RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Theodulf of Orleans Theological Education
Theologia Teiltsch (Augsburg, 1518). The edition of Luther found a large circulation. In the earliest years there were eight known reprints, and in the sixteenth century at least fourteen further editions in High German, the most important among which was that of Johann Arndt (1597), appended by P. J. Spener to the Predigten (Frankfort, 1681, and often) of Johann Tauler (q.v.). In the next three centuries, until 1842, there were at least twentyeight known editions in High German. Besides, there were translations into Low German, Flemish, English, Latin, and French. The two manuscripts which Luther used are unfortunately lost, but another manuscript, dating from 1497, came to light in the middle of the last century, on the basis of which F. Pfeiffer published what is regarded as the standard edition, Theologia deutsch (Stuttgart, 1851; Eng. transl., Theologia Germanica, London, 1854, 1874, and 1893). In the preface to the fragment Luther had advanced the supposition that Johann Tauler was the author of the work, an assumption which has been refuted by the complete edition, in which Tauler is quoted as authority. In the complete edition Luther appended a note to his preface according to which the author of the work was " a priest and custodian in the house of the Teutonic masters at Frankfort." The same note is found also in the manuscript published by Pfeiffer and hence proved authentic. From a passage announcing his purpose it is evident that the author belonged to the so-called Friends of God (q.v.), and that he wrote at a time when this community had to clear itself from the charge of connection with the sect of the " false free spirits " who tried to protect themselves with the name of the Friends of God, i.e., toward the end of the fourteenth century. The work purports to be a guide to the perfect life, which in a mystical way is to be found in the union with God. Opening with the passage, " When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away " (I Cor. xiii. 10), the work points out that this unity is conditioned by the coming of God into human nature in the manner of the incarnation of Christ and by suffering in human form. On man's part the will and desire of the creature, which produce a false freedom, must be thoroughly repudiated ; and by love and obedience the true freedom must be attained, which is God's will in man, and the vision of the eternal. Thus man moves out of self into blessed union with God. The booklet is a compound of various elements: alongside of deeply religious practical thoughts lie occult speculations of a decidedly pantheistic color; alongside of suggestions of Evangelical impulses, there are relics of medieval piety. The work was placed on the Index in 1621 ; but this as well as the claim that its author was a forerunner of the Reformation was wholly superfluous, since it is now conceded as containing nothing antagonistic to the Roman Catholic Church. It originated in a transition period when the germs of the new were sprouting in the old, and when, therefore, in individual personalities, there occurred a singular mixture of simple faith with obscure speculation. Hence, it appealed to a variety of men: to Johann Denck, to fructify his specula-
tive mystical Anabaptist ideas, the same on account of which Calvin warned the Frankfort church in 1559; to the Pietists Spener and Arndt; and to Luther for its Evangelical motives, particularly, the yearning for God and the fundamental tone of humility as well as the denial of self, by submission to God and union with him through Christ.
(Ferdinand Cohes.) Bibliography: B. M. Mauff, Der Religionsphilosophische Standpunkt der . . deutschen Theologie, Jena, 1890; K. Jiirgens, Luthers Leben, iii. 267 sqq., Leipsic, 1847; F. G. Lisco, DieHeilslehre der Theologia deutsch, Stuttgart, 1857; F. Reifenrath, Die deutsche Theologie des Frankfurter Gottesfreundes, Halle, 1863; J. Bach, Meister Eckhart, Vienna, 1864; C. Ullmann, Reformers before the Reformation, ii. 213-232, Edinburgh, 1867; L. Keller, Die Reformation und die alteren Reformparteien, Leipsic, 1885; idem, Johann von Staupitz und die Anfange der Reformation, ib. 1888; W. Kohler, Luther und die Kirchengeschichte, i. 242 sqq., Erlangen, 1900; J. Kostlin, Martin Luther, i. Ill sqq., Berlin, 1903; Schaff, Christian Church, vi. 141-143.