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[German Version] The “shimmering and ambiguous term Josephinism” (Klueting, Josephinismus, 1) originated in the early 19th century and refers to Joseph II; the phenomenon existed long before 1780. In scholarship, Josephinism initially referred only to the state's policy toward the church (Winter, Maaß). Following Valjavec, Josephinism is now often understood as a shorthand term for all the reforms in the Austrian monarchy which were instituted in the 1740s, reached their apex after 1780, and which can be…

[German Version] (Dec 20, 1744, Heiligenstadt, Eichsfeld – Dec 26, 1818, Oestrich, Rheingau), was a Catholic theologian, from 1773 professor of exegesis in Mainz. He sparked off the Isenbiehl Controversy in 1774 with theses in which he disputed the messianic character of Isa 7:14 in relation to Matt 1:22 (culminating in Neuer Versuch über die Weissagung des Emmanuel [1777]). During the controversy, theological pamphlets for and against Isenbiehl were exchanged. Suspended in 1774 and once again in 1777, then imprisoned in a monastery, with support from…

[German Version] (Filips), Heer van Sint-Aldegonde (1540, Brussels – Dec 15, 1598, Leiden), Flemish politician and academic, of a Savoyard family, who came to the Netherlands with the regent Margaret of Austria; he combined political Calvinism, theological polemic, and patriotic poetry. Marnix studied at Leuven, Paris, Dôle, Padua, and finally Geneva, whence he returned to the Netherlands in 1561 as a Calvinist. After the iconoclastic riots of 1566, in exile in eastern Friesland he wrote an apologia for the uprising (1567) and several polemical works, including De Bijenkorf der H…

[German Version] (L'Hôpital; 1507, Aigueperse, Puy-de-Dôme – Mar 13, 1573, Bellébat near Paris) was a French statesman who had studied in Toulouse and Padua, and a jurist educated in theology and the humanities. From 1537, he was a member of the “Parlement” in Paris, and in 1547 he participated in the Council of Trent. After holding high state offices, in 1560 he became chancellor to the queen mother Catharine de Medici (1519–1589), who was regent during the minority of Charles IX (reigned from 15…

[German Version] (Sep 25, 1547, Amersfoort – May 13, 1619, The Hague), Netherlands politician. In 1585 he supported the appointment of Maurits of Orange as governor of Holland and Zeeland. From 1586 he was a council official of the province of Holland. From 1587, he worked with Maurits for the consolidation of the republic of the United Netherlands, and in 1609 negotiated the 12-year truce with Spain. Oldenbarnevelt took the side of the Arminians and the Remonstration of 1610, and in foreign polic…

[German Version] Holy Roman Emperor, king of Bohemia, king of Hungary, archduke of Austria (Mar 13, 1741, Vienna – Feb 22, 1790, Vienna), oldest son of Maria ¶ Theresia (1717–1780), the last of the Habsburgs, and her spouse, Franz Stephan of Lorraine (1708–1765), elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1745 as Franz I. Joseph was elected king of the Holy Roman Empire in 1764 and became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1765. In the Austrian monarchy (Austria), he became co-regent with his mother in 1765. In 17…

[German Version] 1. Johannes (1515, Grave, Brabant – Feb 24, 1588, Tecklenburg), physician, occultist, and demonologist. Weyer was a disciple of H.C. Agrippa of Nettesheim. ¶ After studying in Paris, he served as personal physician to Duke William the Rich of Jülich-Kleve-Burg from 1550 to 1578. He attacked the Hexenhammer (first publ. 1487) of the Dominicans Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Institoris and sought – against strong resistance (including from J. Bodin) – to unmask belief in witches (II) as a delusion, but he was no more successful tha…

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Law – III. Practical Theology – IV. Systematic Theology I. Church History 1. Early Church The Roman state (Roman Empire) tolerated philosophical atheism and a multitude of cults that flooded in from its conquered territories, but it refused to tolerate rejection of the cult of the official gods ( di publici populi Romani), on which the security of the state was believed to depend. Since Christians refused to participate in this cult, they inevitably came into conflict with the Roman state. Bot…