciples, called [[Philippists]], also followed. This attitude towards the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist had become evident already in 1540, when Melanchthon had published another version of the [[Augsburg Confession]] ("[[Augsburg Confession Variata|Variata]]"), in which the article on the [[Real Presence]] differed essentially from what had been expressed in 1530. The wording is as follows:

* Edition of 1530: "Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that the body and blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed (communicated) to those that eat in the Lord's Supper; and they disapprove of those that teach otherwise."
* "Variata" edition of 1540: "Concerning the Lord's Supper, they teach that with bread and wine are truly exhibited the body and blood of Christ to those that eat in the Lord's Supper."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15117a.htm|article=Ubiquitarians|author-first=Joseph|author-last=Hughes|title=Catholic Encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|year=1912|access-date=December 24, 2017}}</ref>

The altered edition was made the basis of negotiations with the Roman Catholics at the Colloquies of [[Colloquy of Worms (1540–1541)|Worms]] and [[Colloquy of Ratisbon|Ratisbon]] in 1541, and at the later Colloquies in 1546 and 1557. It was printed (with the title and preface of the Invariata) in ''Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum'' in 1559; it was expressly approved by the Lutheran princes at the Convention of Naumburg in 1561, after Melanchthon's death, as an improved modification and authentic interpretation of the Confession, and was adhered to by the Melanchthonians and the Reformed even after the adoption of the [[Book of Concord]] (1580). [[John Calvin]] also signed it. However, it did not have the legal status given to the original version by the [[Peace of Augsburg]].

=== Second Sacramentarian Controversy ===
The Real Presence for Luther was beyond any doubt: The host consecrated is [[Body of Christ|Christ's body]],<ref>Luther, Martin. ''The Large Catechism'' V.8 in Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., ''The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church''. Fortress Press, 2000) p. 467</ref> while for Melanchthon the words spoken during the establishment by Jesus only promised that his body and blood were received.<ref>{{cite web |title=LOGIA – A Journal of Lutheran Theology |url=http://comunidad.ciudad.com.ar/argentina/capital_federal/luteranos/El%20Sacramento%20del%20Altar.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609161947/http://comunidad.ciudad.com.ar/argentina/capital_federal/luteranos/El%20Sacramento%20del%20Altar.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |access-date=December 24, 2017}}</ref> Melanchthon rejected the doctrine of ubiquity and spoke about the personal presence of Christ in the Eucharist, without any further definitions{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}. The theology of Melanchthon's school in general was opposed by Lutherans, who were called Flacians by their opponents.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} Later they were called "[[Gnesio-Lutherans]]". [[Matthias Flacius]] had been the leader against [[Philippism]] in earlier controversies, but even Gnesio-Lutherans did not pay much attention to the doctrine of the Eucharist until [[Joachim Westphal (of Hamburg)|Joachim Westphal]] began, in 1552, to write against those who denied the Real Presence. When [[John Calvin]] himself answered him in 1555, there was open, inter-Protestant controversy about Eucharist, which involved [[Johannes Lasco|Lasco]], [[Heinrich Bullinger|Bullinger]], [[Bernardino Ochino|Ochino]], [[Valerandus Polanus]], [[Theodore Beza|Beza]], and [[Theodore Bibliander|Bibliander]] on the [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] side and [[Johann Timann|Timann]], [[Tilemann Heshusius|Heshusius]] [[Paul von Eitzen]], [[Erhard Schnepf|Schnepff]], [[Erasmus Alberus|E. Alberus]], [[Nikolaus Gallus|Gallus]], [[Matthias Flacius|Flacius]], [[Matthäus Judex|Judex]], [[Johannes Brenz|Brenz]], and [[Jakob Andreae|Andreä]] on the Lutheran side. The [[Colloquy of Worms (1557)|Colloquy of Worms]] in 1557 was an attempt to achieve unity among Lutherans, but it failed. 

During these controversies the [[State Church]] of the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]], where Philippism predominated, changed from the Lutheran to the [[Reformed faith]] under [[Frederick III, Elector Palatine|Frederick III]] (1560). The [[Heidelberg Catechism]], which was written there, was also meant to form bridges between Lutherans and Reformed in Germany – one of its authors, [[Zacharias Ursinus]], was Melanchthon's disciple.

=== Great Adoration Controversy ===
There were a number of local controversies, such as the Saligerian Controversy in Lübeck in 1568 and 1574, a controversy in Rostock in 1569, a controversy in Bremen in 1554 involving Melanchthon's friend [[Albert Rizaeus Hardenberg]], and a controversy in Danzig in 1561–1562.

The earliest of these incidents had happened with [[Simon Wolferinus]], pastor of St. Andreas at Eisleben in 1543, while Martin Luther still lived. The controversy was also about [[eucharistic adoration]], which was defended by "Gnesio-Lutherans" and also many other Lutherans outside of the Flacian party, including [[Johann Hachenburg]], [[Andreas Musculus]], [[Jakob Rungius]], and [[Laurentius Petri]]. This belief was shared by [[Nikolaus Selnecker]], [[Martin Chemnitz]], and [[Timotheus Kirchner]]. A feast of victory of genuine Lutheranism over Philippism was celebrated in one of the German principalities with prayers for the preservation of the doctrine of justification and the doctrine of the adoration of the Sacrament.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardt |first=Tom G. |title=The Sacrament of the Altar: A Book on the Lutheran Doctrine of the Lord's Supper |url=http://users.aol.com/SemperRef/venerable.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820060256/http://users.aol.com/SemperRef/venerable.html |archive-date=2006-08-20 |website=Semper Reformanda}}</ref> [[Paul Eber]] was one of the main Philippist opponents of eucharistic adoration.

== 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 [[Augustus, Elector of Saxony|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 [[prince-elector|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, Elector of Saxony|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]].<ref>{{Citation | first = B | last = Bohnenstädt | title = Das Prozessverfahren gegen den kursächsischen Kanzler Dr Nikolaus Krell | place = Halle | year = 1901 | language = German}}.</ref>

== In Scandinavia ==
In [[Denmark]] crypto-Calvinism was represented by [[Niels Hemmingsen]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bricka |first=Carl Frederik |title=324 (Dansk biografisk Lexikon / VII. Bind. I. Hansen - Holmsted) |url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/7/0326.html |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=runeberg.org |language=da}}</ref> In Sweden, crypto-Calvinism, which was resisted by Archbishop [[Olaus Martini]], was supported by [[Charles IX of Sweden|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]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=1907 |title=773–774 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 7. Egyptologi – Feinschmecker) |url=https://runeberg.org/nfbg/0409.html |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=runeberg.org |language=sv}}</ref> and Bishop [[Olaus Stephani Bellinus]].

== Later history and evaluation ==

Following the [[Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)|Prussian Union]] and other Evangelical unions in Germany, today's [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] is an umbrella organisation of Lutheran, Union, and Reformed [[Landeskirche|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]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Citation | last = Bouman | first = Herbert | year = 1977 | title = Retrospect and Prospect | journal = Sixteenth Century Journal  | volume = 8 | issue = 4 | pages = 84–104| doi = 10.2307/2539395 | jstor = 2539395 }}.
* {{Citation | last = Brandes | first = Friedrich | year = 1873 | title = Der Kanzler Krell, ein Opfer des Orthodoxismus | language = de}}.
* {{Citation | last = Diestelmann | first = Jürgen | title = Actio Sacramentalis. Die Verwaltung des Heiligen Abendmahles nach den Prinzipien Martin Luthers in der Zeit bis zur Konkordienformel | place = Groß-Ösingen | year = 1997 | url = http://www.luther-in-bs.de/actiosac.pdf | publisher = Luther in BS | language = de | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110220213751/http://www.luther-in-bs.de/actiosac.pdf | archive-date = 2011-02-20 }}.
* {{Citation | last = Diestelmann | first = Jürgen | title = Usus und Actio – Das Heilige Abendmahl bei Luther und Melanchthon | place = Berlin | year = 2007 | url = http://www.luther-in-bs.de/Usus.pdf | publisher = Luther in BS | language = de | author-mask = 3 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110221041156/http://www.luther-in-bs.de/Usus.pdf | archive-date = 2011-02-21 }}.
* {{Citation | last = Froner | first = Hans v | year = 1919 | contribution = Der Kryptocalvinismus Wittenbergs | editor-first = Bernhard | editor-last = Weißenborn | language = de | title = Die Universität Halle-Wittenberg |trans-title=The Halle-Wittenberg University | place = Berlin | publisher = Furche}}.
* {{Citation | editor-last = Hasse | editor-first = Hans-Peter | year = 2004 | title = 'Caspar Peucer (1525–1602): Wissenschaft, Glaube und Politik im konfessionellen Zeitalter | place = Leipzig | publisher = EVA | language = de}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hardt | first = Tom GA | language = sv | title = Venerabilis et adorabilis Eucharistia. En Studie i den lutherska Nattvardsläran under 1500-talet | series = Acta Universitatis Uppsaliensis | journal = Studia Doctrinae Christianae Upsaliensia | volume = 9 | place = Uppsala | year = 1971}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hardt | first = Tom GA | language = de | author-mask = 3 | title = Venerabilis et adorabilis Eucharistia. Eine Studie über die lutherische Abendmahlslehre im 16. Jahrhundert | journal = Forschungen zur Kirchen-und Dogmengeschichte | publisher = Band 42 | place = Göttingen | year = 1988}}.
* {{Citation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010610235444/http://members.aol.com/semperref/venerable.html | archive-date = June 10, 2001 | url = http://members.aol.com/semperref/venerable.html | last = Hardt | first = Tom GA | title = The Sacrament of the Altar | author-mask = 3 | publisher = America online}}. A book on the Lutheran Doctrine of the Lord's Supper]
* {{Citation | last = Henke | first = Ernst Ludwig Theodor | year = 1865 | title = Caspar Peuker und Nikolaus Krell | place = Marburg | publisher = Elwert | language = de}}.
* {{Citation | editor-last = Koch | editor-first = Uwe | year = 2002 | title = Zwischen Katheder, Thron und Kerker: Leben und Werk des Humanisten Caspar Peucer | place = Bautzen | publisher = Domowina | language = de}}.
* {{Citation | last = Luther | first = Martin | orig-year = 1529, ''The Large Catechism'' | editor-last = Kolb | editor-first = Robert| title = The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church | publisher =  Fortress Press | year = 2000}}
* {{Citation | last = Richard | first = August Victor | year = 1859 | title = Der kurfürstlich sächsische Kanzler Dr. Nikolas Crell | language = de}}, 2 vols.
* {{Citation | last = Roebel | first = Marin | year = 2005 | title = Humanistische Medizin und Kryptocalvinismus. Leben und Werk... Caspar Peucers | type = MD/PhD thesis | publisher = [[University of Heidelberg]] | url = http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2005/5552/pdf/ZusammenfassungUB.pdf | language = de | place = [[Germany|DE]]}}.
* {{Citation | last = Saran | first = G | year = 1879 | title = Der Kryptocalvinismus in Kursachsen und Dr. Nikolaus Krell | journal = DEBI | pages = 596–614 | language = de}}.

== External links ==
* {{Citation | url = http://www.godrules.net/library/calvin/142calvin_b10.htm | title = The Calumnies of Joachim Westphal | first = John | last = Calvin | publisher = God rules | author-link = John Calvin}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.luther-in-bs.de/melaeng.htm | title = Philippism – Melanchthon and the Consequences | first = Jürgen | last = Diestelmann | access-date = 2008-02-28 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060614173132/http://www.luther-in-bs.de/melaeng.htm | archive-date = 2006-06-14 | url-status = dead }}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.viii.ix.html?bcb=0 | title = The Saxon Visitation Articles | year = 1592 | editor-last = Schaff}}.
* {{Citation | last = Schaff | chapter-url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8.iv.xv.xv.html | chapter = The Eucharistic Controversies | title = History of the Christian Church | volume = VIII | publisher = [[CCEL]] | author-mask = 3}}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.lutheranquarterly.com/Articles/2001/1-Spring/LQ151_0224.pdf | title = Luther and Melanchthon on Consecrated Communion Wine (Eisleben 1542–43) | first = Timothy J | last = Wengert | journal = Lutheran Quarterly | date = Spring 2001 | issue = 1 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090226100541/http://www.lutheranquarterly.com/Articles/2001/1-Spring/LQ151_0224.pdf | archive-date = 2009-02-26 }}.
* {{Citation | url = http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=a&word=ARTICLESOFVISITATION | title = Christian cyclopedia | contribution = Articles of Visitation | publisher = LCMS}}.
* {{Citation | contribution-url = http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=C&word=CRYPTO-CALVINISTICCONTROVERSY | contribution = Crypto-Calvinistic Controversy | title = [[Christian Cyclopedia]] | publisher = LCMS}}.
* {{Citation | contribution-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=93ErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA71 | contribution = Calvinizing Lutheran Churches | title = Lutheran Cyclopedia | year = 1899 | page = 71}}.
* {{Cite EB1911 | volume = 2  | pages = 914–915  | wstitle = Augustus I. |short=1}}.

{{Early Lutheran Controversies}}
{{Lutheranism topics}}

[[Category:16th-century Lutheranism]]
[[Category:Protestant Reformation]]
[[Category:16th-century Reformed Christianity]]
[[Category:Lutheran Eucharistic theology]]