Synergism
in Church history, a type of Semipelagianism which came into prominence in Germany in the 16th century, and which had for its chief representatives Erasmus and Melanchthon. Luther taught that the Fall rendered man incapable of all good, and powerless to contribute anything to his conversion.
Synergism, on the other hand, taught that "God does not deal with man as with a block, but draws him so that his will co-operates"; and this view was adopted in the Leipsic Interim (1548).
A controversy arose on the subject, caused by the publication of a book in 1558 on the "Liberty of the Will," by Pfeffinger, a professor at Leipsic, which university together with Wittenberg represented the Synergist view. Flacius, Professor of Theology at Jena, took the strictly Lutheran view which was adopted in the Formula of Concord.