Early life and education.
Melanchthon inherited from his parents, Barbara Reuter and
Georg Schwartzerd, a deep sense of piety that never left him.
From his Bretten surroundings (where five citizens were burned
as witches in 1504) he absorbed a sense of the occult that
combined later with biblical references to stars, dreams,
and devils to make him a firm believer in astrology and demonology.
In 1508, within a period of 11 days, both his grandfather
Reuter and his father died, his father after four years of
invalidism.
Humanism predominated in Melanchthon's education, his studies
having been directed by a great-uncle, Johannes Reuchlin,
who was a famed Hebraist and humanist. Philipp's first tutor
instilled in him a lifelong love of Latin and classical
literature, and, at the Pforzheim Latin school, he received
further humanistic training and had his name changed from
Schwartzerd to its Greek equivalent, Melanchthon.
While at the universities of Heidelberg (1509–11,
B.A.) and Tübingen (1512–14, M.A.), Melanchthon
explored Scholastic thought in depth, steeped himself in
the rhetoric of the Dutch humanist Rudolf Agricola and the
Nominalism of the English philosopher William of Ockham
and the ecclesiastical reformer John of Wesel, studied Scripture,
and read classical works with a fellow student. On receiving
the M.A. degree, he lectured, with conspicuous success,
on the classics and soon had six books to his credit, including
“Rudiments of the Greek Language” (1518), a grammar
that was to go through many editions. He was praised by
the great Dutch humanist Erasmus, and his name became known
in England. In the best tradition of the time, Melanchthon
was a humanist.
In 1518 Melanchthon accepted an invitation, relayed through
Reuchlin, to become the University of Wittenberg's first
professor of Greek. Only four days after his arrival, he
addressed the university on “The Improvement of Studies,”
boldly setting forth a humanistic program and calling for
a return to classical and Christian sources in order to
regenerate theology and rejuvenate society.
Luther and the Reformation.
Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, and Melanchthon
responded to each other enthusiastically, and their deep
friendship developed. Melanchthon committed himself wholeheartedly
to the new evangelical cause, initiated the previous year
when Luther circulated his Ninety-five Theses. (See Researcher's
Note.) By the end of 1519 he had already defended scriptural
authority against Luther's opponent Johann Eck, rejected
(before Luther did) transubstantiation—the doctrine
that the substance of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper
is changed into the body and blood of Christ—made justification
by faith the keystone of his theology, and openly broken
with Reuchlin.
During this time he had also published seven more small
books and had earned the Bachelor of Theology degree at
Wittenberg. His energy was phenomenal. He began his day
at 2:00 AM, with lectures, often to as many as 600 students,
at 6:00. In addition, he found time to court Katherine Krapp,
whom he married in 1520 and who bore him four children—Anna,
Philipp, Georg, Magdalen.
At Luther's urging, Melanchthon lectured on Paul's Letter
to the Romans and in 1521 published the Loci communes, the
first systematic treatment of evangelical doctrine. Sin,
law, and grace were the principal topics, with free will,
vows, hope, confession, and other doctrines subsumed. Drawing
on Scripture, Melanchthon argued that sin is more than an
external act; it reaches beyond reason into man's will and
emotions so that man cannot simply resolve to do good works
and earn merit before God. Original sin is a native propensity,
an inordinate self-concern tainting all man's actions. But
God's grace consoles man with forgiveness, and man's works,
though imperfect, are a response in joy and gratitude for
divine benevolence. Three editions of the Loci appeared
before the end of the year and 18 editions by 1525, in addition
to printings of a German translation. The last edition in
1558 was much enlarged and changed. Luther declared that
the Loci deserved a place in the canon of Scriptures; the
University of Cambridge in England later made it required
reading, and Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) virtually
memorized it so she could converse about theology.
Despite an imperial decree of death to those who supported
Luther, in 1521 Melanchthon sharply answered the Sorbonne's
condemnation of 104 statements of Luther with “Against
the Furious Decree of the Parisian Theologasters.”
His “Passion of Christ and Antichrist,” in the
same year, utilized woodcuts by Lucas Cranach (1472–1553)
in a scathing criticism of the pope's life-style as diametrically
opposed to Christ's. When Melanchthon hesitated to publish
his lectures on Corinthians, Luther stole a copy and published
them in 1521 with a preface saying, “It is I who publish
these annotations of yours, and send you to yourself.”
In 1523 Luther did the same with Melanchthon's notes on
John.
In 1521, during Luther's confinement in the Wartburg, Melanchthon
was the leader of the Reformation cause at Wittenberg. After
the First Diet of Speyer (1526), where a precarious peace
was patched up for the Reformed faith, Melanchthon was deputed
as one of the 28 commissioners to visit the Reformed imperial
states and regulate the constitution of the churches. In
1528 this resulted in the publication of Unterricht der
Visitatoren (“Instructions for Visitors”), a set
of instructions for the commissioners. In addition to a
statement of evangelical doctrine, it contained an outline
of education for the elementary grades, which was enacted
into law in Saxony to establish the first real Protestant
public-school system. Melanchthon's educational plan was
widely copied throughout Germany, and at least 56 cities
asked his advice in founding schools. Through him, his textbooks,
and the teachers he trained, virtually the whole educational
system in Germany was reorganized. He helped found the universities
of Königsberg, Jena, and Marburg and reformed those
of Greifswald, Wittenberg, Cologne, Tübingen, Leipzig,
Heidelberg, Rostock, and Frankfurt an der Oder. His efforts
earned him the title “Preceptor of Germany.”
The Augsburg Confession.
Melanchthon was present when the protest, from which the
term Protestant originated, was lodged in the name of freedom
of conscience against the Roman Catholic majority at the
Second Diet of Speyer (1529). At the Diet of Augsburg (1530)
Melanchthon was the leading representative of the Reformation,
and it was he who prepared the Augsburg Confession, which
influenced every subsequent major credal statement in Protestantism.
In the Confession he sought to be as inoffensive to the
Catholics as possible but forcefully stated the evangelical
stance. In the ensuing negotiations over adoption of the
confessional statement, he seemed to compromise, but the
vigour of his Apology of the Confession of Augsburg (1531)
belied any change. The Apology and Confession quickly became
official Lutheran symbols (authoritative statements of faith),
as did one other Melanchthon treatise, his “Appendix
on the Papacy,” which was an addition to the Schmalkald
Articles of 1536–37, another Lutheran confessional
statement. In the “Appendix,” Melanchthon refuted
historically and theologically any papal primacy by divine
right but accepted papal jurisdiction as a human right for
the sake of peace, if the Gospel were permitted. After the
Diet of Augsburg further attempts were made to settle the
Reformation controversies by compromise, and Melanchthon,
from his conciliatory spirit and facility of access, appeared
to the defenders of Roman Catholicism as the fittest of
the Reformers with whom to deal. Despite frequent charges
of collaboration with Roman Catholicism, Melanchthon staunchly
upheld the evangelical doctrines of justification by faith
and scriptural authority.
Later years.
The year after Luther's death, when the Battle of Mühlberg
(1547) had given a seemingly crushing blow to the Protestant
cause, an attempt was made to unite the evangelicals and
Roman Catholics in the provisional agreements of the Augsburg
Interim. Melanchthon refused to accept the Interim until
justification by faith was ensured as a fundamental doctrine.
Then, for the sake of order and peace, he declared that
those principles which did not violate justification by
faith might be observed as adiaphora, or nonessentials.
He allowed the necessity of good works to salvation, but
not in the old sense of meriting righteousness; and he accepted
the seven sacraments, but only as rites that had no inherent
efficacy to salvation. Melanchthon was bitterly criticized
by fellow Protestants for his conciliatory stand on the
Interim. His later years were occupied with controversies
within the evangelical church and fruitless conferences
with his Roman Catholic adversaries. He died in 1560 and
was buried in Wittenberg beside Luther.
Doctrinal thought.
Melanchthon's literary facility, clear thought, and elegant
style of expression made him the scribe of the Reformation
and the representative of the evangelicals at numerous colloquies.
He never attained entire independence of Luther, though
he gradually modified some of his positions. These modifications
centred on the Eucharist, man's part in conversion, and
the place of good works.
As late as 1530 Melanchthon agreed with Luther on the Lord's
Supper, but by 1529 his own views had begun to shift from
Luther's, and the changes that Melanchthon introduced in
1540 in the 10th article of the Augsburg Confession indicated
that his view on the Eucharist paralleled Calvin's.
Melanchthon also came to believe that man has a part in
conversion. At first, following Luther's cardinal doctrine
of grace, Melanchthon seemed to reject free will, and he
pushed the Augustinian doctrine of irresistible grace close
to fatalism. However, his Commentary on Colossians (1527)
implied a rejection of predestination, and by 1532 in the
Commentary on Romans he spoke of man's struggle to accept
or reject the love of God. In the 1535 edition of Loci he
pointed out that man must at least accept the gift of God's
salvation and that man is therefore responsible for his
destiny. This view is clearly expressed in De Anima (1540).
“God draws, but he draws him who is willing.”
Because of his interest in ethics, Melanchthon increasingly
emphasized good works as the inevitable fruits of faith.
Luther was disposed to make faith itself the principle of
sanctification, but Melanchthon laid more stress on law.
In his “Instructions for Visitors” articles of
1528 he urged pastors to instruct people in the necessity
of repentance and to bring the threat of the law to bear
upon men in order to instill faith. This brought upon him
the opposition of the antinomian Johann Agricola. In the
Loci of 1535 Melanchthon sought to put the fact of the coexistence
of justification and good works in the believer on a secure
basis by declaring the latter “necessary” to eternal
life. For the sake of public order Melanchthon was led to
lay more and more stress upon the law and moral ideas, but
his evangelical position was that man is saved by faith
and that good works are the “necessary” expression
of faith, for good works flow from faith.
Additional reading
C.L. Manschreck, Melanchthon: The Quiet Reformer (1958),
is the most complete biography; see also R. Stupperich,
Der unbekannte Melanchthon (1961; Eng. trans. by R.H. Fischer,
Melanchthon, 1965). M. Rogness, Philip Melanchthon: Reformer
Without Honor (1969), contains aspects of Melanchthon's
thought. His basic works and letters may be found in K.G.
Bretschneider and E. Bindseil (eds.), Corpus Reformatorum,
28 vol. (1834–60); W. Pauck (ed.), Melanchthon and
Bucer (1969), contains the 1521 Loci; and C.L. Manschreck
(ed.), Melanchthon on Christian Doctrine (1965), the 1555
Loci. For information on Lutheran symbols, see T.G. Tappert
(ed.), The Book of Concord (1959); for educational endeavours,
C. Hartfelder, Philipp Melanchthon als Praeceptor Germania
(1889), with bibliography. W. Hammer, Die Melanchthonforschung
im Wandel der Jahrhunderte, 2 vol. (1967–68), has a
good bibliography to 1965; for a discussion of Melanchthon's
relation to patristics, see P. Fraenkel, Testimonia Patrum
(1961).
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