The Reformation did not enter the Palatinate until 1546, and it was only under Frederick III. that it was actually carried through (see Frederick III. the Pious
Offended by the anathematizing tendencies of Lutheran zealots, this sovereign inclined toward the Reformed doctrines. In this spirit he commissioned Caspar Olevianus, professor and preacher in Heidelberg, to draw up a new church order, and conceived the idea of the compilation of a catechism. Owing to the loss of the Palatine archives, the history of the origin of this catechism lacks important documentary evidences. It has been customary to give Olevianus and Zacharias Ursinus the credit of having compiled the book on the initiative of the elector in 1562. But it has been proved that the catechism and the Refoinnation in the Palatinate were not the work of one or. two men, but the result of common efforts. This is evident from Ursinus's preface to the apology of the Heidelberg Catechism; from a letter of Olevianus to_Calvin; from the testimony of Quirinus Reuter, a pupil of Ursinus, in the preface to the works of his teacher; and from the introductions to the first three editions of the catechism, written by the elector himself, in which he states that it originated "with the counsel and assistance of our whole theologlcal,_faculty, also all superintendents and the principal church councilors." The theological faculty of Heidelberg consisted in 1562 of three men, Boquinus (Pierre Bouquin, q.v.), a Frenchman, who was one of the first advocates of Calvinism in Heidelberg; Emmanuel Tremellius, an Italian, who followed Calvin and Butzer; ad...Ursinus, a pupil of Melanchthon. The foremost among the superintendents was Olevianus, an admirer of Calvin and friend of Bullinger. Among the church councilors may be mentioned Michael Diller, court preacher, and Thomas Erastus, a physician who represented the German-Swiss 'tendency. Besides these men and> others, the elector himself shared in the work of the. catechism.
The older, tradition, however, is correct in so far as the principal share of the work is due to Ursinus and Olevianus. Ursinus had already prepared two catechisms, the (larger) Summa theologise and the Cateehesis minor, which formed the basis of the new work. The larger catechism he had compiled in 1561 for his academic lectures; it contains his own dogmatic views, but reveals at the same time the authorities from which he learned, Melanchthon without his synergism, Leo Jud, B, and Calvin, also the influence of some Netherlandish catechisms such as the Kleyne Catechismus of Martin Micron (1552), Korte onders9ekinghe des.gheloofs (1553), and Catechisn:,s ofte Kinderlehre tho niitte der Joget in 0stfriesslandt (1554), edited by the preachers of Emden. The smaller catechism of Ursinus approaches. teidelberg Catechism the more closely; it was probably compiled after discussions with the elector and churchmen of the Palatinate. As the__eleor had pledged himself to the Augustana by,the Frankfort Recess and his action at the Naumburg Convention (qq.v.), he was anxious to preserve peace with the Lutherans as far as possible by dropping some of the Zurich and Calvinistic peculiarities of doctrine, especially as regarded the lord'&. Supper. It was probably Olevianus who was chiefly rop9mhle for the change of the text of the Catechesis minor into the German wording of the Heidelberg, -Catechism and for its final redaction. A comparison of the final text of the catechism with the new church order drawn up by him and with his devotional writings reveals a harmony in language, style, and theological bent which can hardly be accidental. The mediating. -influence of the elector may be recognized in the changes concerning the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and in the suppression of the discussion concerning,election.
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