History, Department of
Date of this Version
2008
Abstract
Johannes Brenz is known primarily as the organiser of the Württemberg Church and as one of the major figures in the development of Lutheran Christology. This book looks at another aspect of Brenz’s career, his role as defender of Lutheran theology against challenges by Catholic theologians. In 1555 the Spanish Dominican Pedro de Soto published an attack on the Württemberg Confession, which had been written by Brenz and presented at the second session of the Council of Trent in 1552. This led Brenz to write a lengthy Apology of the Württemberg Confession that was published over the next four years in four parts : a prolegomena that was Brenz’s overall response to de Soto and three pericopes concerned with de Soto’s specific criticisms of the Confession. The Apology offers significant insights into the development of Brenz’s theology during the crucial years following the Augsburg Interim and preceding his major Christological writings of the 1560s.
Comments
Published in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Volume 59, Issue 02, Apr 2008, pp 340-340 doi: 10.1017/S0022046907003569 Published by Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.