Cochlaeus Misparaphrase Debacle Summary

We've had a few posts on the issue of the misquotation of Luther (i.e. Cochlaeus provided a paraphrase that did not accurately represent what Luther said, and this was then picked up and used as an alleged quote from Luther). The scope of this error is significant. In general, it appears that the quotation was generated by Cochlaeus, and then picked up by influential Romanist scholars Melchior Cano (died 1560)(who acknowledged that he got it from Cochlaeus) and Robert Bellarmine (died 1621)(who did not identify his secondary source, although he was familiar with works by Cochlaeus). From there, numerous other - mostly Roman Catholic - folks picked up the quotation, some citing back to Cochlaeus (suggesting they got it from Cano) and others simply alleging it is from Luther (suggesting they got it from Bellarmine).

In the following list, I've tried to highlight a number of the instances where Cochlaeus' "quotation" from Luther reappeared over the centuries in the Latin. The dates I've given may be misleading. For example, as noted above, Melchior Cano died in 1560, but the edition of his works that I found is significantly later.

Also, I've limited myself to the Latin. If I were to include English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Polish, I suspect the list would be much longer. Also, I'm sure that if someone with more time on their hands did a more thorough search of the literature, they would find even more instances. This is just a quick survey of some of the easier-to-locate instances.

1. Jaime Luciano Balmes (Protestantism and Catholicity, American Edition 1850)

See also, original(?) Spanish edition 1842:

2. D. Hallinen (Irish Ecclesiastical Record, April 1882)

3. Francis de Sales (Works, 1892)

4. Guglielmo Audisio (Juris naturae et gentium privati et publici fundamenta, 1852)

5. Melchior Cano (Works, 1734)(note the explicit citation to Cochlaeus)

Same thing in the 1727 edition of his works:

6. Robert Bellarmine (Works, 1856)

7. François Marie De Brouwer (Tractatus de Ecclesia Christi, in quo etiam de Romano Pontifice, 1881)

8. Leonhard Rieff (Primae Lineae historico-theologicae, Volume 1, 1824)

9. Giuseppe Brunati (De nomine, auctore, emendatoribus et authentia Vulgatæ dissertatio, 1827)


See also Brunati in L'amico d'Italia, Volume 9 (1826)


10. Treatise in Ex Theologia Polemica Positiones Selectae: "DE VERA CHRISTI ECCLESIA CATHOLICO ROMANA" (1837)

11. Fulcran Vigouroux & Louis Bacuez (Manuel biblique: ou, cours d'écriture sainte a l'usage des séminaires, Volume 1, 1884)

12.Damian Czerny (Institutiones Hermeneuticae Novi Testamenti, 1780)


13. Franz Leopold Bruno Liebermann (Institutiones theologicae, Book 2, 1831)(notice that Liebermann specifically cites to Bellarmine)

14. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (Philosophische Schriften, Volume 4, Part 1, p. 2288)(apparently quoting from Bellarmine)
(link)
15. John Chrysostom of St. Joseph (Dissertatio: De Canone Sacrorum Librorum Constituto A Sanctis Patribus In Magno Nicaeno Concilio, Volume 1, 1742)

16. Joannes Ranolder (Hermeneuticae biblicae generalis principia rationalia, christiana et catholica selectis exemplis illustrata, 1859)

17. Giuseppe Zama Mellini (Institutiones Biblicæ; sive Dissertationes isagogicæ in sacram Scripturam, 1841)(notice that he refers to Bellarmine here, though he doesn't explicitly say that he found the alleged Luther statement from him)

18.Ubaldo Ubaldi (Introductio in sacram scripturam, Volume 3, 1884)

19. José de San Pedro de Alcántara Castro (Apología de la Theología Escholástica, 1796)


20.Seweryn Lubomlcyzk (Monotessaron Evangelicum, Seu Catena Aurea, Volume 1, 1607)

21. Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz (Theologiae moralis fundamentalis, 1676)

22. Christiani Kortholti (De variis scripturae sacrae editionibus tractatus theologico-philologicus, 1668) (quoting Bellarmine, to respond to Bellarmine)

23. Marin Humbelot (Sacrorum bibliorum notio generalis, 1700)

24. Leonhard Rieff (Primae Lineae historico-theologicae: Volume 1, 1824)

25. Stephan Wiest (Institutiones Theologicae: Demonstratio Religion. Catholicae, 1786)


26. Wolfgang Wilhelm (Muri civitatis sanctae, hoc est religionis catholicae fundamenta XII, 1615)

27.Pedro López Sánchez (Elementos de derecho internacional público: 1866)


28. Aleksander Tyszyński (Rozbiory i krytyki: Volume 1, 1854)


29. Buszczynski (Décadence de l'Europe, 1867)

30. Philippus Nerius Chrismann (Regula fidei catholicæ, 1792)(notice that he specifically cites Cochlaeus)

31. Benedikt Stattler (De locis theologicis, 1775)(notice the explicit citation to Cochlaeus)

32. Tobias Mollik (Dissertationes Dogmaticae, Volume 2, 1786)

33. Christoph Besold (Axiomata philosophiae christianae, Volume 2, 1626)(cites to Bellarmine)

34. William Whitaker (Disputatio de sacra scriptura contra huius temporis Papistas, 1588)(Notice that Whitaker is responding to Bellarmine, and that Whitaker is saying that Cochlaeus is the source)


That's a good place to end the list. There are a number of morals to the story. (1) Listen to and read William Whitaker. (2) Don't fall into the trap of counting the noses of scholars. The fact that the quotation is attributed to Luther by dozens of scholars in a half dozen countries doesn't mean it really was something written by Luther. (3) Always try to locate the primary source for your material, and if you do not, identify your secondary source.

-TurretinFan

---

UPDATE:
1. Matthaeus Praetorius (Tuba pacis, 1685)

And in the index:

2. Tommaso Bozio (De signis ecclesiae Dei, 1626)

3. Antonius Sanderus (Vindiciarum sive Dissertationum biblicarum libri tres, 1650)


Mr. Paul Hoffer, in the comment box, also states that "Von Hoeninghaus" provides this quotation.

Final Piece in Cochlaeus' Misquotation of Luther Puzzle

A few years ago, James Swan and I provided some documentation that a footnote provided by Steve Ray (link to discussion of "When Footnotes Attack")(additional response) was actually a false quotation, an invention of "that slanderer Cochlaeus," as Whitaker expressed it in the 16th century (link to discussion of the transmission of the spurious statement).

Cochlaeus was paraphrasing (badly) one of Luther's writings on the words "This is my body." We showed that the German does not support Cochlaeus' mistranslation.

Nevertheless, some of Steve Ray's supporters seemed to hold out hope that that Matthew Judex "official" Lutheran Latin translation of the work from 1556 might support Cochlaeus. It does not. The relevant portion in Matthew Judex' translation is this:

Si haec mundi machina per aliquot annos duraverit, iterum more patrum ad tollendas dissensiones humana quaerentur praesidia, constituemur qui; leges et decreta ad conciliandam et servandam in religione concordiam, quod quidem similem priori sortietur eventum.

Image:
That is a far cry from Cochlaeus' paraphrase:

Si diutius steterit mundus, iterum erit necessarium, ut propter diversas scripturae interptationes, quae nunc sunt, ad conservandum fidei unitatem, Conciliorum Decreta recipiamus, atquae ad ea confugiamus.

Image:
Hopefully this last piece of the jigsaw puzzle lays the matter to rest, once and for all. It is not the case that Cochlaeus simply adopted the Matthew Judex translation.

- TurretinFan

P.S. Perhaps Mr. Armstrong will now complete his post since the work is available (via Google Books), and provide a retraction/apology to Mr. Swan.

Cochlaeus Work On-Line

Further to my last post about the BSB digitization project, one may recall an informal debate that I conducted with Dave Armstrong last January on the issue of a spurious quotation attributed to Luther. The full work of that slanderer Cochlaeus, from which the quotation originated, has been digitized and is available freely on-line, though one will have to navigate some German menus to download it (link).

-TurretinFan

Cochlaeus in the Original Latin

This post has a high chance of getting bumped off the main page within a short amount of time.

in De Autoritate Generalium Conciliorum, (Chapter XI of De Autor. Scrip. &c.), Cochlaeus scribit:

Quinimo & contra tuoy amicos Zuingliu & Oecolampadiu scribes, pro substantia et veritate corpis & sanguninis Chri in Eucharistie sacremeto, sic ait. Si diutius steterit mud9, iteru erit necessariu, ut ppter diversas scripture interptationes, q nunc sunt, ad coservandum fidei unitatem, Concilioru Decreta recipiamus, atq ad ea confugiamus.

See image version, below:

Image provided via scan from Dave Armstrong.

Loose translation, below. I realize Dave has posted a translation on his web site. I'll compare it later and update as may be needed:

Instead, and against your friends, Zwingli and Oecolampadius, he wrote, for the substance and true body and blood of Christ in the Eucharistic sacrament, this he said: "If the world lasts long, it will again be necessary, then, because of the diverse Scriptural interpretations which now are, in order to conserve the unity of the faith, we will receive the decrees of Councils and then flee to them."