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New Type of Religiosity 1. The Reformation radiating from Germany hosted a confluence of social, political, and religious developments. In terms of religion, the various motifs were focused through scriptural principles, and a teaching on justification. The criticism of the Church by that Church itself led to a collapse of the medieval concept of a unitary Christianity, the Corpus Christianum. Into its place stepped the co-existing confessional churches. In the Protestant regional churches, there arose a new type of Christian religiosity, one characteri…

The Person 1. Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, at Eisleben, in Saxony, Germany. In 1505, to fulfill a private vow that he had made in acute fear of death and the Last Judgment, he entered the monastery of Augustinian hermits in Erfurt. His experience of failing to attain a salvific relationship to God even as a monk led him to a gradual change of attitude and the ‘reformatory turn’ that he later stylized in his self-interpretation as a sudden experience of breakthrough and awakening. O…

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 …

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 a…

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 Letzterer der …

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…

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. 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 

[English Version] Sudermann,  Daniel (1550 Lüttich – nach 1630 Straßburg). Einer kath. Familie entstammend, kam S. früh in Berührung mit Calvinismus, Luthertum und Täufertum. Nach Tätigkeiten als Hofmeister war er ab 1585 am Straßburger Bruderhof als Erzieher von Adeligen tätig. Schon zuvor war er in Kontakt mit den Ideen K.v. Schwenckfelds gekommen, aus dessen Schriften er seit 1584 publizierte. Seine eigene Hinwendung zu Schwenckfelds Lehre datiert er konversionsartig auf das Jahr 1…

[English Version] Robespierre, Maximilien de (6.5.1758 Arras – 28.7.1794 Paris). Der Jurist R. wurde 1789 als Deputierter des Dritten Standes Mitglied der Generalstände und der Nationalversammlung (Frankreich: III.,1., i). In eine zentrale Funktion für den Verlauf der Französischen Revolution kam er als Sprecher des Jakobinerclubs. 1792 wurde er im Nationalkonvent einer der Anführer der radikalen Bergpartei. Mit zunehmender Deutlichkeit focht er gegen König und Monarchie. Im Juli 1793 wurde er Mitgl…

[English Version] (Naudaeus), Philipp (28.12.1654 Metz – 7.3.1729 Berlin). Durch seine Zeit als Page am sächsisch-eisenachischen Hof in Marksuhl ca.1666–1670 mit der dt. Kultur und den innerprot. Differenzen vertraut, gelangte N. nach der Aufhebung des Edikts von Nantes über Saarbrücken und Hanau 1687 nach Brandenburg, wo er als Mathematiker Karriere machte (1687 Gymnasiallehrer in Joachimsthal, 1696 Hofmathematiker, 1701 Mitglied und 1704 Prof. der Akademie). Mit seinen theol. Streitschriften schä…

[English Version] . In Aufnahme einer Anregung franz. Kardinäle, die angesichts des königlichen Nominationsrechts in Frankreich den röm.-kath. Glauben der Bischöfe sichern wollten, schrieben die Trienter Dekrete der 24. und 25. Sitzung 1563 für Bischöfe und sonstige Seelsorger die Ablegung eines erweiterten Glaubensbekenntnisses bei Amtsantritt und für akademische Lehrer eine regelmäßige eidliche Verpflichtung auf Katholizität vor (Amtseid der Geistlichen und Kirchenbeamten). Den vermutlich im Umk…

[English Version] Schwenckfeld, Kaspar v. (1489 Ossig – 10.12.1561 Ulm). Der aus einer schlesischen Adelsfamilie stammende Sch. von Ossig stand nach Studien in Köln und Frankfurt/O. in seiner Heimat in adeligem Dienst, den er 1523 aus gesundheitlichen Gründen quittierte. Sch. wurde früh zum Anhänger Luthers und versuchte in ausgedehnter Predigttätigkeit und persönlicher Einflußnahme auf Herzog Friedrich II. von Liegnitz (1480–1547), die Reformation in Schlesien zu verbreiten. Mit der frühen Abhängigkeit von Luther nahm er auch starke myst. Züge in seine eig…

[English Version] Thomä, Nikolaus (1492 Siegelsbach bei Heilbronn – 1546 Bergzabern). Ab 1510 in Heidelberg immatrikuliert, wurde Th. 1519 Pfarrer in Flinsbach, 1520 Magister. Ab 1524 war er Geistlicher und Lateinlehrer in Bergzabern. Im Abendmahlsstreit (Abendmahl: II.,3.) auf schweizerischer Seite, stand er, zumal seit der Auseinandersetzung mit Täufern (1527 Begegnung mit H. Denck), zunehmend unter M. Bucers Einfluß. Volker Leppin Bibliography J.P. Gelbert, Magister Johann Baders Leben und Schriften, N. Th. und seine Briefe, 1868.

[English Version] Niclaes,  Heinrich (9./10.1.1502 Münster? – nach 1570). Von Jugend an visionär begabt, zog N. nach seiner Berufung zum Propheten 1540 von Amsterdam nach Emden. Spätma. myst. Vorstellungen baute er zu einem prophetisch-chiliastischen Spiritualismus aus. Sich selbst verstand er vor dem Hintergrund pantheistischer Ontologie als Neuinkarnation Christi. Durch Missionsreisen breitete sich das »Haus der Liebe« (engl. »Family of Love«, daher: Familisten) aus, das aufgrund von Geisterfahru…

[English Version] Tauler, Johannes (ca.1300 Straßburg – 16.6.1361 ebd.). T. war neben Meister Eckhart und H. Seuse wichtigster Vertreter der deutschsprachigen Dominikanermystik (Mystik: III.,3.,b) am Oberrhein. Im Straßburger Konvent, dem er mit etwa 14 Jahren beigetreten war, ausgebildet, verfügte er über keinen theol. Abschluß, aber über gute Bildung; philos. hatte er Teil an der Neuplatonismusrenaissance im Dominikanerorden (Berthold von Moosburg). Theol. folgte T. wohl ohne persönliche Begegnun…

[English Version] Pacca, Bartolomeo (25.12.1756 Benevent – 19.4.1844 Rom). 1785 wurde der aus einer adeligen Familie stammende Doktor beider Rechte zum Titularbf. von Damiette geweiht und trat ohne Anerkennung des dortigen Erzbischofs das 1785 verliehene Amt als Nuntius in Köln an. Gegen den Episkopalismus (: II., Emser Kongreß) vertrat er entschieden die päpstl. Haltung. Als Nuntius in Lissabon (1794/95–1802) kämpfte er – 1801 zum Kardinal erhoben – ebenso entschieden gegen die staatskirchl. Tende…

[English Version] I. Leben W. hat sein artes-Studium wohl in reduzierter Form am Ordensstudium der Franziskaner in London absolviert, ehe er wohl 1308 zum Theologiestudium an die Universität Oxford wechselte. Hier hielt er 1317–1319 seine Sentenzenvorlesung. Ungeklärt ist, ob und wieweit W. in die Streitigkeiten zw. den Bettelorden und der Universität involviert war. Jedenfalls kam es bald zu scharfen philos. Attacken, v.a. durch den früheren Kanzler der Universität Johannes Lutterell (gest.1335). Sie hatten 1323 eine Untersuchun…

[English Version] 1.  Johann Georg , (17.6.1693 Meiningen – 13.1.1775 Jena). Nach Studium der alten Sprachen und Gesch. in Leipzig ab 1710 und dortigen ersten Vorlesungen als Magister der klassischen Philol. wurde W. 1718 Prof. für Philos. und Altertümer in Jena, 1719 für Beredsamkeit, 1722 zugleich für Poesie. Noch vor seiner theol. Promotion 1726 erhielt er 1724 eine a.o. Professur für Theol. 1728 wurde er Ordinarius. Vorlesungen seines Schwiegervaters J.F. Buddeus zur polemischen Theol. baute er z…

[English Version] Til, Salomo(n) van (26.12.1643 Wees – 31.10.1713 Leiden). Nach Studium in Utrecht und Leiden (J. Coccejus) wurde der reformierte T. 1666 Prediger in Huisduinen. Nach Zwischenstationen kam er 1683 nach Dordrecht, wo er ab 1684 neben dem Pfarramt a…

[English Version] Staël, Anne Louise Germaine, Baronin de S.-Holstein (22.4.1766 Paris – 14.7.1817 ebd.). S. war als Exulantin während der Franz. Revolution Zentralgestalt eines eur. kommunikativen Netzwerkes. Lit. kritisierte sie, in Brechung Rousseauscher Ideen (J.-J. Rousseau) durch den Einfluß der dt. Frühromantik, die Frauen beschrä…

[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] (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] (Dec 28, 1654, Metz – Mar 7, 1729, Berlin). During his s…

[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 …

[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 charterho…

[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 S…

[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,…

[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 …

[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] (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…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Heybach – Nov 1527, Basel). After completing his studies at Ingolstadt (1517–1519), where he was formatively influenced by humanism, ¶ Denck acted as a school rector in Nuremberg from 1523, upon the recommendation of J. Oecolampadius. The ideas of A.B. v. Karlstadt and T. Müntzer strengthened his criticism of the Nuremberg Reformation, which, in his opini…

[German Version] (c. 1500, Maaseik – after 1574). After studying at Cologne and a stay in the duchy of Jülich, Campanus came to Wittenberg c. 1527/1528. His exclusion from the debate at the Colloquy of Marburg (Disputations, Religious: I) marked the beginning of his conflict with the Wittenberg Reformers, which was intensified in 1530 when he disputed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. He soon returned to Jülich, where a warrant for his arrest (at first not executed) was issued in 1532. His Göttlicher und Heiliger Schrift … Restitution (1532) expounded his anti-trinitarian th…

[German Version] 1. Johann Georg (Jun 17, 1693, Meiningen – Jan 13, 1775, Jena). Walch began studying classical languages and ancient history in 1710 at Leipzig, where he delivered his first lectures on classical philology as Magister. In 1718 he was appointed professor of philosophy and antiquities at Jena; in 1719 rhetoric was added and poetry in 1722. In 1724, even before he received his doctorate in theology (1726), he was appointed associate professor of theology. In 1728 he was made full professor. He took the lectures of hi…

[German Version] (Johannes Herwich aus Ilten; 1425, Ilten – c. 1500, Eisenach). Hilten enrolled at Erfurt in 1445 and received his Bacc. artium in 1447. Later he entered the Franciscan order. In 1463 he moved to Livonia, where in 1472 be became lector and preacher in Dorpat (modern Tartu). He was held under claustral house arrest on various charges in Weimar and Eisenach after 1477. He is mentioned in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Augsburg Confession, Apology of the; art. 27; BSLK, 378), because the Wittenberg Reformers thought that in the context of his apo…

[German Version] (died after 1547). From 1526 to 1528, he was the preacher of an anabaptist congrega-¶ tion (Anabaptists) in Eibenschütz (Bohemia). From 1529 he worked in Strassburg, where he had contact with H. Bünderlin and K. v. Schwenckfeld. Realizing that anabaptism was coming under threat, he clearly distanced himself from the movement. No later than 1536, he became adviser to Albert of Prussia in Königsberg. Af…

[German Version] At the request of French cardinals – who wanted to ensure the Roman Catholic faith of bishops, in view of the royal right of nomination in France – the decrees of Trent from the council’s 24th and 25th sessions in 1563 prescribed for bishops and other clergy the declaration of an expanded confession of faith upon assuming office, and for academic teachers the regular swearing of an oath of Catholicity. The text, presumably written in the context of the Roman Inquisition, was promulgated by Pope Pius IV in the bull Iniunctum nobis (Nov 13, 1564). ¶ In it, the Niceno-Constant…

[German Version] I. Life – II. Work – III. Influence (Venerabilis Inceptor; c. 1285, Ockham, England – Apr 9, 1347, Munich) I. Life William probably studied a reduced program of arts at the Franciscan college in London before proceeding in 1308 to study theology at the University of Oxford. Here he delivered his lectures on the Sentences from 1317 to 1319. It is not clear whether, or to what extent, William was involved in the disputes between the mendicant orders and the university. In any case, he came under sharp philosophical attack, especially from t…