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==Historical examples of syncretism==

==Historical examples of syncretism==

===Syncretistic attempts of Calvinists for union with the Lutheran church===

===Syncretistic attempts of Calvinists for union with the Lutheran church===

The [[Brandenburg]] Kurfürst Johann Sigismund converted to the [[Reformed]] aka [[Calvinist]] faith on 25 December 1613. This developed a gap between his [[Hohenzollern]] house and their subjects, especially the Mark Brandenburg population which remained [[Lutheran]]. The Reformed faith became the court and official religion and the next Kurfürst, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been brought up in the Reformed Niederlanden, i.e. [[Netherlands]], demanded the acceptance of his own (Reformed) minority faith and its followers who were mostly foreigners, brought into the Mark Brandenburg from abroad after the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Kurürst attacked Lutheran church and its clergy by repealing of the so-called ''Formula Concordiae'' at ordination and by imposing furhter restrictive measures through his edict of 2 June 1662. That caused the [[Wittenberg]] University to publish a paper entitled ''"Epikrisis de Colloquio Casselano Rintelino-Marpurgensium"'' which declared any union with Reformed members to be impossible, since in their opinion, the Reformed doctrine had a tendency to minimalise, to think in [[moral relativism|relative]] terms{{#tag:ref|e.g. in his declaration of 4th May 1665, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm referred to "the Godly truth" as to "whatever it may be"<ref name="Beeskow2006"/>|group=note}} and for [[agnosticism]] in questions of faith.{{#tag:ref|cf. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&version=NIV Genesis 3:1]|group=note}} The orthodox-Lutheran clergy saw in every concession to the Reformed members the introduction of Syncretism that would lead to the rule of Calvinism and to be suspected of being a Syncretist was about the most severe reproach one could give to a 17th-century Lutheran theologian.<ref name="Beeskow2006">{{cite book |title=Paul Gerhardt 1607 - 1676 An Illustrated Biography |author=Hans-Joachim Beeskow |publisher=Heimat-Verlag Lübben |place=Lübben |year=2006 |pages=45–71, 75, 93 |isbn=3-929600-33-1 |url= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Misia, Charizmatické hnutia,  Teologická konferencia ECAV na Slovensku 2011 |place=Piešťany, Slovakia |year=2011 |isbn=9788071403807 |url=https://sclib.svkk.sk/sck01/Record/000393629/Description |quote=Der Pfarrer Paul Gerhardt weigerte sich jedoch. Er geriet deshalb in öffentlichen Streit mit dem Kurfürsten. Das Hauptargument gegen den Kurfürsten war, er leiste damit dem Synkretismus Vorschub.|language=Slovak, German}}</ref>

The [[Brandenburg]] Kurfürst Johann Sigismund converted to the [[Reformed]] aka [[Calvinist]] faith on 25 December 1613. This developed a gap between his [[Hohenzollern]] house and their subjects, especially the Mark Brandenburg population which remained [[Lutheran]]. The Reformed faith became the court and official religion and the next Kurfürst, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had been brought up in the Reformed Niederlanden, i.e. [[Netherlands]], demanded the acceptance of his own (Reformed) minority faith and its followers who were mostly foreigners, brought into the Mark Brandenburg from abroad after the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Kurürst attacked the Lutheran church and its clergy by repealing of the so-called ''Formula Concordiae'' at ordination and by imposing furhter restrictive measures through his edict of 2 June 1662. That caused the [[Wittenberg]] University to publish a paper entitled ''"Epikrisis de Colloquio Casselano Rintelino-Marpurgensium"'' which declared any union with Reformed members to be impossible, since in their opinion, the Reformed doctrine had a tendency to minimalise, to think in [[moral relativism|relative]] terms{{#tag:ref|e.g. in his declaration of 4th May 1665, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm referred to "the Godly truth" as to "whatever it may be"<ref name="Beeskow2006"/>|group=note}} and for [[agnosticism]] in questions of faith.{{#tag:ref|cf. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A1&version=NIV Genesis 3:1]|group=note}} The orthodox-Lutheran clergy saw in every concession to the Reformed members the introduction of Syncretism that would lead to the rule of Calvinism and to be suspected of being a Syncretist was about the most severe reproach one could give to a 17th-century Lutheran theologian.<ref name="Beeskow2006">{{cite book |title=Paul Gerhardt 1607 - 1676 An Illustrated Biography |author=Hans-Joachim Beeskow |publisher=Heimat-Verlag Lübben |place=Lübben |year=2006 |pages=45–71, 75, 93 |isbn=3-929600-33-1 |url= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Misia, Charizmatické hnutia,  Teologická konferencia ECAV na Slovensku 2011 |place=Piešťany, Slovakia |year=2011 |isbn=9788071403807 |url=https://sclib.svkk.sk/sck01/Record/000393629/Description |quote=Der Pfarrer Paul Gerhardt weigerte sich jedoch. Er geriet deshalb in öffentlichen Streit mit dem Kurfürsten. Das Hauptargument gegen den Kurfürsten war, er leiste damit dem Synkretismus Vorschub.|language=Slovak, German}}</ref>

The 19th century Superintendent Büchsel described in his book ''Erinnerungen'' the situation in [[Prussia]] where union between Calvinists and Lutheran church was imposed by state power. He portrays this union as flag of [[liberalism]] in the church that caused an inner schism. The priest in the town of Stettin, Ehrenström, was arrested due to his secession from the official church and encouraging people to escape the union by emigration into [[America]]. Separatists refused the new state agenda and new Songbook and State Police had to force Lutheran children against the will of their parents into the State schools which aimed to indoctrinate them with Calvinism.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jozef Miloslav Hurban a jeho zápas o pravé hodnoty cirkvi a národa |author=Miloslav Hvožďara |publisher=Tranoscius |place=Liptovský Mikuláš |year=2008 |pages=83–7 |isbn=978-807140-288-6 |language=Slovak}}</ref>

The 19th century Superintendent Büchsel described in his book ''Erinnerungen'' the situation in [[Prussia]] where union between Calvinists and Lutheran church was imposed by state power. He portrays this union as flag of [[liberalism]] in the church that caused an inner schism. The priest in the town of Stettin, Ehrenström, was arrested due to his secession from the official church and encouraging people to escape the union by emigration into [[America]]. Separatists refused the new state agenda and new Songbook and State Police had to force Lutheran children against the will of their parents into the State schools which aimed to indoctrinate them with Calvinism.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jozef Miloslav Hurban a jeho zápas o pravé hodnoty cirkvi a národa |author=Miloslav Hvožďara |publisher=Tranoscius |place=Liptovský Mikuláš |year=2008 |pages=83–7 |isbn=978-807140-288-6 |language=Slovak}}</ref>