lAY 18 1973 ARCHIVES Volume XLIV May Number 3 JEF JDY THE TWO NATURES IN CHRIST by year after the publication of the Formula of Martin Chemnitz in English Translation: Concord. A Review Article 1 Chemnitz was born in 1522. He belongs to the distinguished second generation of theologians of the Church of the Augsburg English-speaking Christians particu- Confession. He is probably best remem­ larly the Lutherans among them-should bered for A Weighing 0/ the Council 0/ be deeply grateful both to the publisher Trent (Examen Concifii Tridentini), but his and to the translator of The Two Natures in most significant theological contribution Christ. It represents a labor of love for was his role in the preparation of the both of them.2 Formula of Concord, which succeeded in There were actually two editions of De reuniting the bulk of the divided Lutheran duabus naturis in the original. The first­ community in the Holy Roman Empire. called the libelluJ, or "little book" - came As a theologian, Chemnitz synthesized out in 1570in the printing plant of Donatus the broad outlines of Luther's teaching Ritzenhain in Jena. It runs to about 90,000 with Melanchthon's theological method. words. The dedication to Julius, Duke of He is a Biblical theologian, conscious that Brunswick-Liineburg, is dated 1569. It was the ultimate importance of the Sacred this first edition that exerted such a pro­ Scriptures lies in their "kergymatic" found influence on Article VIII of the content, in what they have to tell human Formula of Concord.3 The second edition beings about religious matters - about is the one translated here.4 In it Chemnitz God and what He is and about human be­ had extensively augmented and altered the ings and what they are. Chemnitz is equally first edition. The text proper of the second a Catholic theologian, persuaded that the edition runs to an estimated 165,000 Church of the Augsburg Confession stands words, nearly twice the length of the initial squarely in the unbroken mainstream of edition. This edition came out in 1578, a Catholic tradition and is instructed by the insights not only of the primitive church but of the medieval church as well. is 1 Martin Chemnitz. The Two Natures in Chemnitz an evangelical theologian Christ. Translated by J. A. O. Preus. St. Louis: who is keenly aware of the primacy of Concordia Publishing House, 1971. 544 pages. the Gospel, the Holy Spirit, and the new Cloth. $12.00. All otherwise unidentified page creation over the "Law," the "natural" references in this review article refer to this man, and the age that now is. edition. Chemnitz has a proper respect for the 2 The first edition was printed in only 1,500 "reverent and learned work of the more copies (p. 544). The translator states that he unspoiled ancient times" (verae & purioris spent seven years on the project (CPH Com· antiquitatis pia eruditaque diligentia; mentator, house organ of Concordia Publishing p.18). "God-pleasing humility," he insists House, Winter 1971, p. 10). a little farther on, "requires that we do not 3 A copy of this very rare edition is in the trust in our own reason (ingenium) in this collection of the Foundation for Reformation Research, Clayton, Mo., which kindly made it serious discussion, but rather that we take available to me for use in preparing this review into our counsel the thinking of the ancient article. There are 262 unnumbered leaves (524 [and] orthodox church in accord with the unnumbered pages) in 16·page gatherings from Scripture and the analogy of faith" (p. 19). A through Z and from Aa through Kk 6 verso Of himself he says: "I decided that the (omitting the letters ], U, W, and ]j). The text safest way to educate and remedy my own proper of De duabus occupies all but the first simplicity would be to consult the fathers 16 pages and the last page. of the church, who in the times of the 4 The translator had access to a copy of the pClstlfie purity and learning (primis first printing of the 1578 edition. In checking purioribus & eruditis post Apostolos tempori· his translation I used my own copy of the Frank· furt am Main/Wittenberg printing put out in bus) were active in expounding this subject 1653 by the heirs of Tobias i..faevius and Elen publicly and with characteristic diligence." Schumacher. (Ibid.) Brief Study 219 Chemnitz is determined to show that cum Christiana moderatione in hujusmodi the Lutheran position accords with "the disputationibus et certaminibus de vocabulis uninterrupted consensus of the orthodox & modis loquendi adhibenda est). (P.213) church" (p. 267). He displays his patristic Chemnitz cites the Sacred Scriptures arsenal so "that there might be public with considerable freedom. On one occa­ testimony that in our churches when we sion even the translator calls attention explain this doctrine we have not given to "the free way in which Chemnitz cites birth to any new ideas, nor have we intro­ Scripture." (P. 246, n. 4) duced into the church any strange, mon­ Chemnitz' high opinion of the sacred strous, erroneous, dangerous, or scandalous ministry is reflected in his insistence that expressions or forms of speech, but rather our Lord spoke the words, "All authority we are simply imitating the thinking and is given to Me in heaven and on earth," language of the ancient orthodox church when He "was about to give to His apostles in a reverent and devout way" (pp. 302-3; the command and authority to gather the see also pp. 341-42 and 395). church throughout the world by the Unlike many other theological writers ministry of Word and Sacrament." (P. 317) in the Lutheran tradition, Chemnitz' inter­ For discussions about symbolical sub­ est extends not only to the first four scription it is not without interest that general councils (through Chalcedon, 451) Chemnitz sees and quatenus as syn­ but to the first six (through Constantinople onyms (quia Sf!!;" tenus), either of which III, 680-81).5 correctly translates the Greek conjunction He finds the patristic differentIation hoti. (P. 283) between the divine essence and the divine II energies (energeiai) -one of the distinctive features then and now of the Eastern The translator has set himself two goals. Orthodox doctrine about God - useful. The first is to provide a readable translation (Pp.307-8) of the Chemnitz text. The second is to He is not at all concerned about having identify in generally accessible patristic everybody follow his theological patterns. collections the sources that Chemnitz cites. Thus he is perfectly willing to have others It would be unfair to fault him for not hav­ operate with two "genera" of the exchange ing done something else.6 of properties, even though he finds three more convenient. (P. 166) 6 At the same time, the translator might have Chemnitz quotes Vigilius of Thapsus made things a little easier for the reader who is (flourished around 500) on the need for not extremely well versed in late 16th-century moderation in intramural polemics: "Many theology by an occasional comment. Thus, for example, it might have been useful to identify of the orthodox have divided themselves the "Torgau meeting" of page 160 as the theo· into parties over differences not of belief logical conference held at Torgau in May-June but of terminology" (p.212). Chemnitz' 1576, at which the semifinal draft ("Torgic own words are: "Prudence, together with Book") of the Formula of Concord was pro­ Christian moderation, must be applied duced. Again, Chemnitz attributes this state­ with reference to our vocabulary and our ment to Luther: "The Son of God when He wills ways of speaking in disputations and argu­ can be where He wills with His assumed body, ments of this kind" (Prudentia igitur una leaving the true reality of His body unimpaired, but He has assured us with a certain word and 5 On page 436 he writes: "Notions which a particular promise that He wills to be present deny either the essence of the human nature in the supper of the Lord with His body, just or its essential attributes have been condemned as He wills to be present in the church with the on the basis of God's Word in the Fourth, Fifth, nature that He has assumed" (cp. p. 464). The and Sixth General Councils." See also pp. 113, translator cites the Weimar edition of Luther's 153, 159, 185, 209, 226, 227, 277, 302, 471, works as declaring that these words are not 493. Chemnitz does not see the iconoclastic really Luther'S, but Melanchthon's (p. 465, n. 54). issue in the seventh ecumenical council (Nicaea The translator does not point out-possibly II, 787) as Christological- although on further because he may not himself have been aware of reflection he might well have done so. But he it-the importance of this fact for Chemnitz' is intimately acquainted with its documents; own thinking and for his development of the his quotations from SS. Athanasius and Cyril doctrine of ubivolipraesentia or multivoliprae­ on page 379 are from Nicaea n. sentia. that is, that Christ is present with His 220 Brief Study The translation before us is several the index, he will be referred to 'John of cuts better than most English translations Damascus." from Latin originals. In terms of read­ The fact that the translator refers almost ability it rates in the good-to-excellent throughout to "Nazianzus" where Chem­ bracket. For example, Chemnitz has a nitz has Nazianzenus, that is, St. Gregory penchant for interminable sentences and of N azianzus, must be regarded as a per­ interminable paragraphs.