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1. Konfession 1.1. Begriff und VerbreitungDer durch den Hamburger Pastor und Lutherschüler J. Westphal ursprünglich in abwertendem Sinne geprägte Begriff C. bezeichnet neben Werk und Wirkung des Genfer Reformators Johannes Calvin (1509–1564) auch die Wirkungsgeschichte der von Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) und seinen Schülern getragenen Zürcher Reformationsbewegung. »Calvinistisch« kann also Synonym zu »reformiert« sein, so z. B. im reichsrechtlichen Sprachgebrauch seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648).Einfluss gewann der C. seit dem 16./17. Jh. außer in der Schweiz v.…

Der theologische Begriff der I. (»friedliche Haltung/Praxis«, von griech. eirēnikós, »friedlich«), in der Polemik »Synkretismus« genannt, reicht bis zur Wende zum 17. Jh. zurück und bezeichnet eine auf Ausgleich und Frieden bedachte Gesinnung, die um Kooperation der christl. Konfessionen bemüht ist [3]; [4]. Mit ihrem humanistischen Hintergrund, v. a. dem auf Einheit drängenden Kirchenideal des Erasmus von Rotterdam, fand sie im 16. Jh. – zuerst meist bikonfessionell auf Calvinismus und Luthertum orientiert – Unterstützung durch den dt. Reformator Martin Bucer. Sie ver…

The theological term irenicism (“peaceful attitude/behavior,” from Greek  eirenikós, “peaceful”), called “syncretism” by its opponents, goes back to the end of the 17th century and denotes a stance oriented toward balance and peace and aimed at bringing about cooperation among the Christian denominations [3]; [4].The background for this movement was Humanist; Erasmus of Rotterdam, especially, idealized unity within the Church. In the 16th century, it received early support from the German reformer Martin Bucer, initially focused on th…

1. Theology 1.1. Terminology and geographical spreadThe term Calvinism was originally coined in a pejorative sense by J. Westphal, a Hamburg pastor and disciple of Luther. Besides the work and impact of the Geneva Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564), he extended it to include the influence of the Zürich Reformation movement led by Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) and his followers. Thus Calvinist can be used as a synonym of Reformed, for example in the legal language of the Empire after the Peace of Westphalia (1648).Outside Switzerland, Calvinism became influential during the 16t…

[German Version] 1. Polycarp, the Elder (Mar 18, 1552, Winnenden, Württemberg – Feb 22, 1610, Dresden), student of J. Andreae and J. Heerbrand (master's degree 1570). In 1573 he was appointed pastor in Gellersdorf, Austria. After receiving his doctorate from Tübingen in 1576, he was appointed general superintendent in Wittenberg, where he also served as professor of theology and a member of the consistory. The framing, defense, and introduction of the Wittenberg Concord (see Book of Concord ) were the centerpiece of his work there. In 1587 he was ap…

[German Version] (Jan 6, 1533, Döllstädt – Sep 14, 1587, Weimar) attended school in Erfurt and Gotha, studied in Wittenberg from 1549, became pastor in Großfurra in 1554, then in Dachwig in 1555. He received his M.A. in Jena in 1560 and was appointed pastor in Hersleben in 1561, but was removed from office in 1563 on the charge of being a Gnesio-Lutheran. Reinstated as pastor in Hersleben in 1568, he received his Dr. theol. in Jena in 1571, became general superintendent and court chaplain in Wolfe…

[German Version] (Sep 28, 1617, Bres­lau [now Wrocław] – Feb 19, 1689, Altenburg, Thuringia). After the death of his parents in 1623, Saggitarius was brought up in Jena. After attending school in Brunswick (to 1628) and university in Jena (to 1641), in 1641 he was appointed deputy school director in Hof. In 1643 he received his M.A. and became school director in Jena. In 1646 he was appointed professor of history and literature at Jena and in 1650 dean of the philosophical faculty. In 1651 he bega…

[German Version] (Mar 5, 1539, Plauen, Vogtland – Feb 24, 1604, Bremen). After attending school in Plauen, Pezel studied in Jena (1555), Leipzig (1563), and Wittenberg (1564), then returned to teach in Plauen. In 1565 he received a fellowship from Electoral Saxony and in 1567 was appointed professor of philosophy at Wittenberg. In 1569 he was made court preacher, and in 1570 he received his doctorate. As a disciple of Melanchthon, Pezel was one of the leading Wittenberg Philippists. In 1574 he was…

[German Version] (Dec 8, 1576, Döbeln – Jul 13, 1643, Weimar) studied in Leipzig, 1597; became pastor in Eisleben in 1598, was awarded an M.A. in 1600, and was appointed court preacher (1613) and general superintendent (1627) in Weimar. In his capacity as inspector of schools, Kromayer introduced a school system based on the didactic methods of the educational reformer W. Ratke and published schoolbooks (esp. Deutsche Grammatica, 1618). In contrast to the reforms aspired to by Ernest the Pious in Gotha (from 1640), Kromayer did not pursue the objective of effec…

[German Version] (Jan 20, 1518, Joachimsthal [Jáchymov] – Sep 11, 1598, Celle). Christoph Fischer (or Vischer) began his studies at Wittenberg in 1537, and received his baccalaureate in 1540 and his M.A. in 1543. In 1544, he was appointed preacher and provost in Jüterbog. Forced to flee in 1547, he became pastor in Benesov, Bohemia. In October 1552, he was called to Schmalkalden as pastor of the collegiate church and superintendent. In 1555, he was appointed general ¶ superintendent, in November 1571 superintendent in Meiningen, in 1574 adjunct to the general superintende…

[German Version] (Sep 24, 1665, Mühlhausen, Thuringia – Oct 10, 1727, Gotha) began his studies at Jena in 1683, receiving his M.A. in 1685; in 1689 he received calls to both Mühlhausen and Halle. He served as deputy rector in Halle, where he began teaching in 1693. From 1694 to 1727 he served as rector of the Gymnasium in Gotha. His call to Gotha may have involved strategic considerations. There Vockerodt, a highly cultivated educator, played a key role in the early history of the Pietist movement…

[German Version] This movement, whose adherents were already called Gnesio-Lutherans during its heyday, originated as a consequence of the Interim of 1548 because of differences in political ethics among the Wittenberg theologians (Resistance, Right of). Its proponents (including N. v. Amsdorf, M.Flacius, N.Gallus, and J.Westphal), among them also laypersons, some students of P.Melanchthon, appealed in support of their positions in anthropology (doctrine of original sin), eucharistic theology, ecc…

[German Version] (Jun 25, 1667, Anklam – Nov 19, 1729, Gotha) studied in Wittenberg from 1685 to 1689, took his master's degree there in 1687, became adjunct to the philosophical faculty, and began teaching in Jena in 1689. After teaching for one year at the Gymnasium in Coburg, he became professor of moral philosophy in 1693, professor of theology at Halle in …

[German Version] (May 3, 1711, Ernsbach, Odenwald – May 10, 1772, Langenburg, Württemberg). After being tutored and attending the Gymnasium in Öhringen, he studied at Jena from 1729 to 1732, where also engaged in his earliest researches into church history. In 1732 he served as a locum tenens in Kupferzell and from 1732 to 1746 as deacon and consistorial councilor in Wilhermsdorf. In 1739 he received his M.A. from Erlangen. In 1746 he was appointed deputy rector and clerical adjunct in Öhringen, and in 1749 court chaplain and consistorial co…

[German Version] (Jan 6, 1525, Bautzen – Sep 25, 1602, Dessau). From 1540 to 1548, Peucer studied in Wittenberg and Frankfurt an der Oder; he gained his M.A. in Wittenberg in 1545. From 1548 he taught mathematics, and in 1554 became professor of mathematics. He lived in the house of the Wittenberg scholar, Melanchthon, from 1540, and was his son-in-law from 1550; he was a close and trusted friend. He edited and continued Melanchthon’s Chronicon Carionis, and a collection of his works and letters. In 1560 he became a doctor of medicine, and in 1566 was raised to the imp…

[German Version] (Mar 16, 1621, Bad Langensalza – Jul 8, 1681, Weimar). After 1624 Neumark grew up in Mühlhausen, Thuringia, where he attended the Gymnasium. ¶ He also studied at the Gymnasiums of Schleusingen (1632) and Gotha (1641), and possibly the Latin school in Osterode am Harz (from 1636). Several years of travel included stays in Magdeburg, Lüneburg, Hamburg (1641/1642), and Kiel (1642/1644). In 1648/1649 he studied in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad). Years spent in Thorn (today Torun; 1649/1651), Danzig (today Gd…

[German Version] (May 13, 1515, Fiemar, near Gotha – Feb 11, 1562, Jena). After attending school in Gotha, Stigel went to Wittenberg in 1531 to study law, philology, astronomy, medicine, and physics. He received his master’s degree on Apr 20, 1542; on Aug 27, 1543, he was appointed to a professorship in the faculty of arts. In 1548 he was called to Jena to build up the Hohe Schule in cooperation with V. Strigel and was offered a chair. His contacts indicate that he was associated with the circle o…

[German Version] (Nov 11, 1647, Nürnberg – Oct 19, 1695, Weimar) began studying philosophy and (Near Eastern) philology at Altdorf in 1664 followed by Jena in 1669. He received his Dr. theol. in 1674 and was appointed professor in 1675. In 1694 he received an appointment at Halle. In 1695 he sat on the consistory and the church council, and was chief court pre…

[German Version] (Mar 21, 1684, Freienwalde – Dec 12, 1744, Driesen, Neumark [now Drezdenko, Poland]). After attending school in Berlin, began studying at Halle in 1703. From Halle he brought the spirit of Pietism to his future work as an instructor in Berlin (1705), pastor in Nennhausen, Kreis Rathenow (1709), and senior pastor and garrison chaplain in Driesen (1737). In collaboration with others, he produced a Synopsis bibliothecae in Novum Testamentum (1733–1737), an exegetical and homiletical reference work with many tables, which continued in print into the l…

[German Version] (Dec 18, 1736, Ummerstadt bei Hildburghausen, Thuringia – Mar 14, 1815, Leipzig). After attending school in Nuremberg since 1751, Rosenmüller began his university studies in 1757 in Altdorf. After a time as a tutor, he was appointed pastor in Hildburghausen in 1767 and in Heßberg in 1768. In 1772 he was appointed deacon and adjunct superintendent in Königsberg, Franconia. In 1775 he was appointed to a chair at Erlangen, and in 1783 he was appointed professor, superintendent, and c…

[German Version] (1525, Gardelegen, Altmark – c. 1587) received his bachelor's degree from Wittenberg in 1546, then served as rector in Schöningen until 1547, when he was appointed pastor in Dannenberg. Having served from 1549 to 1551 in Salzwedel, he resigned voluntarily. He served as deacon in Hamburg (Sankt Petri) from 1552 to 1558; after being removed, he served as pastor in Oßmannstedt (Thuringia), where he was removed in 1562. In 1563 he resided in Eisleben. In 1564 he was appointed pastor i…

[German Version] The Zillertal Emigrants were the last population group in modern European history to be banished for religious reasons. The Zillertal, which had been part of Tyrol since 1816, had been spared the expulsion of the Salzburg Emigrants in 1731/1732, but in 1826 there was open resistance to the Roman Catholic Church on the part of lay Christians. When attempts at conversion failed, the 1836 election of a new archbishop of Salzburg led – under legally dubious circumstances – to the use …

[German Version] (Jan 26, 1567, Schloss Schwertberg – Nov 18, 1626, Geneva). After studies in Altdorf and an educational tour of western Europe, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Upper Austrian estates, including stays in Graz and Prague. On the basis of a highly charged theory of a federation of the estates based on Calvinistic theology and hostility to the monarchy ( Consultationes, 1624), he included the Bohemian confederation (president of the Bohemian war council 1619/1620) in his planned federation, which also included the Protestant Union (16…

[German Version] (Unglerus; 1526, Hermannstadt [Sibiu] – Nov 21, 1600, Birthälm, Transylvania [Biertan, Romania]). After studying in Wittenberg, he received his M.A. in 1550 and was appointed lecturer at the Hermannstadt Gymnasium. In 1561 he was a member of a delegation sent to several German universities to confirm the orthodox eucharistic doctrine of the Transylvanian Lutherans. In 1565 he was appointed pastor in Kelling (Calnic), in 1567 in Berthälm. On May 6, 1572, Ungleich received the most …

[German Version] The umbrella term,“Antinomian Controversies,” encompasses disputes with a variety of motivations within Wittenbergian theology between 1527 and roughly 1567. They involved the denial of the importance of the law of God for a person's path to salvation (Antinomism) and were associated with the names of J. Agricola (the so-called first Antinomia…

[German Version] (Schneyder, Sneider, Schnitter) (Apr 20, 1492 or 1494 or 1495, Eisleben – Sep 22, 1566, Berlin). He attended school in Braunschweig, matriculated in Leipzig in 1509, in Wittenberg in 1550; there, he attained his Magister on Feb 11, 1518, and Baccalaureus biblicus on Sep 19, 1519. Close personal relations with Luther in the years from 1516 were…

[German Version] (Sep 21, 1528, Dippoldiswalde – May 16, 1564, Wismar). Judex attended school in Dresden and Magdeburg, began his studies of law and theology in Wittenberg in 1546, received the M.A. in 1549 and in the same year became the co-rector of the Gymnasium in the old city of Magdeburg, in 1554 deacon at St. Ulrich with J. Wigand. In April 1560, he was appointed professor in Jena, and was dismissed on Oct 1, 1561 because of his public criticism of the Lutheran leadership's willingness to c…

[German Version] Adiaphoron ἀδιάφορον, in the context of the Adiaphorist Controversy, indicates the assessment of the requirements laid upon the Protestants after their defeat in the Schmalkaldic War by the Augsburg Interim: the reintroduction of organizational elements from liturgy and church law that had fallen by the wayside or come under …

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Liturgical History – V. Practical Theology – VI. Missiology I. New Testament 1. Background Sacred meals are common to all religions. Before examining them in the context of the NT, it is necessary first to inquire into their background in the OT and in Judaism, whereupon it becomes evident that sacrificial meals play no role in them. Only the dai…

[German Version] 1. Johann (Crellius; Jul 26, 1590, Hellmitzheim, Franconia – Jun 11, 1633, Rákow, Poland) attended school in Nuremberg from 1600 to 1603, then until 1605 in Stolberg in the Harz mountains; in Nov 1607 he began his studies at Altdorf, where he served as alumni superintendent. There he came in contact with the crypto-Socinians around the physician E. Soner. In Dec 1612 he fled to Rákow, where he became professor of Greek and served as rector from 1616 to 16…

[German Version] (Summer 1522, Świdnica [Schweidnitz], Poland – c. 1595, Buchenbach, Germany). Irenäus studied in Wittenberg in 1544 and became the head of a school in Bernburg in 1545, then in Aschersleben in 1548. On Feb 17, 1549, he received his M.A. in Wittenberg. After his ordination in Wittenberg (1552), he became deacon in 1553, in 1559 archdeacon in Aschersleben, in 1562 pastor in Eisleben, in 1566 court chaplain to Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxony-Weimar in Coburg and Weimar, in 1570 visitat…

[German Version] (Sep 14, 1648, Breslau [today Wroclaw] – Jan 27, 1715, Breslau). Neumann began his studies in Jena in 1667 and received his M.A. in 1670. In 1673 he became the traveling companion of Prince Christian of Saxe-Gotha. In 1676 he was appointed court chaplain in Altenburg; in 1678 he was made deacon and in 1689 pastor of Sankt Maria Magdalena in Breslau and appointed to professorial positions at both municipal Gymnasiums. In 1697 he was appointed pastor primarius of Sankt Elisabeth and made inspector of churches and schools. The publication of sermons linking c…

[German Version] (Hesshusius, Heshusen, Hesshusen; Nov 3,1527, Niederwesel – Sep 25, 1588, Helmstedt) began his studies in 1546/47, received the M.A. in Wittenberg (1550), became pastor primarius in Goslar (1553), professor and pastor in Rostock (1556), professor and general superintendent in Heidelberg (1557), in Bremen (1559), superintendent in Magdeburg (1560), pastor primarius in Goslar (1553), professor and pastor in Rostock (1556), professor and general superintendent in Heidelberg (1557), i…

[German Version] (c. 1520 Pößneck, Thuringia – Dec 17, 1585, Regensburg) began his studies at Wittenberg in 1536, receiving his M.A. in 1544. He taught in Gotha, becoming rector in 1544. In 1551 he became a deacon in Eisenach and in 1559 was appointed superintendent in Weimar. In 1562 he was dismissed and then reappointed in 1567, as a result of ¶ religio-political shifts in Ernestine Thuringia. In 1563 he was the Schönburg-Waldenburg superintendent in Glauchau. He was a co-author and signatory of the Gnesio-Lutheran Reuss-Schönburg Confession in 1567. In …

[German Version] (Krell; Feb 2, 1531, Eisleben – May 24/27, 1579, Meißen) began studies in Wittenberg in November 1548, received the M.A. on Feb 22, 1552, ordained on Sep 29, 1556, was preacher in the palace chapel in Wittenberg, received the Dr.Theol. on Dec 7, 1559, ¶ became professor of theology in Wittenberg in January 1560 and rector of the University in the summer of 1563, transferred to the consistory of Meißen on Jun 20, 1569, professor at Wittenberg once again from June 1574 to spring 1577, and transferred back …

[German Version] (Nov 26, 1602, Esens, East Friesland – Jun 11, 1661, Leipzig). After attending school in Norden, Stade, and Hannover, Hülsemann studied at Rostock (1619), Wittenberg (1621), Leipzig (1627), and Marburg (1627). He also visited Holland and France. In 1692, after receiving his doctorate, he became a professor at Wittenberg, where he married the widow of F. Balduin (1630). He participated in the Colloquy of Thorn in 1645 as moderator of the theologians adhering to the Augsburg Confess…

[German Version] (Mar 19, 1658, Haus Niederplaik/Dürrnberg near Hallein, Saltzkammergut – Oct 2, 1733, Nuremberg), schoolmaster and miner. Schaitberger played a leading part in the resistance to the Counter-Reformation in the archbishopric of Salzburg. He was imprisoned for heresy in 1685 and expelled in the winter of 1685/1686, having to leave his children behind. Working in Nuremberg as a manual laborer, he was granted accommodations as a pensioner in the former Carthusian monastery by the city …

[German Version] (Krell; 1552, Leipzig – Oct 9, 1601, Dresden) attended school in Grimma 1568–1571, studied in Leipzig 1571–1576, received the M.A. on Jan 25, 1576, the Baccalaureus iurium on Jun 17, 1576, traveled to France in 1577, and may have received the Dr.iur. in Valence. He established contact with François Hotman in Geneva, married Margarete Grieben from Leipzig on Aug 4, 1577, lectured in Leipzig (?), and became counselor to the court in Dresden on Feb …

[German Version] (duke of Saxony-Gotha and Altenburg; Dec 25, 1601, Weimar – Mar 26, 1675, Gotha). As ruler, he advanced the 17th-century Lutheran reform movement. The son of Duke Johann of Saxony-Weimar and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt-Köthen, Ernest was shaped by the strict religious tradition of the Ernestine Wettines. His teachers included W. Ratke, with whom he …