Apology of the Augsburg Confession

It was signed as a confession of faith by leading Lutheran magnates and clergy at the meeting of the Smalkaldic League in February, 1537,[1] and subsequently included in the German [1580] and Latin [1584] Book of Concord.

The major sections of the Apology are listed below, along with the article of the Augsburg Confession that Melanchthon is defending.

The first edition of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession was published in late April-early May 1531[2] in quarto format.

Melanchthon continued to revise it, especially the article on justification, and issued a second edition in September 1531, which was published in octavo format.

[4] They included English translations of variant readings of the quarto edition in italics.