The Bohemian Confession of 1575: Towards an Archaeology of the Czech Reformation

In 1575, the evangelical estates of the Czech lands presented their king, Maxilimian II, with an irenic confession of faith. This document was the product of cooperation among the Czech Utraquists, Lutherans, and the Unity of Brethren, and its composition entailed theological and ecclesiological negotiations among all three parties. This article excavates the sources for the confession of 1575 in order to examine the long history of religious negotiation and pragmatic toleration that characterized the Bohemian reformation. In doing so, it seeks to illuminate an alternative trajectory of reform in east-central Europe that cuts against the grain of the confessionalization paradigm that has featured centrally in reformation scholarship for the past four decades. This alternative conception of reform accepted religious co-existence and prized the extended search for theological common ground, rather than exclusivist truth claims, and created a framework for toleration.