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[German Version] 1. Menso (Nov 9, 1541, Eelde an der Drenthe near Groningen – Oct 7, 1612, Emden) studied in Cologne and, after converting to the Reformed Church in 1565, theology in Heidelberg. Active primarily as a preacher in the Netherlands and, from 1567 on, in the Rhineland, his chief activity from 1575 onward lay in Emden as preacher and Praeses of the Coetus of …

[German Version] (Feb 11, 1556, Utrecht – Sep 4, 1644, The Hague), leader of the Dutch Remonstrants (Remonstration). Together with J. Arminius, he studied with T. Beza in Geneva from 1580 to 1584. In 1584 he was appointed pastor in Utrecht and in 1591 in The Hague, where he served as theological adviser to J. van Oldenbarnevelt and (after 1601) as court and military…

[German Version] (1529/1530, Doornik [Tournai] – Jul 15, 1602, Amsterdam), Reformed theologian. After studying with Calvin and T. Beza in Geneva from 1558 to 1560, he served churches in Aachen, Metz, Antwerp, Heidelberg, and (at the end of his life) in Amsterdam. In 1571 he played a leading role at the Dutch synod in Emden; from 1574 to 1583 he served as court chaplain to William of Orange. With his emphasis on the inward experience of grace and his ¶ description of the Christian life as penance, Taffin was one of the pioneers of the Nadere Reformatie. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works include: Des marques des enfans de Dieu et des consolations en leurs afflictions. Aux fideles du païs bas, 1586 Traicté de l’amendement de vie, 1594 On Taffin: C. Boer, Hofpredikers van Prins Willem van Oranje, Jean Taffin en Pi…

[German Version] (1653, Dolberg/Mark – Jul 12, 1718, Amsterdam), Reformed theologian. Following study in Utrecht under F. Burman (1), in Groningen under J. Alting, and in Zürich under J.H. Heidegger, Roëll became court preacher in Herford in 1679, and pastor in Leeuwarden in 1680, and in Deventer in 1682. From 1686 he taught philosophy and theology at Franeker University, and from 1704 theology in Utrecht. He was a moderate Cocceian Cartesian (J. Cocceius, R. Descartes), whose theology was based on the concept of conscientia as an innate idea that makes possible God-given knowledge of revelation. The term “Roëllism” became a synonym of Rationalism, even though Roëll himself did not exert great influence. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works include: Oratio inauguralis de religio…

[German Version] (Aug 4/5, 1540 Agen, Département Lot-et-Garonne – Jan 21, 1609, Leiden). After initial instruction at home by his father, Scaliger studied in Paris, where he joined the Huguenots in 1562. From 1572 to 1574 he taught at the academy in Geneva (II), afterwards working as an independent scholar. In 1593 he was appointed to the chair of an…

[German Version] (Aug 9, 1599, Oisemont, Picardy – May 18, 1673, Groningen). After studying in Paris, Saumur, and Geneva, Maresius became a pastor in Laon in 1620 and in Falaise in 1624. Appointed professor at Sedan in 1625, he went to Maastricht as a Walloon pastor in 1631; in 1636 to went on to 's-Hertogenbosch and finally was appointed professor in Groningen in 1643, where he also became a pastor in 1652. His works are mostly in the area of controversial theology. Until 1636 his primary target was Rome; later he defended the orthodox teaching of the Synod of Dort against Arminians, Socinians, M. Amyraut's doctrine of grace, and finally the chiliasm and separatism of J. de Labadie. Against G. Voetius, he championed infralapsarianism but then argued against the Cartesians (Cartesianism) and the Cocceians (J. …

[German Version] (Feb 4, 1563, Goldberg, Silesia [Złotoryja, Poland] – Aug 1, 1633, Paris), Reformed theologian. After studying in Germany, Tilenus was appointed professor of theology at the Academy of Sedan. In his dispute with P. Du Moulin over the interpretation of the unio hypostatica, he accused Du Moulin of advocating ubiquity. During preparations for the Synod of Dort, Tilenus defended the position of the Remonstrant…

[German Version] (Gentilis; c. 1520 Cosenza, Calabria – Sep 10, 1566, Bern), a humanist, joined the Italian refugee community in Geneva after his flight from Italy in 1557. Under the influence of M. Gribaldi, he ¶ criticized the church's doctrine of the Trinity and, thus, came into conflict with the Genevan authorities. His rejection of the scholastic concept of substance and his intensive involvement with the church fathers led him to a subordinationist understanding of the Trinity. The Father alone is the source of deity and the first mover in the Aristotelian sense. He entrusted the Son with the mediation of creation (Creation, Christ as agent of), while the Spirit is the vital force in all things. Af…

[German Version] (1541 – Oct 15, 1608, Geneva), son of a Paris conseiller du Parlement, Perrot probably studied law at Bourges; in 1564 he studied theology at Geneva. He served as pastor in Moens (Ain) and Genthod until 1567, when he moved to Geneva. From 1570 to 1572 and from 1588 to 1592, he was rector of the Geneva Academy and frequently substituted for T. Beza as teacher of theology; in 1598 he was appointed professor of theology. Irenically inclined, his demand for toleration and especially for abolishing the mandatory signing of the Formula confessionis fidei by the students drew cr…

[German Version] (c. 1520, Seville [?] – Mar 15, 1594, Frankfurt am Main). On account of his Protestant views, in 1557 he fled from Spain to the Netherlands, England, and finally Frankfurt am Main. From 1559 to 1563 he served as pastor to the Spanish Protestant community in London and from 1578 t…

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[German Version] In the southern French principality of Orange, which by inheritance had come to belong to the house of Nassau-Orange, the Reformation had taken an early hold. Orange, however, lost its sovereignty in the War of the Spanish Succession, and in 1703 Louis XIV issued a decree banning the Reformed church there. Those exiled for their faith, called Orangeois, mostly settled …

[German Version] The Rijksuniversiteit Groningen was established by the provinces on Nov 26, 1612 as the third university in the northern Netherlands following Leiden (1575) and Franeker (1585) and was opened on Aug 23, 1614 in a former monastery. It included chairs for theology, law, medicine, philosophy, history and mathematics. The first rector was the Calvinist East-Frisian historian, Ubo Emmius (1547– 1625). Through many foreign studen…

[German Version] Wishing that the formation of pastors and jurists should not be left to the Catholic University of Leuven, William of Orange founded the first university of the northern Netherlands in Leiden in 1575. In addition to the theological and juridical fields of study, departments of philosophy and literature as well as medicine were also planned. From the very beginning, the university was characterized by a strong orientation to Humanism (III) and Calvinism. The Humanist philologists J…

[German Version] (1541, Paris – Nov 16, 1603, Paris). After studying law, Charron became an advocate in Paris in 1571; soon, however, he entered the clergy and became a successful preacher in southern France, in part as court preacher to Queen Marguerite of Angoulême, and was a canon at Bordeaux. His …

[German Version] A year after the annexation of Vaud in 1536, the Bernese council established an academy in Lausanne, whose primary purpose was the training of Reformed clergy for the…

[German Version] 1. Friedrich, the Elder ( Jan 1, 1600, Amberg – May 14, 1649, Leiden), Reformed theologian. He was appointed professor of theology in Geneva in 1626 and professor of theology in 1631; from 1633 to 1637 he served as rector of the university. He was appointed profe…

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[German Version] (Jan 29, 1718, Bédarieux, Département Hérault – Sep 25, 1794, Nîmes). At an early age, he joined with Jean Bétrine (1718–1756) and for four years shared with him the dangerous life of an itinerant preacher of the “church in the desert.” In 1738 he was formally admitted as a preacher in Nîmes; in 1740/1741 he studied with A. Court for six months at the theological seminary in Lausanne. During the following 40 years of his ministry as a pastor of the persecuted Reformed Church in Fr…

[German Version] (du Jon; May 1, 1545, Bourges – Oct 13, 1602, Leiden). After studying law in Bourges and theology in Geneva with T. Beza, Junius became the French preacher in Antwerp in 1565 and in the Electoral Palatinate in 1567. There, from 1573 onward, he collaborated with I. Tremellius on a Latin translation of the Old Testament. In 1576, he became professor of theology in Neustadt an der Haardt, in ¶ 1584 in Heidelberg and in 1592 in Leiden. With his Eirenicum de pace ecclesiae catholicae (first in Fr., 1593), written for Henry IV of F…

[German Version] (1688, Paris – Feb 2, 1753, Ampleben, near Wolfenbüttel). Influenced by the writings of the quietist mystic A. Bourignon, Marsay, of a noble Huguenot family, left military service in 1711 to retire from the world and lead a contemplative life with the colony of exiles on the property of the countess of Wittgenstein at Schwarzenau, near Berleburg. After 1712 Marsay, in a spiritual marriage with Clara Elisabeth v. Callenberg, lived an unsettled life in various places as a spiritual …

[German Version] (c. 1555 Langwarden, Butjadingen, Lower Saxony – Jan 10, 1625, Franeker, The Netherlands). After studying at Wittenberg, Geneva, Marburg, and Neustadt an der Haardt and a brief ministry in Emden from 1582 to 1584, Lubbertus was appointed the first professor of theology at the newly founded university of Franeker. After receiving his Dr.th…

[German Version] (1633, Amersfoort – Nov 13, 1690, Amsterdam), Reformed theologian. After studying at Utrecht, Groningen, and Geneva, he became pastor of the Walloon congregation in Groningen in 1658 and Middelburg in 1662; in 1664 he was also appointed pastor and professor of church history in Utrecht and in 1670 in Amsterdam. He opposed Spinozism (B. Spinoza), but as …

[German Version] 1. Lucas the Elder (1542, Erin, near Douai – Aug 28, 1602, Leiden), Reformed theologian. After studying at Paris and stays in London, Lille, Brussels, and Antwerp, in 1585 he was appointed pastor of the French congregation in Leiden; in 1587 he was also appointed professor of theology at the University of Leiden. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works: see 2 below. On Trelcatius: A. Eekhof, De theologische faculteit te Leiden in de 17de eeuw, 1921 (Dutch) H.L. Clotz, Hochschule für Holland. Die Universität Leiden im Spannungsfeld zwischen Provinz, St…

[German Version] (Aug 17, 1811, Vleuten, near Utrecht – Apr 10, 1885, Leiden), preacher in Meerkerk in 1840, professor in Franeker in 1840, associate professor of New Testament and dogmatics in Leiden in 1843, promoted to full professor in 1845; from 1877 professor of the philosophy of religion. Influenced by the Tübingen (I) school, Scholten wrote topical studies on the history of early Christian literature, putting historical-critical insights to use for apologetic purposes. More important for t…

[German Version] (1592, Geneva – May 2, 1657, Paris), became pastor of the Reformed congregation in Paris after studying at the Huguenot Academy of Saumur and was president of the national synod at Charenton in 1631. His ability to formulate knowledgeable as well as reasonable argumentation on issues of controversial theology, which he amply demonstrated in debates and in publications, made him one of the main …

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[German Version] (Wits; Feb 12, 1636, Enkhuizen – Oct 22, 1708, Leiden), Reformed theologian. After studying at Utrecht and Groningen, he served as pastor in Westwoud, Wormer, Goes, and Leeuwarden from 1657 to 1675, then as professor of theology at Frankener (1675–1680), Utrecht (1680–1698), and Leiden (1698–1707). Influenced by G. Voetius, he developed a federal theology, more biblically oriented than that of J. Cocceius. Witsius opposed Cartesianism as well as the separatist followers of J. de Labadie; he also…

[German Version] (Henri de Valois; Sep 10, 1603, Paris – May 7, 1676, Paris), philologist. After studying law in Bourges from 1622 to 1624, he worked as a parliamentary lawyer in Paris, but from 1630 on he devoted himself to classical philology. In 1634 he published a first edition of …

[German Version] (Placeus; 1596, Saumur – 1655/ 1656, Saumur). After theological studies under J. Cameron in Saumur, Place became professor of philosophy and history in Saumur in 1621, pastor in Nantes in 1625, and professor of theology i…

[German Version] (Cloppenburg; May 13, 1592, Amsterdam – Jul 30, 1652, Franeker) studied theology in Leiden under F. Gomarus and Johannes Polyander, as well as at several foreign universities, notably in Heidelberg, Basel and Geneva. He became pastor in Heusden (1618), Amsterdam (1621) and Brielle (1629). In 1640, he was appointed professor of theology in Harderwijk and, in 1643, in Franeker. The literary oeuvre of this staunch Calvinist is dominated by disputes with Mennonites, Arminians and Socinians. His Disputationes de foedere Dei et testamento veteri et novo (1643) prepared…

[German Version] (Jan 6, 1677, Nîmes – Dec 30, 1730, The Hague), Reformed preacher and theologian. After fleeing from France in 1686 following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Huguenots: I, 1) and studying in Geneva, he became a pastor of refugee congregations in London, then after 1705 in The Hague. He gained a reputation as an outstanding preacher and used it in support of persecuted coreligionists. Moderately orthodox and totally averse to polemic,…

[German Version] (Fr. gueux, “beggar”), originally a taunt, soon the self-designation of Dutch aristocracy who opposed Spanish domination and Catholic persecutions of believers in the last third of the 16th century. The designation probably originated when one of the advisers of the Governor General, Margareta of Parma, upon being presented with a petition concerning, …

[German Version] (Molinaeus; Oct 16 or 18, 1568, Castle Buhy en Vexin – Mar 10, 1658, Sedan) studied at the Protestant academy in Sedan; became a tutor in England in 1588; was professor of Greek language and philosophy in Leiden, 1592–1598; and pastored the Reformed congregation in Charenton near Paris, 1599–1620. From 1621 until his death, he was preacher and …

[German Version] Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, took the city in 1591. In the 17th century, it was already home to a Latin school and a Calvinist academy, founded in 1655, at which noted theologians like C. Wittig and J. Braun taught. In 1679 the chaos of war forced the academy to close. Attempts to rees…

[German Version] (1579, Glasgow – Nov 27, 1625, Montauban) went to France around 1600 and was initially active as a teacher in the vicinity of Humaniora. After studying in Paris, Geneva, and Heidelberg, he became pastor in Bordeaux in 1608, professor of theology at the Protestant academy in Saumur in 1618 and in Montauban in 1624. In the disputes with the Arminians, Cameron defended the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, but modified it by emphasizing …

[German Version] I. History The Reformed League (Reformierter Bund) was founded in August 1884 at a conference in Marburg commemorating the 400th anniversary of Zwingli’s birth; as a registered association, its purpose was defin…

[German Version] I. History of Religion Instances in which a certain share of a person’s gains were ceded to the gods are known from the religions of the ancient Near East and of Classical Antiquity; on the evidence of the Old Testament (e.g. Lev 27:32f.; 1 Sam 8:15), Judaism and Christianity were also familiar with tithing (see III, IV below). Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), which only cultivates a loose relationship to biblical tradition, takes up this notion in the Book of Mormon (cf. Alma 13:14f.), …

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Legal Aspects – III. Economics – IV. Non-Christian Antiquity – V. Bible – VI. Christianity – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam …

[German Version] I. History and Theology 1. Terminology. For programmatic theological reasons, the Reformed churches rejected the exonym Calvinist churches. They referred to themselves as Reformed churches because they did not think of themselves as new churchdoms alongside the one holy church but as a part of that church, albeit as part of it renewed according to God’s Word in Holy Scripture. In speaking of themselves, therefore, they eschewed references to a theological founder or a particular place of origin. The 17th-century formula ecclesia reformata semper reformanda means that the church is the church only as it constantly returns to its spiritual source in the Word of God. The 1648 Treaty of Osnabrück, en…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Church History – V. Dogmatics and Ethics – VI. Practical Theology I. Old Testament The designation Decalogue (“ten words”) for the series of ten commandments derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew ʾaśeret haddebārîm (δεκάλογος “ten words”). It is employed in late deuteronomic theory in Deut 10:4 for the Decalogue, in Deut 5:6–21 and by the post-dtr. redaction of the Pentateuch in Deut 4:13 for the Decalogue in Exod 20:2–17, and it is applied in Exod 34:28 to a series of cultic commandments in Exod 34:12–26. The Dec…

1. Historischer Überblick 1.1. Begriff und neuzeitliche DeutungR. (von lat. reformatio, ›Wiederherstellung‹, ›Umgestaltung‹) ist seit der Mitte des 19. Jh.s spezieller Terminus für die eine Seite jener Vorgänge, durch die im 16. Jh. die westl. Christenheit in mehrere einander antagonistische Konfessionskirchen auseinandertrat; sein Antonym, welches die andere Seite bezeichnet, ist Gegen-R.Zuvor hatte der Begriff die allgemeine Bedeutung von Reform. So begegnet reformatio bzw. die zugrundeliegende verbale Form reformare in den kirchl. und polit. Reformbewegungen…

1. Historical survey 1.1. Terminology and early modern interpretationSince the mid-19th century,  Reformation (from Latin  reformatio, “restoration,” “transformation”) has been a specialized term for one side of the 16th-century events that tore Western Christendom apart into mutually antagonistic confessional churches; its antonym, denoting the other side, is  Counter-Reformation.Previously the term had carried the general meaning of “reform.” In the ecclesiastical and political reform movements of the late Middle Ages, we find both  reformatio and the verb  reform…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. The Early Church – III. Middle Ages, Reformation, Counter-reformation – IV. The Modern Period – V. Martyrs of the Orthodox Church – VI. Judaism – VII. Islam – VIII. Missiology I. History of Religion The term martyrium (Greek μαρτύριον/ martúrion) was coined in early Christianity, where it denotes a self-sacrificial death in religious conflict as a witness to faith Historical and systematic references are found in many contexts, in which comparable terms imply something slightly different. For example, the Islamic šahīd, “witness…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Peace (negatively: absence of fighting and war; positively: security, wellbeing, and harmony) is considered desirable in all traditional religions, although they also have their specific legitimations of war. In archaic religions, peace is primarily related to the community and understood as a present reality. However, from the beginning of the Christian era, religious developments produced stronger differentiations. Peace is no longer seen as a social phenomenon…