Robert Bellarmin (1542-1621) was the most important controversialist of the Catholic Church until the 20th century. As regards form and content, his "Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus Hujus Temporis Haereticos" (1586-1593) have left their stamp on Lutheran dogmatics far into the 18th century. Using the example of ecclesiology, this contribution shows that and how controversial theology did not only mean demarcation, but also mutual denominational influence: Bellarmin gave Lutheran ecclesiology the choice to either adopt Luther's doctrine of the invisible church or else to return to the Catholic Church. It was under Bellarmin's influence that the Lutheran orthodoxy (in opposition to the Concord tradition) upheld the doctrine of the invisibility of the true church until pietism forced it to emphasize the visibility of the church again.

Enthalten in:
Evangelische Theologie; 2015/2 Zweimonatsschrift (2015)

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Serie / Reihe: Evangelische Theologie

Personen: Schubert, Anselm

Schlagwörter: Kritik Luther Ekklesiologie Bellarmin, Robert