The confession presented in 1530 belongs to a history extending from the first evangelical controversies through the doctrinal settlement published in the Book of Concord.
The Ninety-five Theses
Martin Luther’s disputation on indulgences becomes the conventional point of departure for the evangelical Reformation.
The Diet of Worms
Luther is summoned before emperor and empire and refuses to recant without testimony from Scripture or clear reason.
Toward a common confession
The Marburg Articles and the Schwabach and Torgau Articles help prepare the doctrinal material that will be presented at Augsburg.
The Augsburg Confession
On June 25, the evangelical estates present the Confession before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg.
The Apology
Philip Melanchthon completes the principal defense and explanation of the Augsburg Confession.
The Smalcald Articles
Luther sets forth a further confession for the evangelical estates assembled at Smalcald.
The Interims
Imperial efforts to impose temporary religious settlements sharpen disputes over confession, ceremony, and church authority.
The Formula of Concord
After decades of controversy, Lutheran theologians complete the Formula of Concord as a definitive settlement of the disputed articles.
The Book of Concord
The Augsburg Confession, its Apology, and the Formula are published together with the other Lutheran confessional writings.
The quincentenary
Churches, schools, scholars, and readers mark five hundred years since the presentation of the Augsburg Confession.