Johann Hülsemann (4 December 1602 – 13 June 1661) was a German Lutheran theologian. He is known as one of the most prominent Lutheran scholastic opponents of

Georgius Calixtus Georg Calixtus, Kallisøn/Kallisön, or Callisen (14 December 1586 – 19 March 1656) was a German Lutheran theologian who looked to reconcile all Christendom by removing all differences that he deemed "unimportant". Biography Calixtus was born i ...

in the Syncretistic Controversy.

Biography

Early life and education

Hülsemann was born at Esens, 65 m. n.w. of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

, 4 December 1602. He was educated at Norden, Stade, and Hanover. Before he had reached the age of eighteen, he went to the University of Rostock, and two years later to Wittenberg. He also studied briefly at Marburg.

Career

In 1627 he removed to Leipzig, where he was permitted to lecture. In 1629 he was appointed professor at Wittenberg, where he achieved an authoritative position. In 1630 he was sent to Leipzig as a delegate to a convention in behalf of the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

, and in 1645 he took a leading position at the colloquy of Thorn. In 1646 he became professor at Leipzig, and while there he also served as pastor of St. Nicholas Church and as superintendent from 1657. He wrote ''Calvinisimus irreconciliabilis'' (Wittenberg 1644) as the counterpart to Bishop Joseph Hall's ''Roma irreconciliabilis'', adding an appendix ''Quae dogmata sint ad salutem creditu necessaria'', which is somewhat conciliatory towards the Reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and the personal union. In his later years he denied his appendix and asked for it to be considered an immature writing of his youth. Though Hülsemann had been friends with Calixtus before Thorn, he became his declared opponent. In the years following Thorn, he became one of the most prominent adversaries of Calixtus, and though Abraham Calovius is more remembered today, many of his contemporaries considered him the leader of German Lutheranism. According to Ingetraut Ludolphy, he was a born systematician, whose attacks on Calixtus and the other

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage of ...

theologians are far superior to most other anti-Helmstedt polemics.

Death and afterward

Hülsemann died at Leipzig, June 13, 1661.

Works

Huelsemann’s principal works are his ''Brevarium theologiae'' (Wittenberg, 1640; enlarged with the title, ''Extensio brevarii theologiae'', Leipzig, 1655); ''Muster und Ausbund gutter Werke'' (1650); ''Dialysis apologetica problematic Calixtini'' (1651); and ''Der Calixtuinische Gewissenswurm'' (1653).

References

*Bosse, F. "Huelsemann, Johann." ''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.'' vol 5, p. 386; see also vol 11, p. 219. *Ludolphy, Ingetraut. "Huelsemann, Johann." ''The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church''. Julius Bodensieck, ed. Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1965. p. 1054 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hulsemann, Johann 1602 births 1661 deaths 17th-century Latin-language writers German Lutheran theologians Systematic theologians Academic staff of Leipzig University 17th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers 17th-century Lutheran theologians