ADIAPHORA. - Under this name is indicated a famous controversy in the Protestant field. Adiaphora (from ἀδιάφορα "indifferent things and acts") are defined by the Protestants themselves, in the title of art. IX of the "Formula of Concord," as middle or indifferent things.
This polemic had two aspects: the first, in the 16th century, proposed by Melanchthon (v.), concerned only ecclesiastical usages and ceremonies; the second, in the 17th and 18th centuries, presented by Spener, touched on the question of all indifferent acts.
1) In 1548, Emperor Charles V, without consulting the Holy See, had promulgated the famous "Interim of Augsburg," with 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 Catholics; hence it was opposed by the former and aroused violent opposition especially in northern Germany. Elector Maurice of Saxony, wishing to help the emperor and calm tempers, gave Melanchthon the task of explaining the clauses of the Interim; and the latter published its conclusions in the so-called Interim of Leipzig (1548).
It considered as adiaphora or indifferent, and therefore as things that could be practiced without violating Sacred Scripture, fasts, feasts, chants in Latin, the use of the surplice, of candles and even the Mass (without transubstantiation) and the cult of the saints. The intransigent Lutherans, led by Flacius Illyricus (v.), one of the Magdeburg Centuriators, a fanatical Lutheran, violently opposed such interpretations. Thus arose the schism between adiaphorists or Melanchthonians and anti-adiaphorists or Flacians. The polemic lasted until 1580, when the "Formula of Concord" was drawn up, in which, at 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 was reborn in Germany, a century later, with the Pietist movement, whose promoter was Philip James Spener (1635-1705). This time, however, it extended to human acts.
Spener maintained that worldly amusements, e.g. dancing, the theater, etc., had to be forbidden. Since a Christian must do nothing that is not for the glory of God and the good of neighbor, there could be no adiaphorous or indifferent actions. His opponents, and he had many, insisted that the aforementioned actions were simply indifferent or adiaphorous and in no way sinful. The controversy gradually turned from practical to speculative, that is, while it was admitted that in the abstract indifferent acts existed, it was disputed whether this was possible in concrete terms. In this way the struggle lost its original virulence.
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Camillo Crivelli