Body of Doctrine (Latin: ''Corpus doctrinae'') in

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

of the 16th and 17th centuries is the anthology of the

confessional A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall in which the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, but s ...

or credal writings of a group of Christians with a common

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

. It was a term first used by

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lut ...

, a collection of whose confessional writings was published as the ''Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum'' or the ''Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum''. Melanchthon had conceived the notion of assembling his most important theological writings, along with the

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

creeds, into a single book called a ''corpus doctrinae'', or body of doctrine. The

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

printer, Ernst Vögelin, published it with Melanchthon's preface around the time of the reformer's death in April 1560. These writings were used as the normative proclamation and teaching of that group or denomination of Christians. For

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

in the mid—16th century these

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

were formulated for the various duchies and principalities of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

. They were the prototype of the

Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

, which historically is considered by

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

to be their definitive ''Body of Doctrine''. However, because some of the ''corpera doctrinæ'' were considered to be faulty and to avoid confusion of the

with the ''Corpus doctrinæ Philippicum'', the compilers of the

deliberately refrained from using the designation ''corpus doctrinæ'' for it.''The Preface of The Book of Concord as a Reflection of Sixteenth-Century Confessional Development'' (by Irene Dingel. Lutheran Quarterly. Winter 2001 Issue. Volume XV, Number 4)

References

Lutheran theology Book of Concord {{Lutheran-stub