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Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) was the most significant German reformer after Martin Luther. Melanchthon was born in Bretten, Palatinate, as the son of the armorer George Schwarzerdt. After attending the distinguished Pforzheim Latin School, he matriculated in Heidelberg in 1509 at the early age of 12. (That year also his surname was changed from Schwarzerdt to the Greek equivalent, Melanchthon [black earth].) He received his bachelor of arts in 1511 and from 1512 studied in Tübingen, where he …

Born July 10, 1509, at Noyon in northern France, John Calvin became one of the most influential of the second generation of Reformers. His work was of significance throughout Europe and beyond. His theological development, confessional importance, ecclesiastical consolidation, and international training of reformers were lasting impulses throughout his life and for ages to come. The son of a notary in the bishop’s secretarial service who was excommunicated for financial conflicts with the church in 1528, Calvin was at first destined for a career in …

1. Begriff und BegriffsgeschichteIn seiner umgangssprachlichen Verwendung – auch im angloamerikan. Sprachraum ( confessionalism) – häufig etwa gleichbedeutend mit Konfessionalisierung verwendet (»Zeitalter des K.« für Konfessionelles Zeitalter oder Epoche der Konfessionalisierung), ist der Begriff K. zumeist negativ konnotiert; er dient der Bezeichnung von Verhaltensweisen und Haltungen, die in einem als ungebührlich, unzeitgemäß oder ökumenisch inakzeptabel empfundenen Maße konfessionelle Standpunkte mit dem Ansp…

1. Concept and state of research 1.1. Basics, epistemological interests, and boundariesThe term  confessionalization denotes a concept used for interpreting the history of the state, politics, and society (Society [community]) at the beginning of the early modern period. Building on the works of the historians Wolfgang Reinhard [30]; [31] and especially Heinz Schilling [36]; [37], since the 1980s it has been developed into a leading interpretive model for the investigation of European history. The traditional  epochal structure (Epoch) of an e…

1. Definition and historyThe term  confessionalism is commonly treated as roughly synonymous with confessionalization (“Age of Confessionalism” for the Confessional Age or the Era of Confessionalization), usually with negative connotations; it serves to denote modes of behavior and attitudes that champion confessional positions, claiming their contemporary validity to a degree felt to be improper, anachronistic, or ecumenically unacceptable. The German term  Konfessionalismus was first used around 1830 as a pejorative battle cry of liberal theologians …

Modern research has rightly come to see in Martin Bucer (1491–1551) one of the main leaders of the Reformation. Educated at the famous Schlettstadt grammar school, he became the reformer of the imperial city of Strasbourg. Having first made an intensive, Thomistically oriented study of Scholastic theology, he then came under the lasting influence of the humanism of D. Erasmus (1469?-1536). His crucial experience, however, was his encounter with M. Luther (1483–1546) at the Heidelberg Disputation…

Ulrich (Huldrych, Huldreich) Zwingli (1484–1531), a Zurich reformer, was perhaps the most important figure in German Switzerland and southwest Germany for the initial phase of the early Reformation. His theology, distinctively formed above all in the theological argument with Martin Luther and related particularly to the urban experience, represents a specific interpretation of the Reformation message and forms an essential theological-historical element of the development of the Reformed confession, which had been evolving since the late 1520s. Zwingli was born on Janua…

Little is known about the early life of the radical reformer and theologian Thomas Müntzer (ca. 1489–1525), who was born in Stolberg, Thuringia. The first reliable witness to his life is his 1506 matriculation entry at the University of Leipzig. He was definitely enrolled in the University of Frankfurt an der Oder in 1512, from which he probably graduated. After ordination in the Halberstadt Diocese, he was active as a minister in Brunswick, though he also had a sinecure in Aschersleben. He apparently studied…

1. Konzept und Forschungsstand 1.1. Grundlagen, Erkenntnisinteressen und AbgrenzungenDer Begriff der K. bezeichnet ein Interpretationskonzept der frühnzl. Staats-, Politik- und Gesellschafts-Geschichte, das, ausgehend von den Arbeiten der Historiker Wolfgang Reinhard [30]; [31] und v. a. Heinz Schilling [36]; [37], seit den 1980er Jahren zu einem maßgeblichen Deutungsmodell für die Erforschung der europ. Geschichte weiterentwickelt worden ist. Das traditionelle Epochen-Gefüge einer an die vornehmlich modernisierungstheoretisch gedeutete Reformation anschließ…

[German Version] (Dec 25, 1636, Sulzburg – May 5, 1716, Rostock) gained his most important and long-lasting theological experiences from 1655 on in Straßburg (J.K. Dannhauer). He studied in Tübingen, Heidelberg, Jena, Wittenberg and Leipzig, and received the Lic.theol. in Gießen in 1666. In the same year, he became pastor in his home town (Langendenzlingen) and, in 1668, professor of Hebrew and metaphysics at the Gymnasium in Durlach; in 1669, he became court preacher, and in 1688, superintendent in Durlach. He fled to Calw as a con…

[German Version] The terministic controversy in Lutheran Protestantism was sparked by a common practice based on CA 12 (Augsburg Confession): at death’s door, after confession and communion (Eucharist) eternal bliss (Blessedness) was promised regardless of whether the person dying had lived a recognizably Christian life. In response Pietist theologians –especially P.J. Spener, appealing to J.K. Dannhauer – cited Heb 3:7–11 in support of the view that God has determined a set period of grace for repentance ¶ ( tempus peremtorius gratiae); at its end, the sinner is cut off fr…

[German Version] (Etienne de Courcelle; May 2, 1586, Geneva – May 20, 1659, Amsterdam) was, alongside S. Episcopius, J. Clericus and P. van Limborch, one of the most important representatives of 17th century Arminian theology (Arminians). He studied in Zürich, Basel, Heidelberg, and was pastor in Fontainebleau, Amiens and Vitry from 1614; he moved to Amsterdam, where he was professor of theology in the Arminian Seminary after 1643. His position, following J. Acon…

[German Version] (Jan 15, 1633, Burg on Fehmarn Island – Apr 1, 1694, Kiel) studied theology in Rostock, Jena, Leipzig, and Wittenberg, was awarded a Dr.theol. and appointed professor of Greek in Rostock (1665), then professor of theology in Kiel (1665; pro-chancellor in 1666). Kortholt is regarded as the pioneer of Pietism in Schleswig-Holstein. Strongly influenced by the devotional theology of J. Arndt, J. Lütkemann, and H. Müller, he supported P. Spener's Pia desideria, initially in his writings, though without embracing its specific innovations (conventicles, hop…

[German Version] August Friedrich Immanuel (Aug 19, 1885, Heldrungen/Thüringen – Nov 21, 1954, Erlangen), one of the most prominent and controversial theologians of the 20th century, studied theology, history and philosophy from 1906 to 1910 in Breslau, Erlangen, and Leipzig. After service in World War I as a field chaplain, Elert became director of the Theological Seminary of th…

[German Version] The term nadere reformatie denotes a movement in the Netherlands Reformed tradition (Reformed churches), under personal (W. Ames) or literary Puritan influence, tending toward a “second Reformation,” “reaching further” and “more closely” into believers' personal way of life. Its aim was to deepen and take further the renewal of doctrine achieved in the “first Reformation,” in the direction of ethically binding devotional practice of ascetic stamp. The term nadere reformatie occurs in reform proposals of the Utrecht Consistory of 1665, influenced by…

[German Version] I. Introduction Already referred to as the “Thirty Years War” by contemporary witnesses, the military conflicts subsumed under this name were waged between 1618 and 1648 in Central Europe and especially on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. They represent a historically new phenomenon on the threshold to European modern times, notably in terms of the length and geographical scope of the military engagements, of the magnitude of material expenditures, of technological and strate…

[German Version] 1. Theodorus à (Dirk Gerrits; 1608, Enkhuizen– Feb 14, 1669, Makkum), the mystic Reformed theologian involved in the “Nadere Reformatie,” who was more interested in contemplation than in pressing for church reform and was active as a parish pastor in the north of the Netherlands. In his writings Brakel developed a path for the ascension of the soul to complete communion with Christ based on his own mystical experience. Bibliography A. Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, I, 1880 (repr. 1966), 268–276 W. Goeters, Die Vorbereitung des Pietismus …

[German Version] (Jun 16, 1877, Leipzig – Jan 25, 1961, Jena). Heussi studied theology, history and philosophy in Leipzig, Berlin and Marburg and received the Dr.phil. (Leipzig) in 1903, the Lic.theol. (Heidelberg) in 1911, and the Dr.theol. h.c. (Gießen) in 1919. Between 1904 and 1924 Heussi worked as headmaster and then professor at the Gymnasium in Leipzig; after 1924, he taught in Jena as professor of church history. Published in many revised editions since 1907, his Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte [Compendium of church history] (181991) which was originally conceived for…

[English Version] 1.  Johann , (d. Ä.; 18.8.1587 Rostock – 2.5.1648 Doberan), Sohn eines Rostocker Weißgerbers und Begründer einer bis in die 2. Hälfte des 18.Jh. einflußreichen mecklenburgischen Gelehrtendynastie, studierte nach Schulbesuchen in Rostock (Nathan Chytraeus; P. Tarnow) und Berlin seit 1603 zunächst in Frankfurt/O., seit 1604 in Rostock (M.A. 1613). 1615 übernahm er eine der rätlichen Theologieprofessuren an der Universität Rostock, seit 1616 war er zusätzlich Archidiakon an der Marien…

[English Version] I. Entstehung Als W.F. bez. man die Vertragsdokumente, die den Dreißigjährigen Krieg am 24.10.1648 beendeten und eine pax universalis unter den christl. Staaten Europas aufzurichten beanspruchten. Der W.F. umfaßt zwei Einzelverträge: Das zw. dem Kaiser, Schweden und den dt. Reichsständen in Osnabrück ausgehandelte Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugense (IPO) und das zw. dem Reichsoberhaupt und Frankreich in Münster abgeschlossene Instrumentum Pacis Monasteriense (IPM), beides Ergebnisse …