1521 (editions to 1555)

Melanchthon, Loci Communes: The First Systematization of Protestant Teaching

The humanist Greek scholar Melanchthon, who came to Wittenberg in 1518, published in 1521 the Loci communes rerum theologicarum – the first systematization of Protestant teaching. The aim of theology is practical: "to know Christ is to know his benefits," not to reason, as the scholastics did, about the natures and modes of the incarnation; the main thing is to know the power of sin, the law and grace. It is better to adore the mysteries of the Godhead than to investigate them. The 1555 edition, by contrast, opens with extensive sections on God, the Trinity and creation, recognizes the pagan sages' knowledge of God as true though insufficient, and grants greater authority to the Fathers.