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the mystical theology of valentin weigel - DataSpace at Princeton ...

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INTRODUCTION<br />

•<br />

ES IST DIR NICHT BEVHOLEN, ZU<br />

REFORMIREN: MARTYRDOM, CONFESSING,<br />

AND INDIFFERENCE<br />

Keeping Quiet<br />

On July 15 in 1577, a group <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ologians and jurists arrived <strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lu<strong>the</strong>ran<br />

Martinskirche in <strong>the</strong> Saxon city <strong>of</strong> Zschopau to speak with its minister, Valentin Weigel<br />

(1533-1588). The reason for <strong>the</strong>ir visit was to request th<strong>at</strong> Weigel sign and approve a new<br />

and, <strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> time, unusual document <strong>the</strong>y brought with <strong>the</strong>m: a document entitled <strong>the</strong><br />

Formula Concordiae. It was called a “charter <strong>of</strong> concord” because it was meant to clarify<br />

and affirm <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ological ideas th<strong>at</strong> all Lu<strong>the</strong>rans held in common, but in 1577, this<br />

concord was still a wish ra<strong>the</strong>r than a reality. Having wea<strong>the</strong>red <strong>the</strong> turmoil th<strong>at</strong> split <strong>the</strong><br />

C<strong>at</strong>holic Church in <strong>the</strong> first part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sixteenth century, and despite <strong>the</strong> Protestant<br />

faction <strong>of</strong>ficially having been granted toler<strong>at</strong>ion by <strong>the</strong> Peace <strong>of</strong> Augsburg in 1555, <strong>the</strong><br />

Lu<strong>the</strong>ran Church had not been as successful as its founders might have hoped. 1 In<br />

1 On sixteenth century opinions about <strong>the</strong> failure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Reform<strong>at</strong>ion (from both <strong>the</strong> C<strong>at</strong>holic and Protestant<br />

sides), see Gerald Strauss, "Success and Failure in <strong>the</strong> German Reform<strong>at</strong>ion," Past & Present 67 (May<br />

1

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