For the first time, the research and edition project “Controversia et Confessio” systematically reappraises the theological controversies triggered by the Augsburg Interim and the Leipzig Alternative Draft of 1548, which could only be largely resolved by the large-scale theological unification of the Conoria Formula and the Konkordienbuch 1577/80. In these disputes, an early modern “culture of conflict and controversy” developed, drawing on different literary genres – academic discourse theses and polemics, satirical songs, illustrated leaflets, and confessions – as well as various communicative forms and structures. The aim of the edition project is to perceive this theological culture of conflict as a decisive engine for the specification of reformatory doctrine, as an impetus for a multifaceted formation of faith and as a decisive factor for the final consolidation of the confessions in their doctrinal characteristics, which still exist today, and to make it accessible in a commented edition of the text.
The project pursues a theme-centered and historically oriented approach. In an online database, more than 2,000 publications by different authors that have become effective in theology history are listed and indexed. Short biograms illustrate the networking of the actors. The central texts for the respective “circles of conflict” are published in nine volumes. This print version is available on the Internet in cooperation with the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel.