(Redirected from Confessio Helvetica posterior)'Helvetic Confessions', the name of two documents expressing the common belief of the
Reformed churches of
Switzerland.
The 'First Helvetic Confession' (
Latin: ''Confessio Helvetica prior''), known also as the 'Second Confession of Basel', was drawn up at that city in
1536 by
Bullinger and
Leo Jud of
Zürich,
Megander of
Bern,
Oswald Myconius and
Grynaeus of
Basel,
Bucer and
Capito of
Strasbourg, with other representatives from
Schaffhausen,
St Gall,
Mülhausen and
Biel. The first draft was in
Latin and the Zürich delegates objected to its
Lutheran phraseology. Leo Jud's
German translation was, however, accepted by all, and after Myconius and Grynaeus had modified the Latin form, both versions were agreed to and adopted on
February 26,
1536.
The 'Second Helvetic Confession' (Latin: ''Confessio Helvetica posterior'') was written by Bullinger in
1562 and revised in
1564 as a private exercise. It came to the notice of the
elector palatine Frederick III, who had it translated into German and published. It gained a favourable hold on the Swiss churches, who had found the First Confession too short and too Lutheran. It was adopted by the Reformed Church not only throughout Switzerland but in
Scotland (1566),
Hungary (1567),
France (1571),
Poland (1578), and next to the
Heidelberg Catechism is the most generally recognized Confession of the
Reformed Church.
See also
★
Reformation in Switzerland
★
Helvetic Consensus
★
Confession of Basel
Literature
★ L Thomas, ''La Confession helvétique'' (Geneva, 1853);
★
Philip Schaff, ''Creeds of Christendom'', i. 390-420, iii. 234-306;
★
Julius Müller, ''Die Bekenntnisschriften der reformierten Kirche'' (Leipzig, 1903).
External links
★
The Second Helvetic Confession in English Translation
★ Text of the creeds from Schaff's ''Creeds of Christendom'' (vol. 3) at the
Christian Classics Ethereal Library:
★
★
The First Helvetic Confession (in its original Latin and
High German translation)
★
★
The Second Helvetic Confession (in its original Latin)
★ History of the creeds from Schaff's ''Creeds of Christendom'' (vol. 1) at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library:
★
★
"The First Helvetic Confession"
★
★
"The Second Helvetic Confession"
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