Holy Roman Emperor Charles V convokes the…

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V convokes the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 as part of his effort to bring religious peace to Europe.

He fails in this attempt, however, because he underestimates the fervor with which the followers of Martin Luther have already formulated a distinctive position, which they issue here as The Augsburg Confession.

One of its authors, German theologian Philipp Melanchthon, has designed it to be relatively open to the Roman Catholic church on the right and to other reformed but non-Lutheran parties on the left.

Although it affirms inherited classic Christian doctrines, its particular stress on grace, as Luther has interpreted it in the writings of St. Paul, and its rejection of any righteousness based on human works and merits renders it unacceptable to many other Western Christians.