Lucas Osiander the Elder (15 December 1534, in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

– 17 September 1604, in Stuttgart) was a German

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

of the

Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg (german: Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg) is a Lutheran member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany in the German former state of Württemberg, now part of the state of Baden-Württem ...

and a composer of Lutheran

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The on ...

. He was a son of the reformer

Andreas Osiander Andreas Osiander (; 19 December 1498 – 17 October 1552) was a German Lutheran theologian and Protestant reformer. Career Born at Gunzenhausen, Ansbach, in the region of Franconia, Osiander studied at the University of Ingolstadt before ...

and father to Lucas Osiander the Younger.

Life

Encouraged to study at an early age by his parents, the young Osiander went to school in

and then went on to study at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

in East Prussia. In 1555 he became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

Göppingen Göppingen (Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the bi ...

, in 1558 he became a pastor and

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

Blaubeuren Blaubeuren () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. it had 11,963 inhabitants. Geography Geographical location The core city Blaubeuren lies at the foot of the Swabian Jura, west of Ulm. Neighborin ...

, and in 1563 Pastor of the Leonhardskirche in Stuttgart. At this time a shift in church polity was under way, and in 1569 Osiander was appointed royal court chaplain to the Duchy of Württemberg and made a member of the Church Consistory. In the same year, he was credited as a co-editor of

Sigmund Hemmel Sigmund Hemmel (1520–1565) was a German composer, tenor, and Kapellmeister in Stuttgart, Württemberg. He was said to have used a "large polished slate stone for composing." He was director of the Hofkapelle Stuttgart from 1552 to 1554. He is pe ...

's Psalter. He was involved in the preparation of the Lutheran

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (German, ''Konkordienformel''; Latin, ''Formula concordiae''; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its tw ...

and, together with Jakob Heerbrand, published the first Latin translation. In 1583 he was awarded a doctorate in Theology at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

. He became

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

(Superintendent) and

Prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

Adelberg Abbey Adelberg is a municipality in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Geography Adelberg lies in the Schurwald forest, at an altitude of around 334 to 473m. Climate The annual rainfall of 1045mm is within the top qu ...

in 1596. Dismissed from this position in 1598, Osiander worked briefly as a

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

Esslingen am Neckar Esslingen am Neckar (Swabian: ''Esslenga am Neckor'') is a town in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, seat of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest town in the district. Within Baden-Württemberg it is th ...

, but returned to Adelberg after one year. Equally well-versed in theology and music, Lucas Osiander initiated the first Württemberg

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chr ...

of 1583 and set to music the main body of Reformation

hymnody Robert Gerhard's Hymnody is a contemporary classical work from 1963, which was an assignment from BBC. This piece was written during February and March of that year. Composer notes A note from the composer: First citation comes from Psalm ...

as a ''Cantional'' (collection of songs) in 1586 to give the lay community the opportunity to join in figural music (a type of polyphonic singing). The text of the Lutheran hymn, ''Gott Vater, Herr, wir danken dir'' ('' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'', Württemberg Regional Edition, Nr. 557) probably originated from Osiander. Lucas Osiander's

Bible commentary Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations ...

was incorporated into the so-called ''Osiander Bible'', a plain-text Bible based on Martin Luther's translation, which was published by the Stern Press in

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

from 1650.

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* *
Digitised works of Lucas Osiander in the Post-Reformation Digital Library

Short biography of Osiander
in the ''Controversia et Confessio'' research project of the Academy of Science and Literature, Mainz *
Osianderbibel
' in the Niedersächsischen Landesbibliothek
Dgitial Edition and PDF
from the der University and Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt * German Protestant clergy Lucas Clergy from Nuremberg 1534 births 1604 deaths Classical composers of church music German classical composers German male classical composers German Lutherans German performers of Christian music Renaissance composers University of Königsberg alumni 16th-century German people 16th-century classical composers German Protestant hymnwriters 16th-century German composers {{Germany-reli-bio-stub