Publisher's Synopsis
English summary: 300 letters from three years document the variety of Melanchthon's activities and relationships. In the wake of longer absences in the previous years, he rededicated himself predominantly to his teaching duties and published works on rhetoric, dialectic, Aristotelian politics and mathematics. This volume contains the programmatic prefaces to these works. Moreover, Melanchthon had to publish the Augsburg Confession and its Apology. His tireless struggle to find a satisfactory formulation of the doctrine of justification finds echoes in the correspondence of the time. Shortly after the completion of the Apology, Melanchthon published the commentary on Romans (1532), which Melanchthon dedicated to the Archbishop Albert of Mainz. The university professor also continued to concern himself with political questions, chiefly in the form of official opinions. The newly created Smalcaldic League had developed interests in establishing relations with France and England. Remarkable opinions cover such matters as church property and ecclesiastical foundations, the calling of a general council, the treatment of Anabaptists, and the divorce of Henry VIII of England. After Zwingli's death and thanks to Martin Bucer's initiatives, progress was made in clarifying the question at the Lord's Supper. This important volume has been enhanced (in comparison to the digests) with fourteen newly discovered documents. With regard to text-critical matters, this volume includes thirty-five letters to Joachim Camerarius published on the basis of the original manuscripts for the first time. German description: 300 Briefe aus drei Jahren dokumentieren die Vielfalt der Tatigkeiten und Beziehungen Melanchthons. Nach langer Abwesenheit von Wittenberg in den Jahren zuvor widmete er sich nun wieder uberwiegend seinen Lehraufgaben und veroffentlichte Werke zur Rhetorik und Dialektik, zur Aristotelischen Politik und zur Mathematik. In der Edition des Briefwechsels sind die programmatischen Vorreden enthalten. Zunachst war mit der Confessio Augustana deren Apologie zu publizieren. Das muhsame Ringen um die Formulierung der Rechtfertigungslehre findet im Briefwechsel seinen Widerhall. Bald danach konnte der Kommentar zum Romerbrief vollendet werden. Mit politischen Fragen war der Professor weiterhin befasst, hauptsachlich als Gutachter. Bemerkenswerte Gutachten betreffen die Kirchenguter und Hochstifte, das Konzil, die Behandlung der Wiedertaufer und die Ehescheidung Heinrichs VIII. von England. Nach Zwinglis Tod wurde dank Bucers Initiative die Abendmahlsfrage einer Klarung nahergebracht. Dieser inhaltsreiche Band ist gegenuber den Regesten um 14 Neufunde erweitert. Textkritisch sind die 35 Briefe an Camerarius hervorzuheben, die erstmals im ursprunglichen Wortlaut geboten werden.
