Published in 1581, theHarmonia confessionum fidei (Harmony of Confessions of Faith) was an early attempt at Protestant comparative dogmatics or symbolics.
It grew out of a desire for one common Creed, which was modified into the idea of a selected harmony. In this shape it was proposed by the Protestants ofZurich andGeneva.Jean-François Salvart, minister of the Church ofCastres, is now recognized as the chief editor of the work with some assistance fromTheodore Beza,Lambert Daneau,Antoine de la Roche Chandieu, andSimon Goulart. It was intended as a defense of Protestant, and particularly Reformed, doctrine against the attacks ofRoman Catholics andLutherans. It does not give the confessions in full, but extracts from them on the chief articles of faith, which are classified under nineteen sections. It anticipatesGeorg Benedikt Winer's method, but for harmonistic purposes.
Besides the principalReformed Confessions (i.e., the Tetrapolitan, Basel, Helvetic,French,Scots andBelgic Confessions), three Lutheran Confessions are also used, viz., theAugsburg Confession, theSaxon Confession (Confessio Saxonica), and theWürttemberg Confession, as well as theConfession of the Unity of the Brethren (1573) andAnglican Confession (1562). The work appeared almost simultaneously with the LutheranFormula of Concord, and may be called a Reformed Formula of Concord, though differing from the former in being a mere compilation from previous symbols.