Search

1. Historischer Überblick 1.1. Begriff und neuzeitliche DeutungR. (von lat. reformatio, ›Wiederherstellung‹, ›Umgestaltung‹) ist seit der Mitte des 19. Jh.s spezieller Terminus für die eine Seite jener Vorgänge, durch die im 16. Jh. die westl. Christenheit in mehrere einander antagonistische Konfessionskirchen auseinandertrat; sein Antonym, welches die andere Seite bezeichnet, ist Gegen-R.Zuvor hatte der Begriff die allgemeine Bedeutung von Reform. So begegnet reformatio bzw. die zugrundeliegende verbale Form reformare in den kirchl. und polit. Reformbewegungen…

1. Historical survey 1.1. Terminology and early modern interpretationSince the mid-19th century,  Reformation (from Latin  reformatio, “restoration,” “transformation”) has been a specialized term for one side of the 16th-century events that tore Western Christendom apart into mutually antagonistic confessional churches; its antonym, denoting the other side, is  Counter-Reformation.Previously the term had carried the general meaning of “reform.” In the ecclesiastical and political reform movements of the late Middle Ages, we find both  reformatio and the verb  reform…

[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] 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. 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] (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] (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] (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…