Salomo Glassius (german: Salomon Glaß; 20 May 1593 – 27 July 1656) was a German

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and biblical critic born at Sondershausen, in the principality of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which la ...

. In 1612 he entered the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

. In 1615, with the intent of studying law, he moved to

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

. Due to illness, he returned to Jena after a year. Here, as a student of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

under

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 ...

, he directed his attention especially to

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and the cognate dialects. In 1619 he was made an adjunctus of the philosophical faculty. He later was appointment as Professor of Hebrew. From 1625 to 1638 he was superintendent in Sondershausen. Shortly after the death of Gerhard (1637) he was, in accordance with Gerhard's last wish, appointed to succeed him at Jena. Later, at the earnest invitation of Duke Ernest the Pious, he relocated in 1640 to

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

as court preacher and general superintendent in the execution of important reforms which had been initiated in the ecclesiastical and educational establishments of the Duchy. He played a role in the

Syncretistic Controversy The syncretistic controversy was the theological debate provoked by the efforts of Georg Calixt and his supporters to secure a basis on which the Lutherans could make overtures to the Roman Catholic and the Reformed Churches. It lasted from 1640 ...

. His principal work, ''Philologia sacra'' (1623), marked the transition from the earlier views on questions of biblical criticism to those of the school of Spener. It was more than once reprinted during his lifetime, and appeared in a new and revised form, edited by J. A. Dathe (1731-1791) and G. L. Bauer at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Glassius succeeded Gerhard as editor of the ''Weimar Bibelwerk'', one of the

Elector Bible The Elector Bible () is a German language folio-sized, Martin Luther translation of the Bible (Old and New Testament) that was authorized by Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and printed by Wolfgang Endter in Nuremberg, Germany from 1641 to 1758. Ot ...

s, this particular one called the ''Nuremberg Bible''. He wrote the commentary on the poetical books of the Old Testament for that publication. A volume of his ''Opuscula'' was printed at

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

in 1700. Glassius died in Gotha on the 27th of July 1656.

References

* 1593 births 1656 deaths People from Sondershausen German Lutheran theologians 17th-century Latin-language writers 17th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub 17th-century Lutheran theologians