SMALCALDIC ARTICLES
The Smalcaldic Articles were drawn up in the city of Smalcalda in an uncompromising and aggressive tone by Luther himself (unlike the conciliatory *Confessio Augustana* formulated by Melanchthon), as a standard of what the Protestants could and should “receive, concede, or refuse” in the Council convoked for Mantua in 1537.
They are grouped into three parts: the first comprises the articles concerning the divine Majesty, namely the Trinitarian and Christological dogma as contained in the Apostles’ Creed; of these it is said that there is no controversy with opponents; the second groups the “irreducible” articles, on which no concession whatever is to be made: these are the salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ alone, the rejection of the Mass as a sacrifice, the condemnation of the invocation of saints, the abolition of celibacy, and the papacy as the creation of the Antichrist; the third lists 15 articles on which “one may negotiate with the learned and come to compromises.” They concern original sin and its consequences; the law, which reveals to man his own weakness; penance as the sense of spiritual death and of one’s own radical injustice; the “false penance of the pontiffs”; the Gospel as the manifestation of the promise of grace; Baptism, with the justification of infant baptism; the Sacrament of the Altar; the power of the keys; confession; excommunication; ordination, the Order, and vocation; the marriage of priests; the Church; and how before God man is judged by good works; monastic vows; and human traditions. These articles, subscribed by 43 theologians including Luther, Bugenhagen, Nicolaus Amsdorf, Agricola, Melanchthon, Urbanus Regius, were included in the *Liber concordiae* of 1580 as a dogmatic text of Lutheranism (v. LUTHER).