Philip Melanchthon
April 21st, 2006
This message comes a day late, but I wanted to include an
excellent summary prepared by J.A.O. Preus on Melanchthon. I offer this to you to honor and commemorate the
"heaven-going" of Philip Melanchthon who died yesterday, in
1560. What a fascinating and complex man was Master Philip. We who
confess the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg
Confession and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope will
remain eternally grateful for the great and wonderful gifts given by
God, to the entire world, and especially to our beloved Lutheran Zion,
through the life and work of Philip Melanchthon. He gave so much and
he was used by God as a powerful witness to the Reformation recovery
of the Gospel, and yet, particularly after Luther’s death, Melanchthon
compromised too much and placed the Reformation in jeopardy. To honor this great man of God and his work, I’m pleased to offer
the preface prepared by Rev. Dr. Jacob A. O. Preus for his translation
of Melanchthon’s 1543 edition of Loci Communes,
the work that laid the foundation for all future dogmatics in the
Lutheran Church. Concordia Publishing House also publishes a commentary on Romans by Melanchthon.
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Categories: Lutheranism
pastor mccain,
what do you know of clyde manschreck’s translation of melanchthon’s loci communes? the local library did not have j.a.o. preus’ translation, and so i was forced to go with manscheck’s.
i also noticed that manschreck’s is melancthon’s loci communes of 1555, as opposed to preus’ translation of the 1543 edition. are there significant textual variances between the two editions?
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McCain: Yes. Each edition of the “Communes” represents a change from the last. The best edition of the “Communes” is the first edition, from 1520. The differences are not a matter of mere “textual variants” but of substantial doctrinal changes. By 1555 Melanchthon had unfortunately compromised far too much by way of the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and conversion and free will. The 1520 edition is available in a paperback, a reprint from the Library of Christian Classics. I would recommend it as your first buy of the editions of the Communes. This is the edition that Luther gushed on about and said it should be “canonized.” It is a wonderful piece of work.
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i’d buy preus’ translation and support cph, but i’m a poor college student and i don’t have the money. bummer.
drew.