Formula of Concord

Formula of Concord (1577) (German, Konkordienformel; Latin, Formula concordiae; also the "Bergic Book" or the "Bergen Book") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its two parts (Epitome and Solid Declaration), makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as the Book of Concord (most references to these texts are to the original edition of 1580). The Epitome is a brief and concise presentation of the Formula's twelve articles; the Solid Declaration a detailed exposition. Approved doctrine is presented in "theses"; rejected doctrine in "antitheses." As the original document was written in German, a Latin translation was prepared for the Latin edition of the Book of Concord published in 1584.

Significance and composition

The promulgation and subscription of this document was a major factor in the unification and preservation of Lutheranism. It was instigated at the behest of the Elector August of Saxony, and it was the joint work of a group of Lutheran theologians and churchmen of the latter sixteenth century, who met from April 9 to June 7, 1576 in Torgau, the seat of government for the Electorate of Saxony at the time: Jakob Andreä (1528–90), Martin Chemnitz (1522–86), Nikolaus Selnecker (1528–92), David Chytraeus (1531–1600), Andreas Musculus (1514–81), Christoph Körner (1518–94), Caspar Heyderich (1517–86), Paul Crell (1532–79), Maximilian Mörlin (1516–84), Wolfgang Harder (1522–1602), Daniel Gräser, Nicholas Jagenteufel (1520–83), Johannes Cornicaelius, John Schütz (1531–84), Martin Mirus (1532–93), Georg Listenius (d. 1596), and Peter Glaser (1528–83); and a smaller set of this group (Andreä, Chemnitz, Selnecker, Chytraeus, Musculus, and Körner) a year later in Bergen Abbey, near Magdeburg, both from March 1–14, and in May, 1577. The most important formulators of the Formula of Concord were Jakob Andreä and Martin Chemnitz.