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[German Version] is now the administrative center of the Tarn et Garonne département; it became Protestant as early as 1561 on the conversion of Bishop Jean de Lettes. In 1570 the Edict of Saint-Germain-en-Laye gave it the status of a place of safety for Protestants (Huguenots: I, 1), and by the beginning of the 17th century it was, with La Rochelle, one of the most important centers of French Protestantism. A school was founded there in 1579, and then, following a resolution of the 1598 National Synod of M…

[German Version] (Aug 28, 1639, Usseaux, Dauphiné – Apr 8, 1703, Utrecht), was appointed pastor in Venterol (Drôme) and Embrun in 1661 but was forced to flee to Holland from French Switzerland on account of his Reformed faith. There he was appointed pastor of the ¶ Walloon congregation in Delft and in 1670 pastor in Utrecht. He participated in the investigation into J. de Labadie; having a certain sympathy with Socinianism (Socinians), he emphasized freedom of conscience in opposition to P. Jurieu, Influenced by the mystical theology of F. …

[German Version] 1. Matthias (Oct 27, 1618, Süchteln on the Lower Rhine – Oct 9, 1686, Herborn). After attending secondary school in Wesel from 1632, Nethenus studied philosophy and theology in Harderwijk, Deventer, and Utrecht. In 1646 he became pastor and headmaster in Kleve. Through the good offices of G. Voetius he was called in 1654 to be professor of theology in Utrecht, but in 1662 he was removed from office because of a polemical writing against S. Maresius in the controversy over the proper…

[German Version] (Oct 7, 1625, Brieg – May 19, 1687, Leiden), Reformed theologian. Initially he studied law and later theology in Bremen, Groningen, and Leiden, where he was introduced to the philosophy of R. Descartes. In 1650 he was appointed professor of philosophy at Herborn and in 1652 pastor in Duisburg; in 1655 he became professor of theology at Nijmwegen and in 1671 at Leiden, where he adopted the covenant theology of J. Cocceius. His attempt to reconcile Reformed theology with Cartesianism brought him repeatedly into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. His Theologia …

[German Version] (probably 1596, Bordeaux – Jan 30, 1676, near Paris). Having studied jurisprudence and absorbed the ideas of Calvinism and late French Humanism, La Peyrère was suspected of atheism within the Reformed Church as early as 1626. In 1656, he attempted to evade the acute threat from the Spanish-Flemish Inquisition by converting to Catholicism and joining the order of the Oratorians. His messianic theory divides the history of salvation into three periods: the election of the Jews as th…

[German Version] (Jul 19, 1569, Cologne – Sep 29, 1622, Tönning), Arminian theologian. Vorst studied with J. Piscator in Herborn in 1593 and in 1593 and 1594 in Heidelberg, Basel, and Geneva. In 1596 he was appointed professor of theology at the Gymnasium Illustre in Steinfurt. He accepted a call to Leiden in 1611. Suspected early on of Socinianism (Socinians), in 1619 he was condemned by the Synod of Dort and expelled from the Netherlands. Along with other Remonstrants (Remonstration), he finally…

[German Version] (c. 1530, Beaugency-sur-Loire – 1595, Castres). After law school in Orléans and Bourges, Daneau turned to Protestantism under the influence of Calvin in 1560. In 1562, he became pastor in Gien-sur-Loire, and in 1572 pastor and professor of theology in Geneva. He moved to Leiden in 1581, and on to Ghent in 1582; from 1583 he worked in Orthez an…

[German Version] (1626, Romorantin, Département Loir-et-Cher – Sep 27, 1685, Carré, near Orléans). After studying theology at Saumur, Pajon was appointed pastor in Marchenoir in 1650; in 1666 he became professor of theology at Saumur. A pupil of M. Amyraut and J. Cameron, he supported their views concerning the doctrine of predestination and grace; he sought to escape condemnation by taking a pastorate in Orléans in 1668. Pajon made use of early Enlightenment tools to elucidate Reformed doctrine, …

[German Version] (Jan 1, 1902, Vienna – Apr 9/17, 1945, Sachsenhausen). The jurist Hans v. Dohnanyi's almost uninterrupted career at the Reich Ministry of Justice began in 1929. From 1934 to 1938, he served as head of its Bureau of Ministry. In this position of trust, he was able to furnish the Confessing Church with important information about the church policies of the National Socialists …

[German Version] (c. 1525, Zierikzee/Zeeland [?] – c. 1562, Emden) studied law in Leuven, was ordained priest in 1552, and assumed leadership of the Reformed congregation in Antwerp in dangerous circumstances in 1556. Having sojourned in Aachen and Emden, Haemstede pastored the expatriate Dutch congregation in London from 1559. Here, he was excommunicated by archbishop Grindal in 1560 because of his tolerant attitude toward the Anabaptists. Finally expelled from England in 1562, he again worked in…

[German Version] (Claude de Saumaise; Apr 15, 1588, Semur-en-Auxois, Burgundy – Sep 3, 1653, Spa), philologist and jurisprudent. Salmasius studied with I. Casaubonus in Paris and Dionysius Gothofredus (1549–1622) in Heidelberg. He quickly began publishing annotated editions and works on the history of the Early Church, rejected the papal claim of primacy, and disputed critically with the Jesuits. Since his Calvinist beliefs appeared to rule out his planned career as a civil servant in Dijon, he de…

[German Version] (Jun 9, 1590, Gut Bardt, near Elberfeld – Jan 1, 1658, Deventer), Reformed theologian. After studying in Herborn, Siegen, and Leiden, in 1609 he was appointed pastor in Randerath (Jülich) and in 1617 in Deventer. As a participant in the Synod of Dort in 1618/1619, Sibel advocated moderate orthodoxy (II, 2.b). He also assisted in the Dutch translation of the New Testament. Christoph Strohm Bibliography J. Reitsma, Geschiedenis van de hervorming en de hervormde kerk der Nederlanden, 1899, 51949 (Dutch).

[German Version] (1619, La-Sauvetat-du-Dropt – Jan 13, 1687, The Hague). After studying at Montauban, Claude became a pastor in St. Affrique and, from 1654, in Nîmes. In 1661, he was forbidden to preach after plans to reunify the Protestants with the Catholic Church were rejected by a provincial synod over which he presided; in 1662, he became pastor and professor in Montauban, and in 1666 pastor in Charenton, near Paris. Following the revocation of the Edict of …

[German Version] (Sep 15, 1678, Vevey, Vaud – Sep 28, 1750, Lausanne). After studies in Bern, Berlin, and Leiden, Ruchat was appointed pastor in Aubonne in 1709, then in Rolle in 1716. In 1721 he was appointed professor of literature and in 1733 professor of theology in Lausanne. In 1727/1728 he published a Histoire de la réformation de la Suisse (6 vols., covering 1516–1536). His life work, an Histoire générale de la Suisse (to 1516), was never published. His works, based on meticulous archival research but still written with an apologetic aim, made him the father …

[German Version] Franeker, principal town in the district of Franekeradeel in the Dutch province of Friesland. In 1585, the governor of Friesland, Count William Louis of Nassau, founded the second university in the northern Netherlands (after Leiden, 1575) with faculties of theology, law, the arts, and (from 1589) medicine. As a result of the attendance of numerous students from western Germany, Hungary, and the Scandinavian countries, the university attained European stature during the 17th centu…

[German Version] (Jul 14, 1634, Paris – Dec 2, 1719, Amsterdam). After studying theology, Quesnel joined the Oratorians in 1657. Ordained to the priesthood in 1659, he became director of the order’s school in Paris. His early Réflexions morales sur le Nouveau Testament (1668; ET: The New Testament, with Moral Reflections upon Every Verse, 1719–1725), a major work that appeared in various editions and was also widely read in Germany, already showed his Jansenist leanings (Jansenism) and aroused much hostility. His defense of Gallican liberties (Gal…

[German Version] (Mar/Apr 1577, Heidelberg – Mar 17, 1649, Amsterdam), philologist and Reformed theologian. After studying philosophy and theology at Leiden, he was appointed rector of the Latin ¶ school in Dordrecht in 1600; in 1615, with the help of his friend H. Grotius, he was appointed dean of the theological college in Leiden. He lost that position in 1619 on account of his contacts with the Remonstrants (Remonstration), but in 1622 he was installed in the newly created chair of rhetoric and history at Leiden. In 1631…

[German Version] (Makowski; 1588, Lobzenic, Poland – Jun 24, 1644, Franeker, the Netherlands) attended secondary school in Danzig and studied in various places including Heidelberg. In 1614 in Franeker he became a doctor of theology, and already in 1615 was appointed there to the post of professor of theology and physics. By his Aristotelian teaching he made a significant contribution to the development of Reformed orthodoxy (II, 2.b). His supralapsarian teaching on predestination (Predestination:…

[German Version] (Schröder; c. 1560, Schönfließ, Brandenburg – 1626, Großen-Englis, Hesse), Reformed theologian. Pastor in Rietberg since 1585, he was expelled by Paderborn Jesuits in 1607 and later became pastor in Ropperhausen (Hesse). His 1606 Brennende Fackel attacking the Jesuits has not survived. His Kurzer, doch gründlicher Bericht, published in 1612, describes his shift from Lutheranism to Calvinism, although he is at pains to point out what they have in common. Christoph Strohm Bibliography F. Flaskamp, “Jakob Sartorius,” AKuG 45, 1963, 313–333.

[German Version] (Oct 20, 1543, Senlis, Picardy – Feb 3, 1628, Geneva). After studying law and converting to Protestantism, Goulart moved to Geneva in 1566 and became pastor in the nearby municipalities of Chancy and Cartigny. In 1571, he assumed the pastorate in Genève-St. Gervais. Apart from brief pastoral activities in French congregations, he officiated there until the end of his life. After the death of T. Beza in 1605, he chaired the Vénérable Compagnie des pasteurs for seven years. Goulart was less an inventive thinker than an editor, translator and collector. Hi…

[German Version] (Braunius; 1628, Kaiserslautern – 1708, Groningen) studied under J. Cocceius in Leiden. After preaching in Zeeland, Delft, and, from 1661, in Nijmegen, Braun became professor there in 1665 and professor of theology and Hebrew in Groningen in 1680. The further development of Cocceius's federal theology by incorporating Cartesian philosophy brought him into conflict with his colleague Johannes à Marck, who accused him, among other things, of Sabellianism (Sabellius/Sabellians). In the work La véritable religion des Hollandois (1675) Braun defended …

[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 chaplain of Maurice of Orange. Against the orthodox Calvinists he defended the teachings of Arminius; after the latter’s death, he joined with others to compose the five articles of the Remonstratie of Jan 14, 1610, which rej…

[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 inclu…

[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 know…

[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 ancient languages at Leiden, succeeding J. Lipsius. Editor of many ancient works, he proved to be an outstanding textual critic. As the father of the m…

[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 …

[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 Remonstrants against J. Cameron, a stance that lost him his chair in 1618. Against the Presbyterians, he emphasized the value of…

[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…

[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 to 1585 as pastor to the Lutheran community in Antwerp. Later he spent most of his time in Frankfurt. His most important work, a Spanish translation of the Bible, was published in Basel in 1569. Christoph Strohm Bibliography A.G. Kinder, Cassiodoro de Reina: Spanish Reformer of the 16th Century, 1975

[German Version] (1565, in the Dauphiné – Oct 17, 1621, Montauban) studied theology in Geneva (1583–1589) and, after serving as pastor in various congregations, he became his father's successor in Montélimar (c. 1595). In the negotiations about the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes (France, Huguenots), Chamier took a hard line and soon played a prominent role ¶ at several synods in France. In 1603, he became chair of the national synod in Gap, which added an article to the creed that described the pope as the Antichrist prophesied in th…

[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 in Brandenburg-Prussia (Burg, Halberstadt, Magdeburg and Halle), after a temporary stay in Geneva or elsewhere in …

[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 students and outstanding scholars, the university gained a lofty…

[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 Des trois vérités (1594), which led the bishop of Cahors to appoint him vicar-general, is an apology for the existence of God against atheists, for the Christian religion against Muslims and Jews, and for the Roman Catholic Church…

[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 Francophone territories under Bernese rule. Until the Academy of Geneva (II) was founded in 1559, Lausanne was the only school of Protestant theology in the Francophone region, in which theology was taught along with the propaedeutic philosophical and humanistic subjects. At the outset, P. Viret taught theology and K…

[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 professor of theology in Leiden in 1642 and in 1648 he became pastor of the Walloon congregation there. He was a champion of strict Reformed orthodoxy as defined by the Synod of Dort, rejecting such theological positions as M. Amyraut’s doctrine of grace. Christoph Strohm Bibliography C. Borgeaud, Histoire de l’univers…

[German Version] In the Middle Ages, this city in the Ardennes was in the borderland between the French kingdom and the German Empire; in the late 16th century, it became an important haven for persecuted Protestants. In 1601 the sovereign Henri de la Tour elevated a school founded in 1579 to the status of a Reformed academy, with faculties of philosophy, theology, and law. After sovereignty passed to Louis XIII in 1642, its work was increasingly hampered in the 1670s; a decree of Louis XIV shut i…

[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 France, which proposed a Gallican model…

[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.theol. from Heidelberg in 1587, he wrote numerous works to secure the heritage of the Reformation against the Socinians ( De Jesu Christo servatore, 1611), the Remonstrants (Arminians), and especially Catholic theologians …

[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 a supporter of Cartesianism he was himself exposed to constant charges of deficient orthodoxy by the adherents of G. Voetius. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works include: De scripturarum interprete contra exercit…

[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, Stadt und K…

[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 pillars of French Protestantism in the first half of the 17th century (Controversial the…

[German Version] The three Le Maistre brothers were Jansenist theologians (Jansenism). The oldest, Antoine (May 2, 1608, Paris – Nov 4, 1658, Port Royal), was a successful lawyer in Paris and came under the influence of J. Duvergier de Hauranne, one of the first hermits in Port-Royal Abbey. Known for his piety, Antoine wrote apologies and, among other writings, also a biography of Bernard of Clairvaux. He began a Bible translation that was continued by the youngest brother, Isaac Louis (Mar 29, 1613, Paris – Jan 4, 1684, Pomponne; called Le Maistre de Sacy), who was the mo…

[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 L…

[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 several Greek church fathers. In 1650 he was commissioned by the French episcopate to work on an edition of the Greek church historians (Eusebius of Caesarea, 1659; Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomen, 1668; Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Evagrius Ponticus, 1673). Christoph Strohm Bibliography A. de Valois, De vita …

[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 in Saumur in 1633. Along with his friends M. Amyraut and L. Cappellus, he moderated strict Calvinism by emphasizing ethical and general human aspects, for example, in modifying the doctrine of original sin. With reference to Calvin, and on account of his interest 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, his biblical interpretations were primarily in the service of apologetic and ethical goals. Christoph Strohm Bibliography Works i…

[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, inter alia, the abolition of the Inquisition on Apr 5, 1566, cried out: “Voilà des beaux gueux.” The aristocracy and soon also other champions of freedom adopted this designation as ho…

[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 reestablish it in the 18th century failed. Not until 1923, after almost 20 years of efforts on the part of the Sankt Radboud Foundation, was the Catholic University of Nijmegen founded as a count…

[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 defined as “preservation and cultivation of the goods and bounties of the Reformed Church.” It was conceived as a loose association of churches, congregations, and individual members, seeking to strengthen Reformed identity in light of the Lutheran preponderance in Germany, which…

[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 B…

[German Version] I. Concept – II. Legal Aspects – III. Economics – IV. Non-Christian Antiquity – V. Bible – VI. Christianity – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Concept Interest is payment in exchange for a right of use or exploitation, typically on a temporary basis and always agreed for a fixed period of time. Money later gained increasing importance as an object of lending and now occupies a dominant position, although other items or rights remain possible as objects of lending, as for example rent. In economics (see III below), this mutual commitment between the conferral…

[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 …

[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 …

[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…