Confutatio Augustana and Confessio Augustana

The ''Confutatio Augustana'' was the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

refutation () of the Augsburg Confession, often referred to in the theological literature as simply the . On 25 June 1530 the Protestant Imperial States of the realm met at the Diet of Augsburg, and presented Charles V with the Augsburg Confession, largely the work of Philip Melanchthon setting out the doctrines and practices of the church in the Protestant principalities. The emperor commissioned the papal theologians to prepare a response. An initial version of the ''Confutatio'' was rejected by the emperor, as excessively polemic and verbose. In formulating the ''Confutatio'', the lead was taken by Johann Eck. On 3 August 1530, the final version was read at the Diet. The ''Confutatio'' rejected some of the statements of the Augsburg Confession while affirming others. It called for a return to Catholic doctrine. In other respects, however, the ''Confutatio'' found common ground with the Augsburg Confession. Emperor Charles V refused to hand over the text to the Protestants, unless they agreed not to respond, which they refused. But the Protestants had transcribed it as it was read. Melanchthon responded with the ''Prima delineatio'', which was rejected by the Emperor. Later Melanchthon improved this document and presented it as the '' Apology of the Augsburg Confession'', which was signed at a 1537 meeting of the Schmalkaldic League. The Catholic side did not respond to this formally until the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

Bibliography

Heiko Oberman. ''The Reformation: Roots and Ramifications''
Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. * Johann Ficker: ''Die Konfutation des Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses''. Leipzig 1891 * Herbert Immenkötter Um die Einheit im Glauben. Die Unionsverhandlungen des Augsburger Reichstages. Münster 1974
The Book of Concord: Full text of the ''Confutatio''
{{Authority control Catholic theology and doctrine Religious studies books Christian statements of faith 1530 books