Agricola, Johann

Agricola, Johann

▪ German theologian
original name  Johann Schneider, Schneider  also spelled  Schnitter,  Latin  Sartor 
born April 20, 1494, Eisleben, Saxony
died Sept. 22, 1566, Berlin

      Lutheran Reformer, friend of Martin Luther (Luther, Martin), and advocate of antinomianism, a view asserting that Christians are freed by grace from the need to obey the Ten Commandments. At Wittenberg, Agricola was persuaded by Luther to change his course of study from medicine to theology. Increasingly under Luther's influence, Agricola accompanied him as recording secretary to his Leipzig debate of 1519 with the scholar Johann Eck.

      In 1525 Agricola helped introduce Lutheranism to Frankfurt and, in the same year, became head of the Latin school at Eisleben. There, he began to assert his antinomianism (Greek anti, “against”; nomos, “law”), condemning the law as an unnecessary carry-over from the Old Testament and as too similar to the Roman Catholic stress on good works: “The Decalog (Ten Commandments) belongs in the courthouse, not in the pulpit. . . . To the gallows with Moses!” In 1527 he became more forceful, attacking the Reformer Philipp Melanchthon (Melanchthon, Philipp), an associate of Luther, for Lutheran inclusion of the law in Reformation theology. The conflict was enlarged when Agricola returned to Wittenberg in 1536, and Luther responded with five disputations and the treatise “Against the Antinomians.” Under persecution for his attacks on Luther's position, in 1540 Agricola went to Berlin, where he retracted his views and in the same year was made court preacher by the Protestant prince Joachim II of Brandenburg. Shortly afterward he returned to Saxony but found himself no longer in Luther's trust.

      In 1548, following Charles V's victory over the Protestants in his effort to unify the Holy Roman Empire, Agricola was selected by the emperor as one of three theologians to draft a provisional religious settlement between Protestants and Roman Catholics, a document that became known as the Augsburg Interim. His role earned Agricola the hatred of staunch Protestants, but he defended strict Lutheranism in other controversies and toward the end of his life considered himself to have won a substantial victory for Luther's views. Although criticized by some as vain and too morally weak to shun court favours, Agricola was a gifted theologian and administrator.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • AGRICOLA, Johann — (1494 1566) Johann Agricola was an influential German Reformer who broke with Martin Luther* over antinomianism, the issue of whether Christians were held to obey the Mosaic Law. Agricola went to school in Braunschweig and began his uni­versity… …   Renaissance and Reformation 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary

  • Agricola, Johann — (c. 1494–1566)    Theologian.    Agricola was a native of Eisleben, Germany, and was a pupil of Martin luther at the University of Wittenberg. After a brief ministry in Frankfurt and Eisleben, he returned to Wittenberg, but failed to be appointed …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Agricola, Johann — soprannome di Schneider, Johann …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Agricola, Johann — ► (1494 1566) Teólogo protestante alemán. Tomó parte en la redacción del Interim de Augsburgo …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • AGRICOLA, JOHANN —    a follower and friend of Luther, who became his antagonist in the matter of the binding obligation of the law on Christians (1492 1566) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Agricola, Johann Friedrich — ► (1720 74) Teórico y compositor alemán. Autor de óperas, oratorios y cantatas …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Johann Friedrich Agricola — (* 4. Januar 1720 in Dobitschen (heute Thüringen); † 12. November (2. Dezember) 1774 in Berlin) war ein deutscher Musiker, Komponist und Musikschriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Biographie 2 Werk 3 Liter …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Friedrich Agricola — (4 January 1720 – 2 December 1774) was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio. Biography Agricola was born in Dobitschen, Thuringia. While a student of law …   Wikipedia

  • Johann Agricola (evangelischer Theologe) — Johann Agricola (* um 1530 in Spremberg; † 30. August 1590 in Bautzen) war ein evangelischer Theologe des 16. Jahrhunderts. Der lateinische Begriff agricola heißt wortwörtlich übersetzt „Ackerbauer“ und ist eine zu dieser Zeit in des Latein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Johann Agricola (Arzt) — Johann Agricola aus Gunzenhausen, andere Namensformen: Peurle, Beuerle, Ammonius (* 1496 in Gunzenhausen; † 6. März 1570 in Ingolstadt) war ein Mediziner. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Wirken 2 Werke 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”