MELANCHTHON, PHILIP

Humanist, reformer with luther, and educator: b. Bretten, Feb. 16, 1497; d. Wittenberg, April 19, 1560. His father was Georg Schwarzerd, an armorer; his mother was a niece of Johann reuchlin. He studied under Georg Simler in the Pforzheim Latin school; at Heidelberg (1509–18), where the new humanistic learning was still weak, but ecclesiastical reform after the fashion of Wimpfeling was well represented by Pallas Spangel; and from 1512 to 1518 at Tübingen, where he received an M.A. degree (1514) and where he became wholly devoted to humanism, as evidenced by a plan to publish an error-free edition of Aristotle. At Tübingen he was influenced by

the writings of Rodolphus Agricola, and especially of erasmus. In 1518, he went to Wittenberg University where, with help from Reuchlin, he had been appointed to the chair of Greek. His inaugural address on curriculum reform won the hearty approval of Luther, who in turn won Melanchthon for his cause of reform. Thus he rejected Aristotle, helped in the Leipzig Disputation, and received a baccalaureate in theology. During the period 1523 to 1528 his earlier humanism reappeared, initially occasioned by the preaching of the Zwickau prophets. He sensed that ecclesiastical order, political stability, and culture were in danger. Therefore he began stressing the importance of divine law (by which he came to mean not only that law as the revealer of sin and the leader to Christ, but also the law of nature as the foundation of civil, social, and intellectual life). Melanchthon helped to design the system for primary education that Luther advocated and evangelical territorial rulers began to adopt in the second half of the 1520s, but his influence was most directly felt in the reform of the Lutheran universities' curriculum. These activities earned him the title "Preceptor of Germany." Although Luther had longed for a curriculum free of the influence of Aristotle, it was through Melanchthon's influence that the Greek philosopher came to play an important role in the evangelical universities, particularly in the natural philosophical curriculum. Melanchthon was also instrumental in shaping the fledgling Church's relationship with Germany's princes. His spirit was irenic and was evidenced in his ecumenical concerns. To Luther's Schmalkaldic Articles (1536) Melanchthon added a statement that allowed papal primacy over bishops (iure humano ); he sought a formula to bridge differences involving especially Bucer and Calvin concerning the Lord's Supper; against Matthias flacius illyricus in the Interim controvery, he defended Catholic usages as adiaphora (indifferent usages). Melanchthon's affirmation of the necessity of good works (from obedience and as verification but not as cause of justification) involved him in the majoristic controversy.

Melancthon remained loyal to Luther and his cause. His warm evangelical piety, clearly reflected in the augsburg confession (1530), cannot be doubted. His book of theological commonplaces, Loci communes (1520–21), was the first effort to systematize the evangelical faith. Succeeding editions broadened the Loci's rational framework. Melanchthon's writings influenced much of the system–building of later Protestantism, which characterized both the strictly orthodox and their opponents.

See also: humanism; justification; crypto–calvinism; synergism; gnesiolutheranism; confessions of faith, protestant.

Bibliography: Writings. Corpus reformatorum (Halle 1834–52; Braunschweig 1852–96; Berlin 1900–06; Leipzig 1906–); Supplementum Melanchthonianum: Dogmatische Schriften Philipp Melanchthons, ed. o. clemen (Leipzig 1910); Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl …, ed. r. stupperich et al. (Gütersloh 1961–); Melanchthon: Selected Writings, ed. e. e. flack and l. j. satre, tr. c. l. hill (Minneapolis 1962); The Loci Communes of Philip Melanchthon, tr. c. l. hill (Boston 1944). Literature. c. l. manschreck, Melanchthon, the Quiet Reformer (New York 1958). v. vajta, ed., Luther and Melanchthon in the History and Theology of the Reformation (Philadelphia 1961). r. stupperich, Der Unbekannte Melanchthon (Stuttgart 1961). p. schwarzenau, Der Wandel im theologischen Ansatz bei Melanchthon …(Gütersloh 1956). l. stern et al., Philipp Melanchthon: Humanist, Reformator, Praeceptor Germaniae (Halle 1960). w. maurer, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 7 v. (3d ed. Tübingen 1957–65) 4:834–841, bibliog. j. paquier, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant, 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 10.1:502–513. g. frank, Die theologische philosophie Philipp Melanchthons 1497–1560 (Leipzig 1995). idem, ed., Der Theologe Melanchthon (Sigmaringen 1999). s. kusukawa, The Transformation of Natural Philosophy. The Case of Philip Melanchthon (Cambridge 1995). idem, ed., Philip Melanchthon: Orations on Philosophy and Education (Cambridge, 1999). K. Maag, ed., Melanchthon in Europe (Grand Rapids, MI 1999). c. maxcey, Bona opera. A Study in the Development of the Doctrine of Philipp Melanchthon (Nieuwkoop 1980). h. scheible, "Melanchthon" in Theologische Realenzyklopädie, (Berlin 1992), V. XXII, 371–410. idem, Melanchthon und die Reformation (Mainz 1996). g. strauss, Luther's House of Learning (Baltimore 1978). t. wengert, Human Freedom, Christian Righteousness. Philipp Melanchthon's Exegetical Dispute with Erasmus of Rotterdam (Oxford 1998).

[q. breen/

p. soergel]