Published in 1581, the ''Harmonia confessionum fidei'' (Harmony of Confessions of Faith) was an early attempt at Protestant comparative dogmatics or symbolics.

Purpose

It grew out of a desire for one common Creed, which was modified into the idea of a selected harmony. In this shape it was proposed by the Protestants of Zurich and

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

. Jean-François Salvart, minister of the Church of

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lan ...

, is now recognized as the chief editor of the work with some assistance from

Theodore Beza Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ...

, Lambert Daneau,

Antoine de la Roche Chandieu Antoine de la Roche Chandieu (1534 in Castle of Chabot (near Mâcon) – February 23, 1591 in Geneva) was a French Reformed theologian, poet, diplomat and nobleman. His trend toward the Reformed Protestantism was strengthened during his study ...

, and Simon Goulart. It was intended as a defense of Protestant, and particularly Reformed, doctrine against the attacks of Roman Catholics and

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. It does not give the confessions in full, but extracts from them on the chief articles of faith, which are classified under nineteen sections. It anticipates Georg Benedikt Winer's method, but for harmonistic purposes.

Content

Besides the principal

Reformed Confessions Calvinist confessions of faith are the confessions of faith of various Calvinist churches. These documents express consensus on doctrine for the church adopting the confession. A few confessions are shared as subordinate standards (i.e. authorit ...

(i.e., the Tetrapolitan, Basel, Helvetic, French, Scots and Belgic Confessions), three Lutheran Confessions are also used, viz., the Augsburg Confession, the

Saxon Confession The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

(''Confessio Saxonica''), and the Württemberg Confession, as well as the Confession of the Unity of the Brethren (1573) and Anglican Confession (1562). The work appeared almost simultaneously with the Lutheran

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (German, ''Konkordienformel''; Latin, ''Formula concordiae''; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its tw ...

, and may be called a Reformed Formula of Concord, though differing from the former in being a mere compilation from previous symbols.

References

* This article incorporates text from th
Philip Schaff, ''The Creeds of Christendom''
a publication now in the public domain

External links

''The Harmony of Protestant confessions'' (by J.F. Salvart) (1842).

''Harmonia confessionum fidei'' (1581) Geneva.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmonia confessionum fidei Reformed confessions of faith 16th-century Christian texts 16th-century Calvinism 1581 books

Purpose

Content

References

Further reading

External links