Johannes Oecolampadius
Encyclopedia
Johannes Œcolampadius (1482 – 24 November 1531) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 religious reformer. His real name was Hussgen or Heussgen (changed to Hausschein and then into the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 equivalent, which is derived from oikos, "house," and lâmpada, "lamp").

Life

He was born in Weinsberg
Weinsberg
Weinsberg is a town in the north of the German state Baden-Württemberg. It was founded ca. 1200 and is situated in the Heilbronn district. The town has about 11,800 inhabitants. It is noted for its wine...

, then part of the Electoral Palatinate. He attended school at Weinsberg and Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

, and then, intending to study law, he went to Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, but soon returned to Heidelberg and took up theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

. Enthusiastic about the new learning
New Learning
In the history of ideas the New Learning in Europe is a term for Renaissance humanism, developed in the later fifteenth century. Newly retrieved classical texts sparked philological study of a refined and classical Latin style in prose and poetry....

, he passed from the study of Greek to that of Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, taking his bachelor's degree in 1503. He became cathedral preacher at Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

 in 1515, serving under Christoph von Utenheim
Christoph von Utenheim
Christoph von Utenheim was Bishop of Basel from 1502 until his resignation from that office in 1527.Christoph von Utenheim was born about the year 1450. He studied theology and canon law at Basel and Erfurt. In either 1473 or 1474 he became the rector of Basel University. He earned his doctorate...

, the humanist bishop of Basel. In Basel Oecolampadius became an editorial assistant and Hebrew consultant to Erasmus' first edition of the Greek New Testament
Novum Instrumentum omne
Novum Instrumentum omne was the first published New Testament in Greek . It was prepared by Desiderius Erasmus and printed by Johann Froben of Basel. Although the first printed Greek New Testament was the Complutensian Polyglot , it was the second to be published...

, and wrote that edition's epilogue in praise of his master.

Career

From the beginning the sermons of Oecolampadius centred on the atonement, and his first reformatory zeal showed itself in a protest (De risu paschali, 1518) against the introduction of humorous stories into Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

 sermons. In 1520 he published his Greek Grammar. The same year he received an invitation to become preacher in the high church in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

. Germany was ablaze with the questions raised by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

's theses
95 Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences , commonly known as , was written by Martin Luther, 1517 and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation...

, and Oecolampadius's introduction into this environment, when he championed Luther's position, especially in his anonymous Canonici indocti (1519), seems to have compelled him to severe self-examination, which ended in his becoming a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

. A short experience convinced him that this was not for him the ideal Christian life ("amisi monachum, inveni Christianum" — "I have lost the monk; I have found the Christian"), and in February 1522 he made his way to Ebernburg, near Creuznach, where he acted as chaplain to a little group of men holding the new opinions who had settled there under the leadership of Franz von Sickingen
Franz von Sickingen
Franz von Sickingen was a German knight, one of the most notable figures of the first period of the Reformation.-Biography:He was born at Ebernburg near Bad Kreuznach...

.

Oecolampadius returned to Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

 in November 1522, as vicar of St Martin's, and (in 1523) reader of the Holy Scripture at the University of Basel
University of Basel
The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...

. Lecturing on Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...

,
he condemned current ecclesiastical abuses, and in a public disputation (August 20, 1523) gained such success that Erasmus writing to Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

 said, "Oecolampadius has the upper hand amongst us." He became Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli
Ulrich Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...

's assistant, and after more than a year of earnest preaching and four public disputations in which the popular verdict went in favour of Oecolampadius and his friends, the authorities of Basel began to see the need for Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

.

At last Oecolampadius was able to refrain from some practices he believed to be superstitious. Basel was slow to accept the Reformation; the news of the Peasants' War
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...

 and the inroads of Anabaptists prevented progress; but by 1525, it seemed as if the authorities were resolved to listen to schemes for restoring the purity of worship and teaching. In the midst of these hopes and difficulties Oecolampadius married, in the beginning of 1528, Wibrandis Rosenblatt
Wibrandis Rosenblatt
Wibrandis Rosenblatt was the wife of three religious reformers, who predeceased her: Johannes Oecolampadius , Wolfgang Capito , and Martin Bucer . She was the widow of a Ludwig Keller before she was married to Oecolampadius. She was the mother of 11 children.She was born in 1504 in Bad Säckingen...

, the widow of Ludwig Keller, who proved a suitable wife. After his death she married Wolfgang Fabricius Capito
Wolfgang Fabricius Capito
Wolfgang Fabricius Capito was a German religious reformer-His life and work:Capito was born in born of humble parentage at Haguenau in Alsace....

, and, when Capito died, Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...

. She died in 1564.

In January 1528 Oecolampadius and Zwingli took part in the disputation at Bern which led to the adoption of the new faith in that canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

, and in the following year to the discontinuance of the Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

 at Basel. In 1529 he became officially the Antistes
Antistes
Antistes was from the 16th to the 19th century the title of the head of the church in the Reformed Churches in Switzerland...

of the Reformed Church in Basel. The Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

s claimed Oecolampadius for their views, but in a disputation with them he dissociated himself from most of their positions. He died on 24 November 1531.

Theology and Marian views

Oecolampadius was considered to be a brilliant Protestant theologian, who conversed with Johannes Eck, Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...

 and was Professor of theology at the University of Basel. As a theologian, he did not have the clamour of Luther, Zwingli or John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

, but he became a trusted religious leader. He was respected even among Catholic scholars of his time and was quoted over forty years after his death by the Jesuit St.
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

 Peter Canisius in his work De Maria Virgine. With Zwingli he represented the Swiss at the Marburg Colloquy. His views on the Eucharist upheld the metaphorical against the literal interpretation of the word "body," but he asserted that believers partook of the sacrament more for the sake of others than for their own, though later he emphasized it as a means of grace for the Christian life. To Luther's doctrine of the ubiquity of Christ's body he opposed that of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the church. His views on the Eucharist prompted Luther to publish several sermons on the subject in his 1526 The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics
The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics
The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics is a book by Martin Luther, published in late September or early October 1526 to aid Germans confused by the spread of new ideas from the Sacramentarians...

.
He did not minutely analyse the doctrine of predestination as Luther, Calvin and Zwingli did, contenting himself with the summary "Our Salvation is of God, our perdition of ourselves." Calvin held his work in high regard, and through his writings and his influence in Basel (where Calvin wrote his first edition of the Institutes
Institutes of the Christian Religion
The Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology...

), Oecolampadius served as an intermediary between the humanism of Erasmus and the hermeneutics of Calvin.

Theologically he was to considered to be close to Zwingli, with whom he shared a friendly attitude towards Mary
Protestant views of Mary
Protestant views on Mary includes the theological positions of major Protestant representatives such as Martin Luther and John Calvin as well as some modern representatives...

 and Marian veneration. He is considered an example of Protestant Marian piety of his time, largely in light of his sermons. He calls Mary the mediatrix
Mediatrix
Mediatrix in Roman Catholic Mariology refers to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvation process. It is a separate concept from Co-Redemptrix....

 or mediator (Mittlerin) of all graces, to whom the Lord had entrusted the treasure of Grace Thesaurus gratiarum. Oecolampadius borrowed from Radulfus Ardens
Radulfus Ardens
Radulfus Ardens was a French theologian and early scholastic philosopher of the twelfth century. He was born in Beaulieu, Poitou.He is known for his Summa de vitiis et virtutibus or Speculum universale...

 (d. 1200) and others the image of Mary as the neck who mediates all graces of Christ (the Head) to his mystical body, the church. This view was defended in the 20th century by Gabriel Roschini
Gabriel Roschini
Gabriel M. Roschini, O.S.M. , was a Roman Catholic Italian priest and professor of Mariology, who published over 900 titles on Mariology. During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, he worked closely with the Vatican on Marian publications....

, and more generally, by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....

 in his encyclical Mystici Corporis as official doctrine of the Catholic Church.

In De laudando in Maria Deo given in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

 1521, he states, that God cannot be praised more in any creature than through Mary. His gifts and graces are expressed in her. God honoured her by becoming human through her. Mary surpassed Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...

 with her faith, Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...

 with her patience and Joseph with her chastity. She is queen of all heavenly powers. Yet, according to Oecolampadius, Catholic veneration of Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
Roman Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on Holy Scripture: In the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a virgin. The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary thus signifies her honour as Mother of God...

 went too far, because of the numerous titles given to Mary: they surpass in number and content the veneration of Christ himself. The rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

 is cited as an example with its 150 Hail Marys and only ten prayers to God. He is also critical of popular customs, by which every Saturday is solemnly observed in her honour, with abstinence from wine and sexual relations, while the following Lord’s day is characterized by heavy drinking and all kinds of entertainments. Throughout his life, Oecolampadius preached the perpetual virginity of Mary, who through her life and her works gave a shining example of Christian virtues. Mary’s life was a life of service and compassion as documented in her visit to Elizabeth.
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