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Molanus, Lutheran Irenicist (1633–1722)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Samuel J. T. Miller
Samuel J. T. Miller
Affiliation:
Boston College
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Extract

At the present time ideas of church reunion are current in many forms. Journals are appearing which are devoted exclusively to the exposition of dogmatic positions in an increasingly irenical light. Not the least important among these publications devoted to the expository method of clearing up possible areas of thought for reunion are Irenikon, produced by the Benedictines at Chevtogne, and Catholica, published at Münster under the auspices of Dr. Robert Grosche. Catholica has once again appeared after eleven years of virtual suspension and Dr. Grosche lauds the theologisches Gespräch “as the recognized way which can bring us nearer to the unity of the Church.” With respect to actual ecumenical meetings the Faith and Order Conference of the World Council of Churches met in Lund, Sweden, in 1952, and there Greek Orthodox, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican and free church representatives, and even Roman Catholic observers, rubbed shoulders and discussed problems of ecclesiology with church unity as the ultimate goal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , September 1953 , pp. 197 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1953

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References

2. Grosche, Robert, “Zum Wiedererscheinen der Catholica,” Catholica, 9th annual series, 1st part, p. 3.Google Scholar

3. The report of the Lund Conference has been published. See Faith and Order: The Report of the Third World Conference at Lund, Sweden, SCM Press, London, 1952.Google Scholar

4. Leube, Hans, Kalvinismus und Luthertum im Zeitalter der Orthodoxie (Leipzig, 1928), I, 273.Google Scholar

5. As an example of the orthodoxy of the Wittenberg brand, Abraham Calovius, professor and superintendent at Wittenberg in 1668, said this of good works: “Bona opera neque ut causa, neque ut medium, neque ut conditio, neque ullo respectu nut modo sunt necessaria ad salutem.” Quoted in Menge, G., “Zur Biographie des Irenikers Spinola,” Franziscanische Studien (1915), II, 3.Google Scholar

6. Soldan, W. G., Dreissig Jahre des Proselytismus in Sachsen und Braunschweig (Leipzig, 1845), 23.Google Scholar

7. Calixtus, George, De Tolerantia Reformatorum circa questiones inter ipsos et Augustanam confessionem professos controversas consultatio. Praemissa est de F. U. Calixti…etc. (Helmstedt, 1697)Google Scholar, unmarked page opposite 62.

8. Ibid., unmarked page opposite 3.

9. For a concise statement of Calixtus' belief cf. Ermoni, V., “George Calixte,” Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, Vol. II, 2nd. pt.Google Scholar, column 1363. Ermoni sums up his belief in this manner: “…he taught the necessity of good works, rejected the ubiquity of Christ in his humanity, denied the absolute corruption of man, recognized a primacy for the pope established on human law, and granted that the Mass could be called a sacrifice.”

9a. The first of these documents of virtually similar content is the Methodus reducendae Unionis Ecclesiasticae inter Romanenses et Protestantes which is not extant in its entirety but which exists in summary in a letter from Molanus to Leibniz (05 15/25, 1685), printed in Leibniz, , Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe (Prussian Academy of Science edition), Vol. IV, 503Google Scholaret seq. The second of these documents is the Regulae circa Christianorum omnium ecclesiasticam unionem, printed in Bossuet, , Oeuvres Complètes (Vivès edition), (Paris, 1885), Vol. XVII, 360–374.Google Scholar The third irenical document to come out of these negotiations is the Systema Theologicum, printed in Oeuvres de Leibniz, ed. by Foucher de Careil, (Paris, 1867), Vol. I, 531–632.Google Scholar The exact date for the compleion of the Systcma is a matter of dispute but the one commonly accepted is 1684.

10. The difficulties between Rome and France may be summed up in one word, Gallicanism. The overt manifestations of Gallican sentiment may be said to have appeared with the Affair of the Régale in 1673–1675, and to have reached its height with the Declaration of Gallican Liberties of March 19, 1682.

11. MS. in the National Library of Vienna. Part of a collection which goes under the title of Hansiz, Von, Urkundenbuch Episcopatus Neostadiensis, 9319Google Scholar, folio 29.

12. This exchange is published in Foucher de Careil, op. cit., Vol. II, 231–456.

13. Molanus wrote a defense of his position which is a denial of the charge that he had become Catholic. The title of the defense is Nugae venales sive Refutatio Calumniae vel nugarum potius cujusdam Nugivenduli de facta ad Romanam Ecclesiam Apostasia Gerardi Abbatis Luccensis and it is to be found at Hanover in the Leibnizhandschriften, Irenica, Berolinensia, Vol. IX, pp. 339–354.Google Scholar

14. For a good brief biography of Molanus cf. Amann, E., “Molanus,” Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, Vol. X, 2nd partGoogle Scholar, col 2082 et seq. This article is probably the best in existence, for it discusses the textual problems which are a part of the writing of any life of Molanus. See also, Weidemanu, Heinz, Gerard Wolter Molanus, Abt zu Loccum (Studien z. Kirchengesch. Niedersachsens, numbers 3 and 5), (Göttingen, 1925 and 1929)Google Scholar. This work of Weidemann is the only available biography of the Lutheran abbot, but it is marred by careless attention to the sources.

15. Hoeck, Wilhelm, Anton Ulrich und Elizabeth Christine von Braunsehweig Wolfenbüttel (Wolfenbüttel, 1845), 72.Google Scholar Outline of a reunion program dating from 1694–1696.

16. Weidemann, C. E., Geschichte des Klosters Loccum (Göttingen, 1822), 60.Google Scholar

17. H. Weidemann, op. cit., II, 90.

18. The printed text of the Cogitationes is to be found in Bossuet, , Oeuvres Complètes, XVII, pp. 394–431.Google Scholar Hereafter this will be referred to as C., followed by the page number.

19. For a consideration of the influence of Scholasticism on Lutheran thought in general cf., Lewalter, Ernest, Spanishjesuit'sche und deutsch-lutherische Metaphysik des XVlleJahrhunderts. Ein, Beitrag zur Geschichte der iberisch deutschen Kultur Beziehungen und zur Vorgeschichte des deutschen Idealisimus (Hamburg, 1935).Google Scholar

19. C., 394.

20. C., 395–396.

21. C., 401.

22. C., 402–403.

23. C., 403.

24. Reference is made to the land settlements of the Convention of Passau (1552) and the Peace of Westphalia (1548), neither of which had been recognized by the Papacy.

25. C., 404.

26. C., 404.

27. C., 406.

28. C., 409.

29. C., 409–410.

30. C., 413.

31. C., 413–414.

32. Eisengrün, Martin, Modesta et pro Statu Temporis praescntis necessaria Declaratio trium Articulorum christianae Fidei (Ingolstadt, 1568).Google Scholar

33. Prima secundae, quaest. xix, art. 8.

34. Sess. VI, canon xxiii.

35. C., 415–416.

36. C., 416–417.

37. C., 417.

38. C., 418.

39. C., 418.

40. The article “Von den Messen für die Toiten” is an attack upon the Mass as a means of helping thé dead out of purgatory, not an attack upon prayers for the dead. Cf.Detzer, , Evangclisches Concordienbuch (Nürnberg, 1843), 292.Google Scholar

41. This was declared a dogma of the Roman Church by Pius IX in 1854.

42. C., 421.

43. Liber IV, Defensionis fidei Tridentinae.

44. C., 422.

45. C., 423.

46. C., 424.

47. C., 427.

48. C., 427.

49. C., 428.

50. C., 429.

51. C., 430.

52. C., 430.

53. C., 431.

54. Bossuet, , Oeuvres Complètes, XV, 548–615.Google Scholar The complete text of the Réflexions is to be found on these pages.

55. Klopp, Onno, Correspondance de Leibniz avec l'electrice Sophie de Brunswick-Luneburg (London and Paris, 1875), I, 52.Google Scholar

56. Bossuet, , Oeuvres Complètes, XVIII, 54–70.Google Scholar The complete text is to be found on these pages.

57. Réflexions, XVIII, 55–56.

58. Ibid., 56.

59. Prince Ernst of Hesse-Rheinfels was a convert to Catholicism and the author of a notable work called the “Sincere and Discreet Catholic.” A reference to this work may be found in Leibniz, S. Schriften, Series I, part 3, p. 272.Google Scholar

60. H. Weidemann, op. cit., II, 145.

61. After the destruction of the Municipal Library in Strasbourg in 1870 many German libraries contributed to the restoration of the collection. Many works were sent to Strasbourg from the Loccum collection, works which from their publication date could have been used by the Abbot himself.

62. C. E. Weidemann, op. cit., 93.

63. Krätzinger, , “Die kirchlichen Reunionsversuche des Bischofs Christoph Rojas y Spinola,” Archiv für hessische Geschichte, XI, 250.Google Scholar

64. For Spinola's reasoning on the suspension of the Trentine decrees see from the Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek in Hanover, in Leibnizhandschriften, Irenica, Vol. X, 254–263Google Scholar, a Casus which is reproduced in my thesis at the John Hay Library at Brown University.

65. Gérin, C., “Le Pape Innocent XI. et la Révocation tie l'edit tie Nantes,” Revue des Questions historiques (1878), XXIV, 407.Google Scholar

66. The electoral dignity came to him by imperial patent in 1692 but he was not recognized by his fellow electors until 1708.