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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] 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] (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 (Remonstrat…

[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 and Castres. Daneau left an extensive literary oeuvre that identified him as a prominent controversial theologian and moral writer in early Calvinism. His systematic representation of Christian ethics, first published in 1577, greatly influenced the development of Reformed Protestantism. His claim to prove the superiority of the word of God in all areas of knowledge led Daneau to create a “Christian physics,” a “Christian politics” etc., and other w…

[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 prof…

[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 ch…

[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 congregatio…

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[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 …

[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 r…

[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 …

[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 attendanc…

[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…

[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 he was appointed professor of history at the Athenaeum Illustre in Amsterdam. Influenced by the mediating theology of his teacher and stepfather F. Junius the Elder, in addition to works on moral philosophy and theology he wrote on rhetoric (Gk a…

[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 d…

[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 attacki…

[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 activiti…

[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] (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 ¶ …

[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 1…

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[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 controvers…

[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 …

[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] I. History and Theology 1. Terminology. For programmat…

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[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 the Scriptures. Appointed pastor and professor in Montauban in 1612, he died there defending the city against the royal troops. Chamier's literary work is almost exclusively in the nature of controversial t…

[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 th…

[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 …

[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. Lipsius and J. Scaliger contributed to the university's rapid rise to fame. Initially, the Humanist C. Coolhaes lectured in the faculty of theology, while L. Daneau, who had been called from Geneva, only taught there for a short time (1581/1582). The university acquired one of the most distinguished jurists of the time in Hugo Donellus (1527–1591; in Leiden 1579–1587). The founding of the “States College” in 1591, a hall of residence for the students of theology, contribu…

[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 …

[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 Konrad Gesner (1516–1565) Greek; in 1545 the highly respected French educator Maturin Cordier became head of the school. The adoption of the statutes of 1547, modeled on those of the Strasbourg Gymnasium, and the appointment of T. Beza as professor of Greek in 1549, along with renowned scholars such as the jurisprudent François Hotman (1524–1590), marked the beginning of a period in which the academy gained a reputation far beyond Vaud. A dispute with the Bernese patricians over church discipline and the independence of the church, in consequence of which Viret was dismissed and most of the professors went to Geneva, spelled the end of this first golden age. In the following decades, the academy had only a few outstanding figures among its faculty, including the French religious refugee A. de la Roche Chandieu. In 1621 it gained the right to ordain clergy of the Reformed Church as well as educating them. At the beginning of the 18th century, with the philosopher Jean-Pierre de Crousaz and the French jurisprudent Jean Barbeyrac, a theoretician of natural law, Lausanne became a stronghold of resistance to the Helvetic Consensus of 1675 (Orthodoxy: II, 2.b). In 1729 A. Court and Benjamin Duplan founded the Séminaire français to train clergy for the persecuted Reformed Church of France. A law passed in 1837 finally stripped the academy of its ecclesiastical ties. As a result of the revolution of 1845 and the establishment of the Vaudois Free Church, the academy l…

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[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…

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[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 D…

[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 Lei…

[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…

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[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 …

[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, …

[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 Labadie; he also tried unsuccessfully t…

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[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 …

[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 include: Discours historiques, critiques, théologiques et moraux sur les événements les plus mémorables du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament, 2 vols., 1720, 1728 Sermons, 12 vols., 1749 On Saurin: A. Vinet, …

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[German Version] (Molinaeus; Oct 16 or 18, 1568, Castle Buhy en Vexin – Mar 10, 1658, Sedan) studied at the Protestant academy in Sedan; be…

[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 h…

[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 …

[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 …