Everything about Johannes Brenz totally explained
Johann Brenz, the German
theologian and
Swabian Reformer, was born at
Weil
(8 miles s. of Stuttgart)
June 24,
1499; died at
Stuttgart September 11,
1570.
Early Advocacy of the Reformation
Brenz received his education at
Heidelberg, where, shortly after becoming
magister and regent of the
Realistenbursa in 1518, he delivered
philological and
philosophical lectures. He also lectured on the
Gospel of Matthew, only to be prohibited on account of his popularity and his novel
exegesis, especially as he'd already been won over to the side of
Luther, not only through his
ninety-five theses, but still more by personal acquaintance with him at the
disputation at Heidelberg in April,
1518. In 1522 Brenz was threatened with a trial for heresy, but escaped through a call to the pastorate of Hall. In the spring of 1524 he received a strong ally in his activity as a Reformer in
Johann Isenmann, who became pastor of the parish-church at Hall.
The feast of corpus Christi was the first to be discarded, and in 1524 the monastery of the
Discalced Friars was transformed into a school In the
Peasants' War, on the other hand, Brenz deprecated the abuse of evangelical liberty by the peasants, pleading for mercy to the conquered and warning the magistracy of their duties. At Christmas the
Lord's Supper was administered in both kinds,
and at Easter of the following year the first regulations were framed for the church and the school. Brenz himself prepared in 1528 a larger and a smaller
catechism for the young, both characterized by simplicity, warmth, and a childlike spirit.
Activity in behalf of the New Movement
He first attained wider recognition, however, when he published his
Syngramma Suevicum on Oct. 21, 1525, attacking
Œcolampadius, and finding the explanation of the creative power of the word of
Christ in the theory that the body and blood of Christ are actually
present in the
Sacrament. Henceforth Brenz took part in all the important conferences on the religious situation. In Oct., 1529, he attended the
Colloquy of Marburg, and in the following year, at the request of the Margrave
George of Brandenburg, he was present at the
diet in Augsburg, where he seconded
Melanchthon in his efforts to reach an agreement with the adherents of the ancient faith, but refused all association with the followers of
Zwingli. In 1532 he collaborated in the church-regulations of
Brandenburg and
Nuremberg, and furthered the Reformation in the margravate of
Brandenburg-Ansbach,
Dinkelsbühl, and
Heilbronn, while three years later
Duke Ulrich of Württemberg called him as an adviser in the framing of regulations for the church,
visitations, and marriage. In Feb., 1537, he was at Schmalkald, and two months later undertook the difficult but successful task of the reformation of the
University of Tübingen. He likewise attended the conference on the use of images held at
Urach, Sept., 1537, where he urged their abolition. Brenz returned to Hall in April of the following year, in June, 1540, attended the conference at
Hagenau, was at Worms in the latter part of the same year, and in Jan., 1546, was at Regensburg, where he was obliged to deal with
Cochlæus, although, as he
had foreseen, he was unsuccessful. He devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duties, and side by side with his sermons was evolved a valuable series of expositions of Biblical writings.
Opposed by the Emperor
After the last remnants of the ancient regulations of the church of Hall had been abolished, his new rules appeared in 1543. Calls to
Leipzig in 1542, to
Tübingen in 1543, and to Strasburg in 1548 were declined in favor of his position at Hall. Brenz had long opposed the adherence of Hall and the margrave to the
Schmalkaldic League, since he regarded resistance to the temporal authorities as inadmissible. Gradually, however, his views changed, through the hostile attitude of the
emperor. In 1538
Hall entered the League, and after its defeat
Charles V came to the city (Dec. 16, 1546), and obtained possession of papers, letters, and sermons of Brenz, who, despite the bitter cold, was obliged to flee, although he returned Jan. 4, 1547. The new
Augsburg Interim of the emperor, which Brenz called
interitus ("ruin"), recalled him to the scene of action, and he earnestly opposed its adoption. The imperial chancellor,
Granvella, demanded his surrender, and Brenz, warned by a note reading: "Flee, Brenz, quickly, more quickly, most quickly!" escaped on the evening of his forty-ninth birthday, June 24, 1548. He hastened to
Duke Ulrich, who concealed
him in the castle of Hohenwittlingen near Urach, where, under the pseudonym of Joannes Witlingius, he prepared an exposition of Ps. xciii and cxxx. As the emperor was everywhere searching for him, Ulrich sent him by way of
Strasburg to
Basel, where he was kindly received and found time to write an exposition of the prophecy of Isaiah. Duke Christopher called him to Mömpelgard, where, in Jan., 1549, Brenz was notified of the death of his wife. The condition of his children induced him to go to
Swabia, but owing to the pursuit of the emperor, he was often in great danger, and the duke sheltered him in the castle of Hornberg near
Gutach. There he spent eighteen months under the name of Huldrich Engster (Encaustius), always active for the welfare of the Church, both by his advice to the duke and his theological labors. He declined calls to
Magdeburg,
Königsberg, and England. In Aug., 1549, he ventured to go to
Urach, where his friend Isenmann was now minister, in order to take counsel with the duke, his advisers, and
Matthaeus Alber, regarding the restoration of the evangelical divine service. In the autumn of 1550 he married for his second wife Catherine, the oldest daughter of Isenmann.
Activity, 1550–53
After Ulrich's death Brenz was asked to prepare the
confessio Wirtembergica for the
Council of Trent, and with three other Wittenberg theologians and
Johann Marbach of Strasburg, he went to Trent, Mar., 1552, to defend his creed (see
Jakob Beurlin). Great was the surprise of the fathers of the council, but they refused to be instructed by those who were to obey them. The Interim was abolished. Brenz who had thus far lived at
Stuttgart,
Tübingen,
Ehningen, and
Sindelfingen as counselor of the duke, was made
provost of the Cathedral of Stuttgart, Sept. 24, 1554, and appointed ducal counselor for life. He was now the right hand of duke
Christoph in the reorganization of ecclesiastical and educational affairs in Württemberg. The great church order of 1553–59, containing also the
confessio Wirtembergica, in spite of its dogmatism, is distinguished by clearness, mildness, and consideration. In like manner, his
Catechismus pia et utile explicatione illustratus (Frankfort, 1551) became a rich source of instruction for many generations and countries. The proposition made by
Kaspar Leyser and
Jakob Andreä, in 1554 to introduce a form of discipline after a
Calvinistic model was opposed by Brenz, since he held that the minister should have charge of the preaching, the exhortation to
repentance, and dissuasion from the
Lord's Supper, whereas
excommunication belonged to the whole church. At the instance of the duke, Brenz moved in 1553 to Neuburg, to arrange the church affairs of the Palatinate.
Controversies
The
Osiandric controversy about the doctrine of
justification, in 1551 and the following years, which caused a scandalous schism in
Prussia, was a cause of much annoyance and defamation to Brenz, who saw in this controversy nothing but a war of words. In 1554–1555 the question of the Religious
Peace of Augsburg occupied his mind; in 1556 the conference with
Johannes a Lasco, in 1557 the Frankenthal conference with the
Anabaptists and the
Worms Colloquy; in 1558 the edict against
Schwenckfeld and the Anabaptists, and the
Frankfort Recess; in 1559 the plan for a synod of those who were related to the
Augsburg Confession and the Stuttgart Synod, to protect Brenz's doctrine of the Lord's Supper against
Calvinistic tendencies; in 1563 and 1569 the struggle against Calvinism in the
Palatinate (
Maulbronn Colloquy) and the
crypto-Calvinistic controversies. The attack of the
Dominican Peter a Soto upon the
Württemberg Confession in his
Assertio fidei (Cologne, 1562) led Brenz to reply with his
Apologia confessionis (Frankfort, 1555). In 1558 he was engaged in a controversy with Bishop Hosius of
Ermland. The development of the
Reformation in the Palatinate led the aged man to a vehement renewal of his negotiation with
Bullinger, with whom he'd been forced into close relation through the Interim. The question concerned the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and also involved a peculiar development of
Christology, which was opposed by the Lutheran theologians outside of Württemberg, since Brenz carried to its logical conclusion the concept of "personal union," thus favoring an absolute omnipresence (
ubiquity) of the body of Christ, which didn't begin with the
ascension but with the
incarnation.
Later Years
Brenz took a lively interest in the
Waldensians and the French
Protestants. But all efforts in behalf of the latter, the journey of the Württemberg theologians to Paris to advise King
Antony of Navarre in 1561 (see
Jakob Beurlin), the meeting of the duke and Brenz with
Cardinal Guise of Lorraine at
Zabern, the correspondence and the sending of writings, all ended in bitter disappointment. The Protestants of Bavaria, who had to suffer under Albert, also had his full sympathy. To the citizens of Strasburg Brenz expressed his doubts as to the advisability of following the procession with the
monstrance and advised them not to attend Roman Catholic mass. He was also deeply interested in the Protestants in
Austria, for whom the first Slavic books were then printed at Urach. His last Reformatory activity was the correspondence with
Duke William of Jülich and
Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1568–69). In addition to this he continued his exposition of the
Psalms and other Biblical books, which he'd commenced at Stuttgart. In 1569 he was paralyzed, and his strength was broken. He was buried beneath the pulpit of the cathedral; but the
Jesuits demolished his grave.
Translated works
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