Formula of Concord (Lutheran Church) The Formula of Concord
(Formula Concordiae) is one of the symbolic books of the
Lutheran Church, the purpose of which was to heal the schisms
that had arisen in the church since Luther's death and to
restore pure Lutheran doctrine. The formula of unity worked out
in 1576 at a convention of theologians at Torgau by Jacob
Andreae of Tübingen, Martin Chemnitz of Brunswick, David
Chyträus of Rostock, Andreas Musculus of Frankfurt a.d. Oder,
and several theologians of Saxony, was not found satisfactory,
and was therefore revised in March 1577, at the Bergen monastery
near Magdeburg. But this new version called the Formula
Concordiae was not approved by all the Lutheran churches either.
The Formula of Concord comprises 12 articles. The last chapter
deals with "other gangs and sects, who have never confessed
themselves to the Augsburg Confession." This chapter is included
to prevent the suspicion that such groups were tolerated. Among
them were the Anabaptists, Schwenckfelders, A