A Contentious Question (1619)

In 1619, the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg addressed a controversy which had erupted between two theologians-Jacob Martini of Wittenberg and Wenceslas Schilling of Magdeburg-on the topic of whether it is possible to know the one true God apart from the revelation of Holy Scripture. The dispute centered on the distinction between the natural knowledge of God-which is available to all men through the study of nature and conscience-and the special revelation of the Triune God contained in the Sacred Scriptures. The opinion of the Wittenberg theological faculty was published under the title "Streitige Frage" ("A Contentious Question"). Their careful treatment of this topic is of great value for the Church today, as Syncretistic controversies continue to emerge. The argumentation of "Streitige Frage" demonstrates that there are truly no "new questions"-and it offers the modern reader the response which the fathers in the faith formulated to answer false teachers in past ages.