Among Lutheran Orthodox conceptions of faith there is a common denominator in describing its principal parts as notitia, assensus, and fiducia. However, even if there is a common terminology, considerable variation can be found in how they understood the relations between the elements themselves and the emphasis placed upon them in relation to faith as ‘justifying faith’. In this paper I intend to present one interpretation of faith as understood by Jesper Rasmussen Brochmand (1585-1652). Brochmand served as both professor of theology and bishop of Zealand and had through those two positions an immense influence on the history of theology in Denmark. Yet there are surprisingly few studies of his theology, which is often described as ‘mainstream Lutheran Orthodoxy’.
In the current state of research on the Lutheran Orthodoxy there is a repeated effort to emphasize the connection - not the contrast - between doctrine and praxis of piety in the Lutheran Orthodoxy. My paper proposal builds upon this body of scholarship by integrating academic-dogmatic and pastoral-devotional sources in an exploration of Brochmand's conception of faith. The paper will contain two major sections.
The first will be a study of the definitions and distinctions faith with special attention to the notion of fiducia and the object of faith in Brochmand's major systematic work, Universæ Theologiæ Systema (1633), which served as curriculum at the faculty of theology at the university in Copenhagen for more than a century. The second section will compare these insights to the sermons in Brochmand's postil, Sabbati Sanctificatio (1635-8). Commonly know as ‘House-Postil’ it was the most important piece of devotional literature in Denmark and Norway and shaped the praxis of piety for generations.