Autobiography

-vants of Christ, following the example of our Head Jesus Christ, is common and certain. Even Arndt Johann Arndt (1555–1621), whose mystical and practical approach to Christianity deeply influenced the author. and my own grandfather Jakob Andreae Jakob Andreae (1528–1590) was a primary architect of the "Formula of Concord," the definitive statement of Lutheran doctrine. were rewarded with the same mockery because of the established Formula of Concord.

Nevertheless, I must work against this with all my strength as long as I live and as long as witnesses of honest loyalty remain. I do this despite Satan’s efforts to hinder or cast doubt upon everything that those stained with accusations of heterodoxy Holding opinions that differ from accepted or "orthodox" church doctrine. and fanaticism In the 17th century, "fanaticism" was a common slur against those who emphasized personal spiritual experience over rigid dogma. have courageously undertaken according to their calling, wisely presented, successfully carried out, and faithfully handed down to posterity. Satan seeks to hand such work over to the deceptions, mockery, and schemes of worldly men from all walks of life. I must labor so that we might evade this fiery arrow of Satan and his accomplices, by which he exerts all his power to destroy our work in building the house of the Lord through malicious sappers original: "Minirer"; military engineers who dig tunnels to collapse fortifications. Here, the author refers to those undermining the church from within. whom he has set in place.

Therefore, I solemnly testify, both in private and in public, in the light of the Christian church and against those light-shunning people, that I have no part in the papist A polemical term for Roman Catholics. puddles, the haughty pride of the Calvinists, or the blasphemies of the Photinians Followers of Photinus; a group that denied the pre-existence and divinity of Christ, used here as a label for anti-trinitarian heresy....