This week in Christian history: Nashville Statement, Polish ecumenical gathering, Gregory the Great

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, August 28, 2022

Colloquium Charitativum opens – Aug. 28, 1645

King Wladislaw IV (1595-1648), a proponent of religious tolerance in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when leaders from different Christian denominations in Poland were brought together for a gathering known as the Colloquium charitativum.

Held in the city of Thorn and called by King Wladislaw IV, the colloquium featured dozens of theologians representing Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism and the Moravians.

The effort to unify the different theological camps wasn't particularly successful, however, as much of the proceedings involved divisive arguments and nitpicks over procedure.

“Thorn has been described as the most important effort to attain religious unity during the Thirty Years’ War. However, its speeches often turned into attacks and recriminations and all the parties left more entrenched in their differences than when they came together,” noted the Christian History Institute.

“The results might have been better if, instead of trying to unify entire systems, the representatives had worked on isolated theological topics. Or perhaps the king could have issued an order for them to work out a method of coexistence apart from any agreement on doctrine.”