On the Life and Missions of Jacobus Andreae for the Reformation of the Lutheran Church, Part I

To Camerarius, he gives this warning: "To tell you what I think, the others seem to me to fight with Osiander in the manner of the Andabatae gladiators who fought blindfolded and with eyes closed, as the saying goes. They pass over in silence what is to be reprehended in Osiander’s dogma, and they attack what seems to be stated tolerably. But why say more? Because I do not understand Osiander’s dogma, or because I agree with you on the main state of the dogma, I have decided to sustain my opinion until I have learned something more certain. There is no doubt that Osiander errs from the truth in his arguments and twists Paul’s disputation on justification to his own dogma."

Since those quarrels were not so easily settled, but new exceptions also arose from the first Wirtemberg response, Albert sent letters again to Duke Christophorus on February 26, beseeching him to write a declaration of their first response through his theologians in a formal Synod. v)

v) That the chronology of the years 1552 and 1553 is impeded, the venerable Schnurrer already observed on p. 228, on the occasion of Melanchthon’s response, which he gave to Duke Christophorus in note 4. Another difficulty also presents itself to me. In Fama Andr. reflor., the words appear: "Duke Christophorus called certain theologians to him at Tübingen, among whom was also Jacobus." The author, who reports the travels of Jacobus Andreae, places first the one that took place at Tübingen, and begins from the year 1553. Thus, if Jacobus is among those who were called by the Duke to Tübingen, he must have already left Tübingen for the Gœppingen area. But why does Jacobus, when he signed his name in the Declaration, No. 6, use this nomenclature: "Jac. Andreæ Fabri, minister of the Tübingen church"? Was he still a deacon and minister of Tübingen at that time? To me, all the given data seem reconcilable if you assume the theologians met at Tübingen toward the end of 1552, but the remaining data of Melanchthon’s response are to be connected to the year 1553. The venerable Plank, l. c. Band IV, p. 375, note 159, chronologically cites the new counsel or new declaration of the Wirtemberg theologians, 14 of whom had signed it, and which was inserted into Duke Albert’s Rescript to his provincial estates, les C. II., stating it was given June 1, 1552, but notes that Duke Christophorus’s letter to Albert was given June 12, 1552. The first counsel, however, was given Dec. 5, 1551, but signed by no theologian, to which Christophorus...