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Insbes. die konziliaristischen Streitigkeiten des späten MA um die Frage der Oberhoheit von Papst oder Konzil in der Kirche hatten die Frage nach einer autoritativen Grundlage für kirchl. Lehrentscheidungen jenseits der menschlich-kirchl. Institutionen immer virulenter gemacht. Im Rückgriff auf das Denken Wilhelms von Ockham wurden Konzepte entwickelt, die die Fraglichkeit der Entscheidungen von Papsttum und Konzil betonten und den Bezug auf die Bibel zur Regulierung der Konflikte propagierten. Damit verband sich ein immer stärkeres Insistieren auf einer w…

1. Christliche 1.1. Spätmittelalter, Reformation und KonfessionalisierungAusgehend von der seit der Karolingerzeit gültigen parochialen Struktur der Kirche (d. h. der Zuordnung von Wohnsitz und kirchlicher G.-Zugehörigkeit) entwickelte sich im späten MA ein starkes Bewusstsein insbes. der städtischen G. als sozialer Zusammenhang in politischer wie religiöser Hinsicht, so dass man im Blick hierauf sogar von einem corpus Christianum (»christl. Körperschaft«) im Kleinen sprechen kann [3]. Aus diesem zugleich kommunalen und parochialen Selbstbewusstsein entwic…

Der G.-Begriff wurde im späten MA in Fortführung der Vorstellung eines G.-Funkens u. a. bei dem lat. Kirchenvater Hieronymus mit der mystischen Vorstellung vom Seelenfünklein produktiv weiterentwickelt. Für die Formierung des nzl. G.-Begriffs war die zunehmend wachsende Kluft zwischen individuellen Überzeugungen und überindividuellen Bindungen an gesellschaftliche Normen und an staatliches Recht entscheidend – eine Kluft, die zuerst in der Religionsfrage fassbar wurde. Die reformatorische TheologieMartin Luthers wurde von dem evang. Theologen Karl Holl geradezu al…

1. Allgemein 1.1. AnlässeF. (von lat. festus, »feierlich«, »festlich«) unterbrechen die Routine des Alltags, zu dem sie als zeitlich und räumlich begrenzte »Anti-Struktur« in Gegensatz stehen und dessen strukturierender Bestandteil sie sind [21]. In der Nz. markierten F. die Phasen natürlicher, sozialer oder individueller Zeitfolgen, die entweder zyklischer oder serieller Natur sein konnten: Ersteres z. B. beim landwirtschaftlichen Jahreszyklus, dem ökonomischen Zyklus, dem Kirchenjahr mit seinen wiederkehrenden Heiligentagen und Jahrmärkten, Letzteres z. B. bei…

1. Allgemein 1.1. Begriff Unter V. (engl. popular religion, franz. religion populaire) wird die alltägliche und lebensrelevante Religiosität der Vielen verstanden, unabhängig davon, ob diese aus einem theologischen bzw. religionsphänomenologischen Blickwinkel als »christl.« oder »kirchl.« anzusehen ist. V. will den gesamten Alltag und die Umwelt heiligen bzw. das Leben und die eigene Erfahrungswelt mit dem Religiösen in Beziehung setzen. In der neueren Forschung wird statt von V. auch von »populärer« bzw. »popularer« Frömmigkeit (= Fr.) gesprochen oder einfach von »…

1. Allgemein 1.1. Probleme der DefinitionUnter »Fühlen, Gefühl« verstand noch Zedlers Universallexikon in der Mitte des 18. Jh.s »einen der fünf äußerlichen Sinne, der sich über den ganzen Leib ausbreitet« [1], also den Tastsinn (lat. tactus). Emotionen wie Liebe, Eifersucht, Neid, Melancholie oder Traurigkeit, die man heute unter dem Begriff G. subsumieren würde, werden hingegen als »Gemüths-Neigung«, als »Gemüths-Beschaffenheit« oder als »Gemüths-Bewegung« beschrieben.G. sind tief in der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit verankert. Sie sind als Grun…

1. BegriffH. (von griech. haíresis, »Schule«, »Lehrmeinung«, »Parteiung«) bezeichnet eine gravierende Abweichung im Glauben (»Irrlehre«), die den Ausschluss aus der Kirche zur Folge hat (Exkommunikation). Das im Deutschen synonyme Wort »Ketzerei« leitet sich von der Bezeichnung für die ma. Massenbewegung der »Katharer« (griech. katharoí, »die Reinen«) ab, die im 12. Jh. eine Gegenkirche bildeten und mit allen Mitteln verfolgt wurden. Von der H. als Verletzung der Integrität des Glaubens durch Einzelne oder Gruppen sind die Apostasie (griech. apostasía) als »Abfall« vom …

1. EinleitungM., ein aus dem 17. Jh. datierender Allgemeinbegriff, hat sich allen religionswiss. und -psychologischen Definitionsversuchen des 19. und frühen 20. Jh.s entzogen [1]; [3]; [5]. Die neuere Forschung gebraucht ihn daher nur als heuristischen Begriff für sehr unterschiedliche, jeweils bestimmten kulturellen und sozialen Kontexten zugehörige Phänomene intensiver individueller Erfahrung der Verbindung oder Vereinigung (lat. unio mystica) mit dem Gott, dem Göttlichen, dem Heiligen usw. Diese Phänomene sind niemals unmittelbar zugänglich, da…

1. DefinitionUnter G. (lat. memoria, Ort aller G.-Inhalte) versteht man allgemein einen Vorrat (Inhalte) und Speicher (Medien) von Wissen über die Vergangenheit, der durch den Prozess der Erinnerung (Anamnese) abgerufen bzw. aktualisiert werden kann. Fast alle G.-Theorien suchen nach den Verbindungen des Thesaurus-Modells mit dem eigentlichen Akt des Erinnerns. Seit Aristoteles sind G. und Erinnerung ein Bestandteil der Rhetorik unter dem Stichwort der ars memorativa (»G.-Kunst«). Die Mnemonik gehört zur Redekunst, weil sie als Technik Voraussetzung für den aus…

1. TeufelsvorstellungenDer Teufel hatte in der Frühen Nz. eine Bedeutung sowohl als heilsgeschichtlicher Gegenspieler Gottes wie auch als negative Wirkmacht, deren Kraft unmittelbar in dieser Welt spürbar war. Für die Ausgestaltung des T. blieb entscheidend, wie sich diese reale Gegenüberstellung mit Gottes Allmacht vertrug.Insbes. im Werk Martin Luthers zeigt sich dieses Bemühen paradigmatisch für die nzl. Reflexion: Zum einen wird im anthropologisch zugespitzten Bild der Mensch als Reittier Gottes einerseits, des Teufels andererseits verstanden, wobei sich …

1. Geschichte und Kultur 1.1. ÜberblickT. bedeutet »Überlieferung«. Idealtypisch versteht man darunter einen je spezifischen Fundus von Wissensbeständen und Techniken, Sitten und Bräuchen, Einstellungen und Haltungen, Normen und Institutionen, der innerhalb einer Gemeinschaft relativ unverändert von einer Generation an die folgende weitergegeben wird und deren Kultur dadurch Kontinuität und Identität verleiht. »Als Träger von T. im engeren und weiteren Sinne gelten bevorzugt die kleinen sozialen Einheiten (Eltern, Familie, Clan) oder Beruf…

1. AllgemeinEine allgemeingültige Definition von I. kann es für die Nz. ebenso wenig geben wie für die Moderne. Der Begriff I. stammt aus zwei unterschiedlichen Forschungstraditionen. Die angelsächs. Sozialpsychologie charakterisiert I. als ein Merkmal des modernen Individuums [6]; die Volkskunde favorisiert den Begriff I. in deutlicher Abgrenzung zu dem älteren und ideologisch stark aufgeladenen Begriff Volksgeist [2]. In der geschichtswiss. Forschung ist der Begriff I. umstritten [14]. Insbes. aus einer akteurszentrierten Perspektive werden Zweifel an der ze…

1. DefinitionMemory (Latin  memoria, “faculty of recollection”) is generally understood as a reservoir (in the sense both of content and container) of knowledge of the past, available for recollection or refreshment through the process of “calling to mind” (Greek anamnēsis). Almost all theories of memory seek to link the thesaurus model with the actual act of remembering. Memory and recollection have since Aristotle been a subject of rhetoric under the heading of the  ars memorativa (“mnemotechnics”). Mnemonics belongs to rhetoric because it is an essential techni…

1. General 1.1. Problems of definitionEmotions are deeply rooted in human developmental history. As a fundamental phenomenon of subjective experience, they were common to humans and higher animals, and are based on a physiological state with measurable physical reactions (e.g. changes in pulse or breathing, motor expression in mime and gesture). However, they are characterized by cultural variation [4] in the expression and moral evaluation of emotions, as well as in their precise definition and frequency. To this extent, emotions are also subject …

1. History and culture 1.1. IntroductionTradition (Latin traditio, via Old French  tradicion, “handing over,” “delivery”) denotes customs, beliefs, and the like, that are “handed down” from generation to generation. In theory, it is understood as a specific reservoir of knowledge, techniques, technologies, mores, customs, perspectives, attitudes, norms, and institutions residing within a community and passed down relatively unchanged by one generation to the next, thereby lending continuity and identity to…

1. Introduction A universally valid definition of identity is as elusive for the early modern period as for the late. The concept derives from two distinct traditions of research. Anglophone social psychology characterizes identity as a characteristic of the modern individual [6], whereas German ethnology prefers the term Identität in clear rejection of the older and ideologically explosive term  Volksgeist (“folk spirit”) [2]. The concept of identity is disputed among historians [14]. From an actor-centered perspective in particular, doubts are articulated ov…

In the late Middle Ages, the notion of a “spark of conscience” found, for example, in the work of the Latin church father Jerome, was developed productively into the mystical notion of the spark of the soul. For the formation of the early modern term  conscience, the decisive factor was the increasing gap between individual convictions and supraindividual obligations to social norms and laws imposed by the state – a gap that first became identifiable in the religious question. The Protestant theologian Karl Holl has even called the Reform…

1. IntroductionThe noun mysticism, a general term dating from the 17th century, eluded all attempts of students of religion and the psychology of religion to define it in the 19th and early 20th century [1]; [3]; [5]. More recent researchers therefore use it only as a heuristic term for highly diverse phenomena of an intense individual experience of bonding or union (Latin  unio mystica) with God, the divine, the holy, etc. – always in specific cultural and social contexts. These phenomena are never accessible directly, since we know of them only through (…

1. General 1.1. DefinitionThe term popular religion (French  religion populaire, German  Volksfrömmigkeit) denotes the everyday, practical religion of the masses, regardless of whether it is considered “Christian” or “churchly” from a theological or religio-phenomenological perspective. Popular religion is meant to sanctify the whole of the everyday world and the environment, to relate a person’s life and the world of personal experience to the religious sphere. Recent German-language scholarship prefers to speak of  populäre or  populare  Frömmigkeit or simply o…

The conciliarist controversies of the late Middle Ages over the supremacy of the pope or a council within the church made the question of an authoritative basis for ecclesiastical doctrinal decisions outside the human institutions of the church increasingly controversial. Drawing on the thought of William of Ockham, theologians developed concepts that emphasized the questionable nature of decisions by the papacy and councils (Council [ecclesiastical]), while advocating appeal to the Bible to res…

1. DefinitionThe term heresy (from Greek  haíresis, “school (of thought),” “faction”) denotes a serious deviation in the faith (“false doctrine”), resulting in exclusion from the church (Excommunication). The German synonym Ketzerei is derived from the name of the medieval mass movement of the Cathars (Greek  katharoí, “pure ones”), which formed an anti-church in the 12th century and were persecuted relentlessly. Heresy, as a violation of the integrity of the faith by individuals or groups, must be distinguished from apostasy (Greek  apostasía) as “renunciation” of the fa…

1. Christian 1.1. Late Middle Ages, Reformation, and ConfessionalizationThe parochial structure of the church had been the norm since the Carolingian period (i.e. the association of one’s place of residence with membership in an ecclesiastical congregation). In the late Middle Ages, there developed a strong sense – especially in urban areas – of the congregation as a social nexus politically as well as religiously, so that in this context we can even speak of a  corpus Christianum (“Christian body”) in microcosm [3]. This self-conception, both communal and parochial, g…

1. Concepts of the DevilThe Devil in the early modern period had a double role as an opponent of God in the narrative of salvation and as a negative force whose effects were tangible in the everyday world. The key factor in the shaping of belief in the Devil was how this concept of opposition worked in relation to the omnipotence of God.Concern for this issue in early modern reflection is well exemplified in the works of Martin Luther. On the one hand, there is a pointedly anthropological idea of the human individual as a vehicle for both God and the Dev…

1. General 1.1. OccasionsFestivals (from Latin  festus, “joyful, festive”) interrupt the routine of the everyday world, to which they contrast as a temporally and spatially limited “anti-structure” of which they are the structuring element [21]. In the early modern period, festivals marked the phases of natural, social, or individual chronologies, which could be either cyclic or linear. Cyclic chronologies included the annual agricultural cycle, the economic cycle, the church year with its recurring saint's days (Saint), and …

[German Version] (c.1300, Strasbourg – Jun 16, 1361, Strasbourg). Along with Meister Eckhart and H. Suso, Tauler was the most important representative of German Dominican mysticism (III, 3.b) on the Upper Rhine. Trained at the Dominican convent in Strasbourg, which he had joined around the age of 14, he did not hold a degree in theology but had received a good education; philosophically active, he participated in the neoplatonic revival in the Dominican order (Berthold of Moosburg). In terms of th…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies and History of Philosophy The dogmatic definition of the Holy Spirit as a person within the one divine substance (Trinity/Doctrine of the Trinity) presupposes not only a particular philosophical context but also a religio-historical horizon. A formative influence on the conceptualization of the Holy Spirit was exercised by the various anthropomorphic interpretations of elemental anthropological or normative qualities in the context of polytheistic interpretations of …

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Theology I. New Testament 1. The term ἀντίχριστος appears in Christian literature only in 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7, and, dependent on these texts, Pol. Phil 7:1. There it refers to someone who turns against Christ and the confession of Christ, not – as would be linguistically possible – someone who seeks to take the place of Christ; in context, it refers to theological opponents collectively. …

[German Version] I. Neurobiology and Psychology – II. Religious Studies – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. Early Judaism – V. Greco-Roman Antiquity – VI. New Testament – VII. Church History – VIII. Fundamental Theology – IX. Practical Theology – X. Missiology – XI. Art History I. Neurobiology and Psychology Dreams are hallucinatory experiences that generally occur during sleep. Unlike real experiences, they involve associations that are temporally, spatially, and emot…

[German Version] (died Mar 30, 1530, Stuttgart). The Augsburg weaver Bader, who was released from a brief imprisonment in 1527 following his tactical revocation of his anabaptist beliefs and who fled from Augsburg in 1528, prolonged the unfulfilled eschatological predictions of H. Hut from 1528 onward by means of his own isionary conception. With only a few followers, he expected the rul…

[German Version] I. Definition Sociology is an empirical social science; its field of study encompasses the relatively enduring forms and structures of social action (Action, Science of ) and the resultant social units, from entities like the family and kinship group and social groups to large-scale organizations and states. The word itself is an artificial combination of Latin socius (“companion, fellow”) and Greek logos (“word, truth,” in an extended sense “knowledge”). It appears for the first time in vol. IV of the Cours de philosophie positive of A. Comte (1838). As a scie…

[German Version] (Dec 28, 1654, Metz – Mar 7, 1729, Berlin). During his service as a page at the Saxon-Eisenach court in Marksuhl (c. 1666 to 1670), Naudé became familiar with German culture and the internal differences within Protestantism. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he came to Brandenburg in 1687 by way of Saarbrücken and Hanau. There he embarked on a career in mathematics (1687 teaching in the Gymnasium in Joachimsthal, appointed court mathematician in 1696, made a made member…

[German Version] (d. Jun 29, 1293, Tournai) supported the Beguines as archdeacon in Brügge (from 1276/1277) and Tournai (from 1279) and had decisive influence as magister regens of theology in Paris from 1275 to 1292. Although he was involved in the condemnation of rigorous Aristotelianism (his role was never completely clarified), during the various stages of his intellectual development, he nevertheless followed Avicenna and Augustine in placing Aristotelian modes of thought in the context of a Christian Neoplatonism (…

[German Version] (1328, Kalkar – Dec 20, 1408, Cologne). Henry of Kalkar received the M.A. in Paris in 1357, and later the Bacc.theol. Renouncing already acquired benefices, he entered the Charterhouse of Cologne (Carthusians) in 1365. From 1368 to 1396, he held leading positions in charterhouses near Arnhem and Roermond, in Cologne, and near Strasbourg, while also officiating as visitor of his province from 1375 ¶ onward. In performing the spiritual dimension of these offices, he developed a devotional theology of monastic discipleship which aimed to achieve …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. New Testament – III. Church History – IV. North America – V. Systematic Theology – VI. Islam – VII. China I. Religious Studies Millenarianism (chiliasm) refers to the notion of a 1,000-year (Lat. millenarius, Gk χίλια/ chília) period ¶ immediately preceding the Last Judgment and the end of the world. This conception of world history (see also II) derives from Jewish apocalypticism (III) and became widespread over time, being interpreted in various ways depending on the age and cultural envi…

[German Version] The university founded in 1386 by Rupert I, Elector Palatine, was initially staffed by scholars forced out of Paris and Prague because of ecclesial and national opposition. The founding rector Marsilius of Inghen guided Heidelberg on the path of a moderate via moderna; from 1452, the via antiqua shared equal rights. The scholastic manner of instruction (Scholasticism) was supplemented after 1456 with the humanist (Humanism: III), but not profoundly altered. Brought to the Lutheran Reformation in 1558 by Ottheinrich (1556–1559)…

[German Version] (1550, Liège – after 1630, Straßburg [Strasbourg]). Though born into a Catholic family, Sudermann came into contact with Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Anabaptism early on. Having worked as a private tutor, after 1585 he served as an educator of the nobility at the Bruderhof in Straßburg. He had already come in contact with the ideas of K. v. Schwenckfeld, some of whose writings he began publishing in 1584. He dated his own attraction to Schwenckfeld’s teaching from a conversion expe…

[German Version] (Georgsohn; 1501, Flanders – Aug 25, 1556, Basel). The glass painter Joris's public criticism of a Host procession in Delft in 1528 led to his mutilation and banishment. After receiving adult baptism in 1534/1535, Joris promoted his claims to leadership when he mediated between the Melchiorite Anabaptists (who were divided after the fall of Münster), seeking an – at least temporary – renunciation of violence (Bocholt meeting, 1536). Ecstatic visions in December 1536 confirmed his …

[German Version] (1285/1289, Jandun – 1328, Todi). John, who received his M.A. in Paris in 1310, regarded Averroes as a normative authority, more definitively so than the consistent Aristotelians of the 13th century did. He accepted Averroes's doctrine of the soul and cosmology as philosophically correct but did not intellectually harmonize them with Christian doctrine, which he never explicitly disputed. Together with Marsilius of Padua, whom he influenced intellectually (although he did not co-author the Defensor pacis), he escaped the Inquisition in 1326 and fled to …

[German Version] I. Course – II. French Revolution and Religion – III. Effects on Germany In the French Revolution, discontent exploded over the inability of French absolutism under Louis XVI to achieve reform. It signaled the dissolution of the old European estates (Estate-based society) and absolutism, to be replaced by bourgeois society (Bourgeoisie) and the constitutional state based on the rule of law. I. Course The struggle of the aristocracy in the parlements to preserve their traditional privileges frustrated the govern-¶ ment, which, facing a major financial cris…

[German Version] (died Nov 29, 1342, Munich). After receiving his doctorate in theology in Paris in 1316 and being elected minister general of the Franciscans, Michael became the key figure in the transition from the practical to the theoretical poverty (IV) debate. In agreement with John XXII, he opposed the Spiritual Franciscans, whom he had been unable to reintegrate into the order; after the chapter in Perugia in 1322, however, he rejected its denial of the total poverty of Christ and his disc…

[German Version] (Dec 11, 1694, Frankfurt am Main – Jul 24, 1776, Lingen). After studying jurisprudence in Marburg and Halle (C. Thomasius) and undertaking educational journeys, especially to the courts of European rulers, Loën lived in Frankfurt am Main from an inherited fortune from 1724. Drawing on the form of the courtly Baroque novel, he developed an ¶ enlightened conception of state politics in Der redliche Mann am Hofe (The candid man at court; 1740). In the essay Die einzig wahre Religion (The only true religion; 1750f.), he elaborated an irenic program on the basis …

[German Version] (Jan 9/10, 1502, Münster? – after 1570). Gifted as a visionary from his youth, Niclaes moved from Amsterdam to Emden after his calling as a prophet in 1540. He expanded late medieval mystical concepts into a prophetic-chiliastic spiritualism. Against a background of pantheistic ontology, he saw himself as the reincarnation of Christ. Through his missionary journeys, the “Family of Love” (Familists) spread, through their experience of the Spirit transcend-¶ ing the bounds of confession and religion; this was not rightly understood in the many accusa…

[German Version] (Dec 26, 1643, Wees – Oct 31, 1713, Leiden). After studying in Utrecht and Leiden ( J. Cocceius), in 1666 Til became pastor of the Reformed church in Huisduinen. After other positions, he came to Dordrecht in 1683, where the next year he was also appointed to a chair at the Schola Illustris. In 1702 he moved to Leiden. The focus of his work was scholarly philological exegesis of the Old Testament prophets. He modified the covenant theology he learned from Cocceius by including Cartesian (R. Descartes) elements, paving the way for the early Enlightenment by giving theologia n…

[German Version] (c. 1495, Rattenberg, Tyrol – 1556, Augsburg). In his home town Marbeck was given in 1525 the office of Bergrichter (mountain magistrate). He resisted the unreasonable request to use this function to put an end to Anabaptist activity. He gave up his office after the execution of the Anabaptist preacher Leonhard Schiemer in 1528, and was probably baptized himself in Krumau (Bohemia). In 1528 he was granted citizenship of Strasbourg. With his mystical theology of suffering discipleship leading through…

[German Version] (c. 1490, Haina – Dec 6, 1527, Augsburg). From 1524 and under the influence of A. Bodenstein von Karlstadt and T. Müntzer (Anabaptists), Hut, a bookkeeper, rejected infant baptism and was baptized in 1526 by H.Denck. After participating in the Peasants' War in the hope that it might bring about the eschatological cleansing, he reacted to its failure by prolonging Müntzer's millenarianism (III, 3), now expecting the judgment of the wicked and the thousand-year kingdom to commence i…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Großbockenheim – after 1532, probably in Moravia). On Jun 9, 1527, Jakob Kautz, then preacher (from 1524) in Worms, publicly posted “Seven Articles” that stressed the importance of the “inner word” under the influence of H. Denck and rejected infant baptism as well as the notion of the Real Presence; the intended disputation was probably meant to initiate a reformation in line with spiritualistic Anabaptism (Anabaptists). Expelled from Worms on July 1, Kautz took part in…

[German Version] (c. 1470, Zweibrücken – Aug 10 or 15, 1545, Landau). Formerly a teacher and chaplain at the court of Zweibrücken, Bader became pastor in Landau in 1518. Because of his Reformational preaching from 1522 onward, the clerical court of Speyer banned him in 1524, but the council of Landau protected him. His work influenced the education of youths (…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Schwäbisch-Hall – 1543, Strasbourg) was a Spiritualist (Spiritualism: II, 1) and an Anabaptist. Hoffmann was active from 1523 as a lay preacher in Livonia. He placed the mysticism of suffering imparted by A. Bodenstein von Karlstadt in an apocalyptic context. The time before the Last Day announced for 1533 was to bring Christians suffering, but also knowledge, directly conveyed by the Spirit. Despite a certificate of orthodoxy issued by Luther in 1525, Hoffmann was expel…

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Ancient Near East – III. Greco-Roman Antiquity – IV. Old Testament – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. History of Religion “Hospitality” refers to the customs that regulate the temporary admittance of a stranger to a particular group. This aspect can be well illustrated, for instance, with the Greek term for hospitality, ϕιλοξενία/ philoxenía (the “welcoming of a stranger”). The host protects the guest from the numerous perils to which he or she is exposed in his precarious …

[German Version] (1489, Ossig [Osiek] – Dec 10, 1561, Ulm). After studying at Cologne and Frankfurt an der Oder, Schwenckfeld v. Ossig, scion of a noble Silesian family, returned to diplomatic service in the duchy of Liegnitz, a position he had to resign for health reasons in 1523. An early follower of Luther, he sought to spread the Reformation in Silesia by extensive ¶ preaching and personal influence on Duke Frederick II of Liegnitz (1480–1547). Along with his early dependence on Luther, he also incorporated strong strains of mysticism into his own theology, which h…