Melanchthon, Philipp

Melanchthon, Philipp

 orig. Philipp Schwartzerd

Philipp Melanchthon, engraving by Albrecht Dürer, 1526.

(credit: Courtesy of the Staatliche Museen Kuperstichkabinett, Berlin)

(born Feb. 15, 1497, Bretten, Palatinate—died April 19, 1560, probably Wittenberg, Saxony) German Protestant reformer. His education in Germany was greatly influenced by humanist learning, and he was named professor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518. A friend and defender of Martin Luther, Melanchthon was the author of Loci communes (1521), the first systematic treatment of the principles of the Reformation, and of the Protestant creed known as the Augsburg Confession (1530). He also reorganized the entire educational system of Germany, founding and reforming several of its universities. His willingness to compromise with Catholics on theological issues in his later years became controversial.

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Melanchthon, Philipp 

(Greek name of P. Schwartzerd). Born Feb. 16, 1497, in Bretten, Baden; died Apr. 19, 1560, in Wittenberg. German humanist and theologian; a leader of the Lutheran Reformation (the moderate burgher wing). Son of a gunsmith.

In 1518, Melanchthon was appointed professor of Greek at the University of Wittenberg, where he became Luther’s closest companion and friend. Melanchthon was an ardent opponent of the Peasant War of 1524–26; he likewise opposed T. Miintzer, and the Anabaptists. As a theorist of Lutheranism, he generalized the principles of Lutheran theology. (He compiled the Loci communes rerum theologicarum, 1521, and the Augsburg Confession, 1530.) After Luther died in 1546, Melanchthon became the head of Lutheranism. He was the author of many pedagogical essays and textbooks, and he was involved in the reorganization of the school and university systems in Saxony and other areas of Germany and the propagation of a classical education (for which he was called Praeceptor Germaniae, “the teacher of Germany”); in education, however, he subordinated humanist ideals to the interests of the Lutheran Church and the princes.

WORKS

Werke in Auswahl, vols. 1–7. Edited by R. Stupperich. Giitersloh, 1951–71.

REFERENCES

Stupperich, R. Melanchthon. Berlin, 1960.
Stern, L. P. Melanchthon: Humanist, Reformator, Praeceptor Germaniae. Halle, 1963.