ADIAFORA. — This name denotes a celebrated controversy in the Protestant field. Adiaphora (from ἀδιάφορα, “indifferent things and acts”) are defined by Protestants themselves, in the title of art. IX of the “Formula of Concord,” as things either intermediate or indifferent.
This controversy had two aspects: the first, in the sixteenth century, Melantone (v.), concerned only ecclesiastical usages and ceremonies; the second, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, advanced by Spener, concerned the question of all indifferent acts.
1) In 1548, the Emperor Charles V, without consulting the Holy See, had promulgated the famous “Augsburg Interim,” by which he sought, in his own way, to settle the religious questions that were tearing Germany apart. The Interim was fairly favorable to the Protestants, but contained several provisions favorable to the Catholics; hence it was opposed by the former and provoked violent resistance, especially in northern Germany. The Elector Maurice of Saxony, wishing to assist the emperor and calm people’s spirits, entrusted Melantone with explaining the clauses of the Interim; and the latter published his conclusions in the so-called Leipzig Interim (1548).
It regarded as adiaphora, or indifferent matters, and therefore as capable of being practiced without violating Sacred Scripture, fasts, feasts, chants in Latin, the use of the surplice and candles, and even the Mass (without transubstantiation) and the veneration of the saints. The intransigent Lutherans, led by Flacio Illirico (v.), one of the Magdeburg Centuriators and a fanatical Lutheran, violently opposed these interpretations. Thus the schism arose between the adiaphorists or Melanchthonians and the anti-adiaphorists or Flacians. The controversy lasted until 1580, when the “Formula of Concord” was drawn up; in art. IX, the question is decided in the sense that the Church of God may change certain ceremonies and rites that are neither commanded nor forbidden by Sacred Scripture.
2) The question arose again in Germany a century later with the Pietist movement, whose promoter was Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705). This time, however, it extended to human acts.
Spener maintained that worldly amusements, such as dancing, the theater, and so forth, ought to be prohibited. Since a Christian must do nothing that is not for the glory of God and the good of his neighbor, there could be no adiaphorous or indifferent actions. His opponents, of whom he had many, insisted that the actions in question were simply indifferent or adiaphorous and in no way sinful. The controversy gradually changed from a practical into a speculative one: while it was admitted that, in the abstract, indifferent acts existed, it was debated whether this was possible in concrete cases. In this way the struggle lost its original virulence.