SYXCRETISTIC CONTROVERSIES 86 SYNCRETISTIC CONTROVERSIES
serves notice as being the probable source of a new in- terjirotation of tlie word syncretism, liy which it came to denote, not, as aforetime, the practical association of religionists holding divergent views upon some ques- tions, but an intermixing of the religions themselves. The new rendering of the word furnished the opponents of Calixtus with additional weapons, of whicli they were not slow to avail themselves. Sec Dannhauer, .l/y.'./c- liiim Si/ncretisini, etc. (Strasi). 1648), where the idea of syncretism is made to include every form of luirtful as- sociation or intermixture, e. g. of Eve with the serpent, of the chemical or mechanical intermixture of hetero- geneous elements in nature, etc. With Calovius (q. v.) begins emphatically the use of the term syncretism as denoting an improper and unallowable approximation of Lutheran and Keformed Christians towards each oth- er. This view underlies the phrase Si/ncretistic Con- troversies (q. V.) as used in ecclesiastical history. The more benevolent meaning was gradually laid aside, and even Calixtus was constrained to refuse liis consent to the application of the term to his position. The per- version has retained its hold upon the jjopular usage until now, and has doubtless contributed towards tl)e unauthorized assumption of a derivation of syncretism from ni'yK-fpai'yi'/.ii. — Herzog, Rvdl-Envi/klop. s. v.
Syncretistic Controversies. 'I'be title applies in ordinary practice to such disputes only as originated in connection with efforts made in the second half of the 17th century to promote union and fellowship be- tween the Protestant churches of Germany. These dis- putes raged less between Keformed and Lutheran theo- logians than between the strict and the liberal wing of the Lutheran Church itself. The progress of con- troversy, moreover, generally resulted in the interweav- ing of extraneous and foreign matters with the direct (luestion at issue; and in this way the syncretistic con- troversies became also disputes with reference to the degree of freedom to be allowed theological schools and theological science, the disputants being known as Gne- siohitherani and Moderatiores. Tlie term syncretism (q. V.) is not broad enough to cover all these several disputes, but is in practice so employed by all parties. Everything prior to the transactions of the year 1645 must be regarded as preliminar}' to the syncretistic controversies proper. From that date we may^ distin- guish three periods to the death of Calovius and the practical end of the dispute.
1. From the Colloquy of Thorn to the. Death ofGeorye Calixtus (1645-56). — Calovius had succeeded in pre- venting the selection of Calixtus as the delegate of Dantzic to the Collo(juy of Thorn : and when the latter was appointed to serve for Kiinigsberg instead, Calovius caused him to be deprived of all opportunity to co-op- erate with the Lutheran delegates. Calixtus thereupon associated and counselled with the Reformed theologi- ans, and thereby gave opportunity for his opponents to fasten on him the charge of an unwarrantable com- bining of diverse religions — a charge persistently urged, though he publicly and in writing rejected the Reform- ed Confession of Thorn. The next measure was a un- ion of all the Saxon theologians, led by Weller, the su- perintentlent of Brunswick, in a censure of the Univer- sity of Helmstiidt, which favored Calixtus, on the al- leged ground that it had made innovations in doctrine and had departed t'rom the generally received Consensus Formula et Catechesis Rudionnn. To this Calixtus re- sponded with a denial under date of Feb. 26, 1647 ; but with no other result than tliat of increasing the eager- ness with which every peculiarity in the teaching of Helmstiidt was scanned for tlie discovery of error. In Prussia, the appointment of the Calixtines Chr. Dreier ant! .lohann Latermann to the facidty of Kijnigsberg excited similar disputes, which called forth numerous volumes in defence of either side ; and Calovius, who had been superseded by Dreier, continued to fan the tlame from a distance, even after Myslenta, its originator, had died (in 1653),
The increasing prominence of the electors palatine and lirandeMilinrg was in this period regarded with anx- iety by the electoral court of Saxony, and the rejire- sentatives of the latter, in the Peace Congress of West- phalia, had standing instructions, accordingly, to pre- vent, if possible, the concession of rights to the Reform- ed churches equal to those enjoyed by the Lutheran; but the endeavor failed altogether. The class of Lu- theran theologians which apjiroved the action of the congress in this regard was accordingly not in favor in electoral Saxony; and as early as Jan, 21, 1618, the the- ologians of \Vittenberg and Leipsic were commanded to investigate the errors of the Helmstiidt theologians, and state them '"article by article." In the following year the elector addressed to the dukes of IJrunswick a paper in which he rehearsed all the objections of Ids theolo- gians against Calixtus and Helmstiidt, ami requested that the latter, as disturbers of the Church and State, should be forbidden to write against the Saxon divines. In November, 1650, Calovius, the redoubtable defender of Lutheran orthodoxy, -was called to the faculty of Wittenberg. An immense quantity of controversial writings preceded and followed this event. The dukes of Brunswick refused to accede to the request to silence their theologians, and caused a defence of their position to be written by Horneius, and a reply to the elector by Calixtus himself; and they also rejected the propo- sition to convene a diet of theologians, as tending rath- er to increase than diminish the troubles of the Church. They proposed instead a convention of "political coun- cillors who love peace and are acquainted with affairs;" but this was rejected by Saxony. On Jan. 9, 1654, twen- ty-four accredited representatives of evangelical powers united in a renewed proposition to submit the questions in dispute to a body of peacefully inclined theologians and statesmen for discussion ; but tlie elector of Saxonj', acting under the advice of his theologians, would not entertain the project. The Saxons now pursued the plan of dismissing the party of Helmstiidt from the Lu- theran Church more zealously than before, and in the course of their labors produced a work which was ex- pected to serve as the confession of faith of all who would continue in the purified Church — the Consensus Repetitus Fidei vere Luthernnce. To secure the largest possible number of supporters, a mass of writings in harmony with its teachings was issued; but it became speedily apparent that but few were ready to adopt the new confession, and this fact, coupled with the death of George Calixtus in the spring of 1656, caused a cessa- tion of the strife.