A new translation of Philipp Melanchthon's Loci Communes into American English directly from the original Latin text. Bilingual edition with the original Latin manuscript in the back. This edition also contains a new 2023 Afterword by the Translator. Loci Communes is the first systematic formulation of Protestant theology and a foundational text of multiple denominations, particularly Lutheranism. This also deeply influenced the Reformed tradition as Melanchthon’s pupil Zacharias Ursinus was the main author of the Heidelberg Catechism. In Melanchthon's own words, it is about “the proper dogmas of the Church about God, about eternal things, about the Law of God, about Sin, about the Gospel, about Grace, Justice, and the Sacraments, and later also the doctrine about civil life.” This Systematic Theology was first published in 1521 in New Latin, which was proofread by Luther and published the same year. Luther never wrote a systematic theology because he considered the Loci Communes to be a sufficient summary of Evangelical doctrine. He wrote "next to Holy Scripture, there is no better book" and at one point he talked about adding it to his Biblical canon: "We possess no work wherein the whole body of theology, wherein religion, is more completely summed up, than in Melanchthon's Common-place Book; all the Fathers, all the compilers of sentences, put together, are not to be compared with this book. It is, after the Scriptures, the most perfect of works. Melancthon is a better logician than myself; he argues better. My superiority lies rather in a rhetorical way. If the printers would take my advice, they would print those of my books which set forth doctrine,—as my commentaries on Deuteronomy, on Galatians, and the sermons on the four books of St John. My other writings scarcely serve a better purpose than to mark the progress of the revelation of the gospel."

This English translation represents the first "evangelical" statement of theology.

This is arguably Philip Melanchthon's most important work. Anyone interested in the history of the Lutheran Reformation will find that this book, the first Lutheran work of "systematic theology," is presented in a very lively, accessible English translation, with extensive, helpful footnotes that explain the people and concepts used by Melanchthon to explain the Gospel. Features Clear English translation Scripture index Index of subjects and names Extensive historical introduction by translator Dr. Christian Preus Extensive footnotes explaining terminology, history, and theology

This extensive theological overview is a commentary on Melanchthon's Loci Communes by the chief author of the Formula of Concord. Drawing on Lutheran tradition, Chemnitz explores all the major theological categories.

This carefully translated and edited volume in the Library of Christian Classics contains Philip Melanchthon's famous Loci Communes and Martin Bucer's De Rengo Christi. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

Philip Melanchthon's "Loci Communes" established the standard for Lutheran dogmatics; beginning as a modest work published in 1521, the "Loci" went through several substantial revisions throughout Melanchthon's life, and served as the starting point for later dogmaticians, such as Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard. As Luther's coadjutor in the work of the Reformation, Melanchthon authored three of the documents which comprise the Book of Concord: The Augsburg Confession (1530), the Defense of the Augsburg Confession (1531), and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537). However, Melanchthon greatly-expanded second edition of the "Loci Communes"-the 1535 edition-has never before been published in English. Repristination Press is pleased to now publish Rev. Paul Rydecki's translation of this crucial work. The 1535 "Loci" offers a further treatment of the various theological articles under contention in the Lutheran Reformation. Having Melanchthon's extended insights on this topics allows students of theology to have a better grasp on the issues under contention in the Melanchthon's contributions to the Book of Concord.

This work has special significance in the history of Protestant theology in that it was the first work written by a Protestant theologian on doctrinal theology. Hill's work seeks to bring Melanchthon out into the open where he may be seen as a constructive thinker, scholar, and systematizer of a theological worldview of his own.

Jordan J. Ballor takes as his point of departure the doctrine of the covenant as it appears in the theology of the prominent second-generation reformer, Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563), who is perhaps the earliest Reformed theologian to give the topic of the covenant a separate and distinct treatment in a collection of theological commonplaces. Musculus' teaching on the covenant is characterized by the important distinction he makes between general and special covenants, and it is rooted in his exegetical work on the book of Genesis. Where Musculus' Loci communes demonstrate his antispeculative, soteriologically focused and pastorally driven approach, his exegesis provides fulsome guidance in the study of Scripture. This examination of Musculus' views on covenant and related doctrines is followed by explorations concerning causality and metaphysics. It concludes with considerations on law and social order. This book is the first full-scale study to place Musculus' theology within its broader intellectual context and to focus on Musculus' theology as found both in his Loci communes and in his extensive and voluminous exegetical work. Musculus' positions on doctrines related to covenant, causality and law reveal the eclecticism of Reformed reception of medieval traditions. The final section of this study places Musculus within the later development of Reformed orthodoxy in the 16th and 17th centuries, concluding that Wolfgang Musculus is a significant and often-overlooked figure worthy of further consideration.

This book is not claiming Melanchthon rediscovered the gospel. That honor belongs to his friend and mentor, Martin Luther. Nevertheless, Dr. Lowell C. Green argues that Melanchthon helped Luther in the task. Dr. Green knew that in choosing the title, How Melanchthon Helped Luther Discover the Gospel, he risked arousing the prejudice of those who look on Melanchthon with suspicion. Green is not blind to Melanchthon's faults; at times, he is critical of him. But, he debunks the myth that when Melanchthon came to Wittenberg in 1518, Luther had already developed his Reformational doctrine. Green shows that Melanchthon brought the tools of humanism to the aid of the emerging agitation. Although maintaining a subordinate role to Luther, Melanchthon helped him repeatedly at the turning points of the Reformation. Green asserts that Melanchthon was the first to speak of the authority of the Bible over the church. In his Baccalaureate Theses of 1519, Melanchthon became the first to articulate the forensic nature of justification. Most surprisingly, Melanchthon helped Luther move from the medieval view of faith as credulitas or adhaesio (adherence) to the Reformational view of faith as fiducia (trust) and assurance of salvation. Luther testified that he learned this from Melanchthon in 1518. As late as 1519, Luther had not yet abandoned the medieval view of grace as an infused substance. Melanchthon again led the way in 1520 when he declared that grace was simply the attitude of God-His favor. In his 1521 Loci Communes Melanchthon not only pointed out that grace is not something in us, but he made the important distinction between "grace" and "the gift of grace" (the Holy Spirit). Luther generously acknowledged the brilliance of Melanchthon's Loci Communes. This and other accolades Luther showered on Melanchthon are an indication of young scholar's influence on the great reformer's central teachings. Lowell C. Green was one of America's foremost Luther scholars, and his body of work continues to inform and shape Reformation studies today. This edition of How Melanchthon Helped Luther Discover the Gospel is the fruition of more than twenty-five years of Luther studies. Dr. Green's central thrust was to challenge the "Young Luther" cult which originated in the early 1900s and gained such a stranglehold on Luther studies in the 1950s and 1960s. In this volume, Green marshals the evidence gathered over a lifetime of study, joining his voice to a choir of scholars who challenge the central thesis of the "Young Luther" movement. After thoroughly demonstrating that Luther's early works contained a medieval or Roman Catholic "analytical justification," Green traces the emergence of the Reformational doctrine and a real break with medieval theology beginning in 1519. Green amply demonstrates that the mature Luther subscribed to and frequently expressed the doctrine of justification in forensic terms so that the glory of our salvation could be ascribed wholly to Christ and for the comfort of conscience against the accusing power of the law.

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