Johann Gerhard

Johannes Gerhard (17 October 1582 – 17 August 1637) was a Lutheran church leader and Lutheran Scholastic theologian during the period of Orthodoxy.

Biography

He was born in the German city of Quedlinburg. During a dangerous illness, at the age of fourteen he came under the personal influence of Johann Arndt, author of ''Das wahre Christenthum'', and resolved to study for the church. He entered the University of Wittenberg in 1599, and studied philosophy and theology. A relative then persuaded him to change his subject, and he studied medicine for two years. In 1603, he resumed his theological reading at Jena, and in the following year received a new impulse from J.W. Winckelmann and Balthasar Mentzer at Marburg. He graduated in 1605 and began to give lectures at Jena, then in 1606 he accepted the invitation of John Casimir, Duke of Coburg, to the superintendency of Heldburg and mastership of the gymnasium Casimirianum Coburg; soon afterwards he became general superintendent of the duchy, in which capacity he was engaged in the practical work of ecclesiastical organization until 1616, when he became the senior theological professor at Jena, where the remainder of his life was spent.

Here, with Johann Major and Johann Himmel, he formed the "Trias Johannea." Though still comparatively young, Gerhard was already regarded as the greatest living theologian of Protestant Germany; in the "disputations" of the period he was always protagonist, and his advice was sought on all public and domestic questions touching on religion or morals. During his lifetime he received repeated calls to almost every university in Germany (e.g. Giessen, Altdorf, Helmstedt, Jena, Wittenberg), as well as to Uppsala in Sweden. He died in Jena.

Writings

His writings are numerous, alike in exegetical, polemical, dogmatic and practical theology. To the first category belong the (1617), the ''Comment, super priorem D. Petri epistolam'' (1641), and also his commentaries on ''Genesis'' (1637) and on ''Deuteronomy'' (1658). Of a controversial character are the ''Confessio Catholica'' (1633–1637), an extensive work which seeks to prove the ''evangelical'' and catholic character of the doctrine of the Augsburg Confession from the writings of approved Roman Catholic authors; and the ''Loci communes theologici'' (1610–1622), his principal contribution, in which Lutheranism is expounded "''nervose, solide et copiose''," in fact with a fulness of learning, a force of logic and a minuteness of detail that had never before been approached.

The ''Meditationes sacrae'' (1606), a work expressly devoted to the uses of Christian edification, has been frequently reprinted in Latin and has been translated into most of the European languages, including Greek.

Works

* A full listing of printings of Gerhard's works from 1601 to 2002 is in Johann Anselm Steiger, ed., ''Bibliographia Gerhardina 1601–2002: Verzeichnis der Druckschriften Johann Gerhards (1582–1637) sowie ihrer Neuausgaben, Übersetzungen und Bearbeitungen'' (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 2003).
* ''Loci Theologici'' (1610–1625; reprint, Berlin: Schlawitz, 1863–85)
vol. 1 (1625 ''Exegesis'')vol. 3 (1610 ''Loci'') vol. 5vol. 7 vol. 8 vol. 9"> vol. 9vol. 1-9
* ''Confessio Catholica'' (Jena, 1634–37)
volume 1volume 2/1volume 2/2volume 2/3(Frankfurt, 1679)


Meditationes Sacrae (original Latin text with audio recordings)

Johann Gerhards Handexemplar der Lutherbibel
- Digital copy of Johann Gerhard's personal annotated Bible

Translations

* ''Theological Commonplaces: Exegesis, or A More Copious Explanation of Certain Articles of the Christian Religion (1625): On the Nature of Theology and on Scripture'', rev. ed., translated by Richard J. Dinda, edited with annotations by Benjamin T. G. Mayes (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009).
* ''Theological Commonplaces: Exegesis, or A More Copious Explanation of Certain Articles of the Christian Religion (1625): On the Nature of God and On the Most Holy Mystery of the Trinity'', translated by Richard J. Dinda, edited with annotations by Benjamin T. G. Mayes (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2007).
* ''Theological Commonplaces: Exegesis, or A More Copious Explanation of Certain Articles of the Christian Religion (1625): On the Person and Office of Christ'', translated by Richard J. Dinda, edited with annotations by Benjamin T. G. Mayes (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009).
* ''Theological Commonplaces: On the Church'', translated by Richard J. Dinda, edited with annotations by Benjamin T. G. Mayes (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2010).
* ''Meditations on Divine Mercy'', translated by Matthew C. Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2003).

''Sacred Meditations'', translated by C. W. Heisler (Philadelphia: Lutheran Publication Society, 1896).
* ''An Explanation of the History of the Suffering and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ'', translated by Elmer M. Hohle (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 1999).
*
The External Symbols or Earthly Matter in the Lord's Supper
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2013).
*
Commentary on 1 Timothy 4:12
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2012).
*
Not Ashamed of the Cross: Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:11–18
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2011).
*
Troublesome Times: Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:1–5
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2013).
*
The Necessity of Being Persecuted: Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:10-13
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2014).
*
Finishing the Race: Commentary on 2 Timothy 4:6–8
', translated by Nathaniel J. Biebert
Red Brick Parsonage
2015).

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites:
** ''Vita Joh. Gerhardi'', (published by E. R. Fischer, 1723)
** Carl Julius Böttcher, ''Das Leben Dr. Johann Gerhards'', 1858
** W. Gass, ''Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik'' (1854–1867)
**
*

Further reading

*

Studium Excitare: biography of Johann Gerhard
by Nathaniel J. Biebert

Gerhard, Johann
( Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge), Vol. IV

Gerhard, Johann
(Christian Cyclopedia)
* Erdmann Rudolph Fischer, ''The Life of John Gerhard'', translated by Richard J. Dinda and Elmer Hohle (Malone, TX: Repristination, 1999).

Erdmann Rudolph Fischer, ''Vita Johannis Gerhardi'' (Leipzig, 1723).
* Glenn K. Fluegge, ''Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) and the Conceptualization of Theologia at the Threshold of the "Age of Orthodoxy": The Making of the Theologian'' (Goettingen 2018, )

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhard, Johann
1582 births
1637 deaths
People from Quedlinburg
17th-century German Lutheran clergy
German Lutheran theologians
German male non-fiction writers
Lutheran sermon writers
Clergy from Saxony-Anhalt
People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar
17th-century Latin-language writers
University of Jena faculty
University of Wittenberg alumni
16th-century Lutheran theologians
17th-century Lutheran theologians