SYNDERESIS
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SYNDERESIS
the Lutherans could make overtures to the Catholic
and the Reformed Churches. It lasted from 1640 to
1686. Calixt, a professor in Helmstedt, had through
his travels in England, Holland, Italy, and France,
through his acquaintance with the different Churches
and their representatives, and through his extensive
study, acquired a more friendly attitude towards the
different religious bodies than was then usual among
the majority of Lutheran theologians. While the lat-
ter firmly adhered to the "pure doctrine", Calixt was
not disposed to regard doctrine as the one thing neces-
sary in order to be a Christian, while in doctrine itself
he did not regard everything as equally certain and
important. Consequently, he advocated unity be-
tween those who were in agreement concerning the
fundamental minimum, with liberty as to all less
fundamental points. In regard to Catholicism, he
was prepared (as Melanchthon once was) to concede
to the pope a primacy human in origin, and he also
admitted that the Mass might be called a sacrifice.
On the side of Calixt stood the theological faculties of
Helmstedt, Rinteln, and Konigsberg; opposed to him
were those of Leipzig, Jena, Slrasburg, Giessen, Mar-
burg, and Greifswald. His chief opponent was Abra-
ham Calov. The Elector of Saxony was for political
reasons an opponent of the Reformed Church, be-
cause the other two secular electors (Palatine and
Brandenburg) were "reformed", and were getting
more and more the advantage of him. In 1649 he
sent to the three dukes of Brunswick, who maintained
Helmstedt as their common university, a communica-
tion in which he voices all the objections of his Lu-
theran professors, and complains that Calixt wished
to extract the elements of truth from all reUgions, fuse
all into an entirely new religion, and so provoke a vio-
lent schism. In 1650 Calov was called to Wittenberg
as professor, and he signalized his entrance into office
with a vehement attack on the Syncretists in Helm-
stedt. An outburst of polemical writings followed.
In 1650 the dukes of Brunswick answered the Elector
of Saxony that the discord should not be aUowed to
increase, and proposed a meeting of the political
councillors. Saxony, however, did not favour this
suggestion. An attempt to convene a meeting of
theologians was not more successful. The theologians
of Wittenberg and Leipzig now elaborated a new for-
mula, in which ninety-eight heresies of the Helm-
stedt theologians were condemned. This formula
(consensus) was to be signed by everyone who wished
to remain in the Lutheran Church. Outside Witten-
berg and Leipzig, however, it was not accepted, and
Calixt's death in 1656 was followed by five years of
almost undisturbed peace.
The strife was renewed in Hesse-Cassel, where Landgrave Wilhelm VI sought to effect a union be- tween his Lutheran and Reformed subjects, or at least to lessen their mutual hatred. In 1661 he had a colloquy held in Cassel between the Lutheran theolo- gians of the University of Rinteln and the Reformed theologians of the University of Marburg. Enraged at this revival of the Syncretism of Calixt, the \\'itten- berg theologians in vehement terms called on the Rin- teln professors to make their submission, whereupon the latter answered with a detailed defence. Another long series of polemical treatises followed. In Brand- enburg-Prussia the Great Elector (Frederick Wil- liam I) forbade (1663) preachers to speak of the disputes between the Evangelical bodies. A long col- loquy in Berlin (Sept., 1662-May, 1663) led only to fresh di.scord. In 1664 the rlcctor repeated his com- mand that preachers of both parties should al)slain from mutual abuse, and .should attribute to the other party no doctrine which was not actually helil by .such party. Whoever refused to sign tlie form declaring his intention to observe this regul;il ion, was deprived of his position (e. g. Paul ( ierhardt, writer of religious songs). This arrang(Mnent was later modified, in that
the forms were withdrawn, and action was taken only
against those who disturbed the peace. The attempts
of the Wittenberg theologians to declare Calixt and his
school un-Lutheran and heretical were now met by
Calixt's son, Friedrich Ulrich Calixt. The latter de-
fended the theology of his father, but also tried to
show that his doctrine did not so very much differ
from that of his opponents. Wittenberg found its
new champion in ^Egidius Strauch, who attacked
Calixt with all the resources of learning, polemics,
sophistrj , wit, cynicism, and abuse. The Helmstedt
side was defended by the celebrated scholar and
statesman, Hermann Conring. The Sa.xon princes
now recognized the danger that the attempt to carry
through the "Consensus" as a formula of belief might
lead to a fresh schism in the Lutheran Church, and
might thus render its position difficult in the face of
the Catholics. The proposals of Calov and his party
to continue the refutation and to compel the Bruns-
wick theologians to bind themselves under obligation
to the old Lutheran confession, were therefore not car-
ried into effect. On the contrary the Saxon theolo-
gians were forbidden to continue the strife in writing.
Negotiations for peace then resulted, Duke Ernst the
Pious of Saxe-Gotha being especially active towards
this end, and the project of establishing a permanent
college of theologians to decide theological disputes
was entertained. However, the negotiations with the
courts of Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Denmark, and
Sweden were as fruitless as those with the theological
faculties, except that peace was maintained until
1675. Calov then renewed hostilities. Besides
Calixt, his attack was now directed particularly
against the moderate John Musa!us of Jena. Calov
succeeded in having the whole University of Jena (and
after a long resistance Musieus himself) compelled to
renounce Syncretism. But this was his last victory.
The elector renewed his prohibition against polemical
writings. Calov seemed to give way, since in 1683 he
asked whether, in the view of the danger which
France then constituted for Germany, a Calixtinic
Syncretism with "Papists" and the Reformed were
stiU condemnable, and whether in deference to the
Elector of Brandenburg and the dukes of Brunswick,
the strife should not be buried by an amnesty, or
whether, on the contrary, the war against Syncretism
should be continued. He later returned to his attack
on the Syncretists, but died in 1686, and with his
death the strife ended. The result of the Syncretist
Strife was that it lessened religious hatred and pro-
moted mutual forbearance. CathoUcism was thus
benefited, as it came to be better understood and ap-
preciated by Protestants. In Protestant theology it
prepared the way for the sentimental theology of
Pietism as the successor of fossilized orthodoxy.
(4) Concerning Syncretism in the doctrine of grace, see (jRACE, Controversies on, VI, 713.
(1) Friedlander, Darsiellunsjeti aus der Rittejigesch. Roms, IV (8th ed.. LpipziK. Ifll"). 1 19-281 ; Ccmont. Les religions orienlaUa dans le pn'fn'>>^>:>r r,,jy},n'n (Paris, 1907); Wendland. Die helten- istisch-r'hri' '■ A ;.' .' m ihren Beziehungen zu Judenluyn u. Chriatenliin 1 :! n l:llJ7); Reville, La religion A Rome sous lesSMr.s ir.iii , 1-^t. .
(2) SiiiA.\z, .1; ; ,.,. des Chrixlentums, II (3rd cd., Freiburg, 1905); Weber. Chnnll. Apologelik (Freiburg, 1907), 163-71; Reischle, Theologie u. Religionsgesch. (TQbinKen, 1904).
(3) DORVER, Geseh. der pro/esl. Theot. (Miinieh, 1867). 606-24; Henke, Georg. Caliilus u. seine seil, I-II (Halle, 1S53-60).
Klemens LSffler.
Synderesis, or more correctly synleresis, is a term used l)y tlie Scholastic theologians to signify the luibilual knowledge of the universal practical prin- ciples of moral ;iction. The rea.soning process in the field of speculative^ science presupposes certain fun- damental axioms on which :dl science rests. Such are the principle of contradiction, "a thing cannot both be and not be at the same time", and self- evident truths like "the whole is greater than its I part". These are the first principles of the specula- i
