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[German Version] (also Molitor, actually Geißhüsler; 1488, Lucerne – Oct 14, 1552, Basel), important Reformer in Switzerland. He was the son of a miller (Lat. molitor), attended school in Rottweil, and studied from 1510 in Basel. From 1514 he was a teacher, first in Basel, then from 1516 in Zürich, and from 1519 in Lucerne, until he was dismissed as a “Lutheran” in 1522. From 1523 to 1531, he worked in Zürich for the Reformation, alongside Zwingli, as a teacher at the Frauenmünster. ¶ Finally back in Basel, as successor of J. Oecolampadius he became the head (Antistes) of the R…

[German Version] (Mar 18, 1751, Stuttgart – Oct 30, 1824, Haiterbach), studied Protestant theology in Tübingen (1768–1773), where he was influenced by Pietism. He served as a teacher in Besigheim (from 1783) and as a minister in Tübingen (from 1779), Grafenberg, near Nürtingen (from 1783), and Haiterbach, near Nagold (from 1795). He was active in youth work and was a popular pastor and preacher. Beginning in 1801, a group of Pietists formed around him who – in reaction to the moralism of the Enlig…

[German Version] (c. 1480, Basel – 1524/25, Basel). The Basel printer, bookseller and poet was the first 16th-century German dramatist and, influenced by J. Eberlin von Günzburg, an early adherent of the Reformation. He authored songs, politico-moral essays and plays. His most successful play was the Shrovetide drama Die zehn Alter dieser Welt [The ten ages of this world] (1515?), in which a hermit shares instructions for life with people of all ages, from childhood to old age. In the play Gouchmatt [Fool's mate], he criticized the moral state at the time (1516). In the poem…

[German Version] (actually: Dorfmann; c. 1482, Maienfeld, Switzerland – between Feb 15 and 21, 1557, Chur). The most important Reformer of the Swiss canton of the Grisons was probably the son of a hatter. He attended the Latin school in Sankt Gallen and studied in Basel from 1502 to 1505, where he was awarded the Baccalaureus artium. From 1512, he was at first curate and, from 1521, pastor in Escholzmatt near Lucerne. In 1523, already with Protestant inclinations, he was appointed pastor by the co…

[German Version] 1. Johann Andreas (Mar 15, 1637, Kirchheim unter Teck – Nov 8, 1720, Bebenhausen). Hochstetter was, as a leading churchman in Württemberg, the most important early proponent of Pietism in the region and was, consequently, called the “Württembergian Spener” already in the 18th century. After studying in Tübingen, he became a pastor there (1659) and then in Walheim, dean in Böblingen (1672), professor of philosophy (1677) and later of theology in Tübingen and general superintendent (16…

[German Version] (actually Häuschen/Heusgen;name Graecized from Haus-Schein, “House-light”; 1482, Weinsberg–Nov 24, 1531, Basel), Humanist who came ¶ on his mother’s side from Basel, and became Basel’s (Basel) most important reformer. From 1499 he studied philosophy, law, and theology in Heidelberg, where he was influenced by J. Wimpfeling among others, and in Bologna; from 1506 to 1508 he worked in Mainz as princes’ tutor. In 1510 he was ordained priest and occupied the office of preacher in Weinsberg. After le…

[German Version] (c. 1450 in Straßburg [Strasbourg] – Mar 16, 1527, Porrentruy, canton of Jura), a Humanist, was rector of the University of Basel in 1473/1474 and bishop of Basel from 1502 to 1527. He had studied theology and canon law at Basel and Erfurt. He devoted himself to church reform, convoking a synod in 1503 and commissioning J. Wimpfeling to draw up statutes to govern the activities of clerics and to provide for regular synods. The reform foundered on the resistance of the cathedral ch…

[German Version] (Dec 8, 1694, Memmingen – Mar 31, 1773, Memmingen) served as a teacher, Lutheran pastor, and librarian in Memmingen; he was a significant 18th-century scholar and a productive author (some 40 works), but is scarcely noticed by researchers. From 1712 on he studied at Jena and Altdorf, returning to Memmingen in 1718; there he was appointed librarian and deputy rector in 1725. In 1732 he became pastor of Buxach and Hart, near Memmingen, in 1734 municipal preacher, and in 1753 superintendent. He wrote on literary and ecclesiastical history (e.g. Amoenitates literariae, 14 …

[German Version] (1520, Dornstetten – Oct 28, 1561, Paris). While a student at Tübingen (matriculation 1533, baccalaureate 1537, M.A. 1541), he became a supporter of the Reformers' teaching. From 1546 to 1553 he served as pastor in Derendingen, near Tübingen (1549 in Sulz am Neckar). Upon graduation in 1551, he became professor of theology at Tübingen. The subjects he lectured on included Melanchthon's Loci, John, Hebrews, Romans, and 1 John. He served temporarily as rector and after 1557 as vice chancellor. …

[German Version] (died c. 1584/1585). The Reformation-minded former Carmelite from Paris went in 1550 as a doctor to Geneva. Arrested because of his criticism of Calvin's doctrine of predestination, he was expelled from Geneva in 1551 and later from Bern and Lausanne. His polemical biography of Calvin, written in 1577, influenced French Catholicism into the 20th century. Martin H. Jung Bibliography F. Pfeilschifter, Das Calvinbild bei Bolsec, 1983 P. C. Holtrop, The Bolsec Controversy on Predestination, 2 vols., 1993.

[German Version] (or Schepler, Latinized: Sertorious; 1472 St. Gall – Aug 25, 1551, St. Gall), Reformer of the imperial city of Memmingen, who played a role in the Peasants’ War. He studied and taught from 1498 to 1503 and from 1505 to 1510 in Leipzig (not Vienna), receiving his M.A. in 1501 and his licentiate from the theological faculty in 1510 (no doctorate in theology or law). From 1503 to 1505 and from 1510 to 1513 he worked in St. Gall as a teacher and then as a preacher in Memmingen, where …

[German Version] (Apr 10, 1718, Sulz on the Neckar – Jul 13, 1764, Nürtingen), the son of a dean, studied theology in Tübingen, was a curate in Stuttgart, and pastor in Ludwigsburg and Oberesslingen (now Esslingen). Illnesses brought him to “conversion.” In 1756 he became dean of Nürtingen. The pietist was primarily active as a preacher, and published volumes of sermons: Evangelical Witnesses to the Truth (1758), The Order of Salvation (1759), and Observations concerning the Benefits of the New Covenant (1765). The Evangelical Witnesses (Ger. Evangelische Zeugnisse) underwent at l…

[German Version] 1. C(h)aritas. (baptized Barbara; Mar 21, 1467, Eichstätt – Aug 19, 1532, Nuremberg), abbess (from 1503) of the Clarissene convent in Nuremberg and an outstanding female figure (Women: IV, 2) of the Reformation period. The daughter of a patrician Nuremberg family, she entered the convent in 1479 to be educated and then took her vows, probably in 1483. She mastered Latin, read theological works, and corresponded with several Humanists. In 1525, when the Reformation carried the day i…

[German Version] (1488, Oppenheim? – Aug 7, 1549, Kronberg im Taunus). An imperial knight related to Franz v. Sickingen and acquainted with Ulrich v. Hutten, Kronberg was definitively won over to the Reformation by Luther in Worms (1521). From 1521 to 1523, he wrote open letters (distributed as pamphlets) advocating the Reformation, to the emperor and pope among others, and helped implement the Reformation in Frankfurt am Main in 1522. He was placed under the imperial ban in 1522 because of his pa…

[German Version] (Jun 24, 1499, Weil der Stadt – Sep 11, 1570, Stuttgart). As the reformer of the imperial free city of Schwäbisch Hall and revitalizer of Protestantism in the duchy of Württemberg after the Augsburg Interim, Brenz played a leading role in the Lutheran Reformation in southern Germany. As a theologian, he made importa…

[German Version] (Joachim Vadian; Nov 29, 1484, Saint Gall – Apr 6, 1551, Saint Gall), Humanist and scholar. He began his studies in Vienna in 1501, where he was influenced by C. Celtis. In 1516 he was appointed professor of rhetoric; in 1516/1517 he served as rector, and in 1517 he received a doctorate in medi-¶ cine. His travels took him to Trent, Venice, Padua, Leipzig, Posen (Poznań), Breslau (Wrocław), and Krakow. For unknown reasons, he returned to Saint Gall, where he served as mayor several times (first in 1526) and together with J. Keßler in…

[German Version] 1. Johann Jakob (Jan 18, 1701, Stuttgart –Sep 30, 1785, Stuttgart), teacher of constitutional law and adviser on political and legal matters, was an adherent of Pietism. From 1720 to 1726 he was active in Tübingen, Vienna, Stuttgart, and Wetzlar. From 1726 to 1727 and from 1734 to 1736 he was a senior civil servant in Stuttgart, then director of the university in Frankfurt an der Oder. From 1739 to 1747 he lived in the Pietist community of Ebersdorf (Reuß county). From 1751 to 1759 a…

[German Version] (Jan 29, 1499, Lippendorf near Leipzig – Dec 20, 1552, Torgau). This daughter of an impoverished noble was reared in the Augustinian nunnery of Brehna and then in the Cistercian nunnery of Marienthon in Nimbschen where she took her vows in 1515. On Easter night in 1523, she fled and arrived at Wittenberg. On Jun 13, 1525, she married Luther, to …

[German Version] (Jun 24, 1687, Winnenden – Nov 2, 1752, Stuttgart). The teacher, pastor, and later prelate and consistorial councilor is the most important Württembergian Pietist of the 18th century. His contributions to exegesis and to New Testament text criticism and his chiliastic theory (Millenarianism) are significant. He exer…

[German Version] (Mar 17, 1647, Stuttgart – Apr 11 [not: 2], 1720, Tübingen), Lutheran theologian, was the son of a Württemberg official. He studied in Tübingen, received the M.A. in 1669 and, from 1671, was tutor to two sons of the duke in Tübingen, whom he accompanied to Switzerland and Italy. As professor of philosophy in Tübingen (from 1678), he initially taught geography and Latin, then Greek, later ethics, and finally logic and metaphysics. He became professor of theology in 1690, received t…

[German Version] (Thummius; Nov 8, 1586, Hausen an der Zaber [Brackenheim] – Oct 20, 1630, Tübingen), served as pastor and dean in Stuttgart and Kirchheim/Teck; in 1618 he became professor of theology at Tübingen, where he served several times as dean of the faculty and three times as rector. He devoted himself to controversial theology, with polemics against Jesuits, Calvinists, and followers of V. Weigel. The same purpose was served by his dogmatic compendium Synopsis praecipuorum articulorum fidei, nostro seculo maxime controversorum (1625, 21626, repr. 1704). Thumm played …

[German Version] (Jan 30, 1768, Brunswick – May 25, 1849, Brunswick). The son of a musician, Venturini studied theology at Helmstedt from 1788 to 1793, where he was influenced by H.P.K. Henke, a proponent of rationalism. To earn a living, he worked as a historical writer. In 1794 he was appointed as a lecturer at Helmstedt. From 1797 to 1799 he worked as a teacher in Copenhagen; in 1807 he was appointed pastor in Hordorf, near Brunswick. From ¶ 1844 on he lived as an independent scholar in Schöppenstedt, near Wolfenbüttel. He had tried unsuccessfully to find a job as a lec…

[German Version] (Latinized: de Lapide; also: Steinlin, Lapidanus, Lapierre; c. 1428/1431, Stein, near Pforzheim – Mar 12, 1496, Basel). Heynlin, a scholar broadly trained in philosophy and theology, combined traditional Scholastic positions and methods with a modern humanistic sensibility. He studied in Erfurt, Leipzig, Louvain, and finally in Paris, where he became rector of the university in 1469 and received the degree of Dr.theol. in 1472. In Paris he established the first printing-press. Fro…

[German Version] (Aug 10, 1765, Radeberg – Jul 17, 1827, Riga), Protestant theologian inclined toward moderate rationalism (III); he left a deep impression on the ecclesiastical and spiritual life of Livonia. After studying at Leipzig from 1784 to 1788, he became rector of the cathedral school in Riga. He was appointed senior pastor in 1791, assessor of the Livonian supreme consistory in 1799, and general superintendent in 1803. He deserves credit for reshaping the liturgy, creating a hymnal, prom…

[German Version] (Röubli; c. 1484, Rottenburg am Neckar – 1559 or later). From 1525 to 1531, Reublin was a leading figure among the Anabaptists in southwest Germany, Switzerland, and Moravia; he influenced B. Hubmaier and M. Sattler. He studied at Freiburg im Breisgau and Tübingen, earned a master’s degree, and in 1521 was appointed parish priest of Sankt Alban’s in Basel. On account of his inflammatory preaching of the Reformation, he was expelled in 1522 and went to Witikon (Canton Zürich), wher…

[English Version] I. ReligionswissenschaftlichV.a. in den Rel. der Naturvölker, aber auch in einigen Hochkulturen wird bestimmten T. aufgrund bes. Eigenschaften (Größe, Stärke, Gefährlichkeit, Fruchtbarkeit etc.), ihrer wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung, Fremdheit oder Vertrautheit für den Menschen eine bes., sakrale Bedeutung zugeschrieben und sie werden als Träger bzw. Repräsentanten oder Vermittler numinoser Macht verehrt (Gott/Götter/Götterbilder und -symbole). Dieses auch als »Tierkult« bez. Phänome…

[English Version] I. Brüder von der Buße Brüder von der Buße (Büßer Jesu von Nazareth, Scalzetti [=  Barfüßer], Nazareni, Ordo Poenitentium a Jesu Nazareno, OPoen), 1752 in Salamanca durch den Spanier Juan Alonso Varela y Losada (1724–1769) gegründet; den Franziskanern nach Regel, Einrichtung und Tracht ähnlicher, kontemplativ-eremitisch geprägter Bettelorden, tätig in Volksmission und Armenfürsorge (bis 1854 viertes Gelübde: Verteidigung der Unbefleckten Empfängnis Mariä); v.a. in Italien, aber auch …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament and Ancient Israel – III. Christianity – IV. Attitudes toward Animals in Islam – V. Ethical Considerations I. Religious Studies Especially in the religions of primitive peoples, though also in some advanced civilizations, certain animals are attributed a special, sacred significance on the basis of their unique characteristics (size, strength, dangerousness, fertility, etc.), their ec…

[German Version] I. Brothers of Penitence The order of the Brothers of Penitence (Penitents of Jesus of Nazareth, Scalzetti [= Barefoot Friars], Nazareni, Ordo Poenitentium a Jesu Nazareno, OPoen) was founded by the Spaniard Juan Alonso Varela y Losada (1724–1769) in Salamanca in 1752. It was a contemplative and hermetic mendicant order, similar to the Franciscans in rule, organization, and habit, and active in the mission to the people and care of the poor (with a fourth vow until 1854: defense of th…