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A GIFT FROM BR. AUGUST GOTTLIEB SPANGENBERG,
THE FOUNDER OF THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE

Br. G. Thomas Shelton

            In 1778 at the request of the Unitas Fratrum or, as we call her, the Moravian Church, the leadership asked one of her scholars, Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg to write a book.  Its purpose would be for clarifying the theological and spiritual position of the Church, as it pertains into her doctrine and its impact on her practices.

Then, as now, the Church was in need of reformation as she always is.  Bishop Spangenberg’s work would be thought of today as simplistic and overly dependent upon Scripture, by those for whom Scripture texts are considered what they describe as “proof texting”.  Some do single passages out of context, but after reading this book you would not be able to criticize it as out of context.  Rather, you would come away with the right impression that Spangenberg’s knowledge and the Holy Spirit’s directives are of God.

The book entitled Idea Fidei Fratrum – An Exposition of Christian Doctrine, as taught in the Protestant Church of the United Brethren, or in English, The Idea, had a tremendous impact on the Church.  As Bishop Hamilton writes in the History of the Moravian Church,  “Meeting with a rapid sale, the work won friends for the Brethren in many lands, and effectually removed from them any previously existing suspicion of heterodox faith (p.ii of foreword). Bishops J. Kenneth Pfohl and Edmund Schwarze said, “It was having a direct and vital effect of the religious life of the period which was in sore need of it; for it had been characterized as a ‘period of dead orthodoxy within a Protestant division of the Church and by a strong wave of aggressive rationalism with it.  The two had paralyzed Christian growth  in grace and outreach in the spread of the Gospel’” (ibid.).

Spangenberg himself said of the work, “I know assuredly that The Idea  is agreeable to the mind of my Brethren, for we have often bound ourselves solemnly to each other, to adhere with all our hearts, to the doctrine of Christ and His apostles as we find it in the Bible” (ibid).

Another scholar testified, “It restored the faith of many on whom the blight of a proud reason had fallen and delivered Protestant Christianity of the early nineteenth century from the delusions of rationalism.” Yet another said, “It saved Western Europe from infidelity.

The copy from which I am working was reprinted in 1958 as a resource for the Church in its 500^th year (1457-1957).  Although it is forty-five years since then, it is believed that the volume should be revisited and studied afresh.  I believe it would best be read without concern or apology for its 18^th century prose and expressions.  The Scripture texts come directly from the English translation (1779) wrought by Bishop Benjamin LaTrobe, “a foremost scholar and leader of our Brethren’s Church in England.” Its purpose “was intended to place before the ministers and members of the Church a scheme of doctrine expressed in biblical language…its twenty-four sections set forth the essentials of a sound Protestant theology free from one-sided confessionalism. The Love of God in Christ is its central theme and the terminology of technical theology gives place to plain biblical language that make for Christian edification” (p.v of foreword).

Pfohl and Schwarze wrote, “The Idea Fidei Fratrum, therefore, is unquestionably validated as a presentation of Christian doctrine from the conservative, biblical standpoint and a doctrinal statement of the Moravian Church, a Church which has been correctly designated a Christ-centered, Scripture-grounded Church” (ibid.).

Time and space do not allow me to explain further the importance of this timeless work, but it is my hope you may take an interest in the book which may still be purchased at the Moravian Book and Gift Shop.  I include now with commentary the following section of the book in its entirety.  This is an example of its power and its timeless value in speaking to an issue which is very much applicable for us today. 

            In conclusion, let me commend Spangenberg’s work as an excellent resource for personal devotions. One section a day would result in a rather comprehensible study of Scripture and Church order. As always, it is my hope by recovery of our Moravian heritage, we may better understand God’s purpose in our being.

(Please turn to Page 3 PRAYER FOCUS for the quote directly from  Br. A. G. Spangenberg’s book, Idea Fidei Fratrum.)