Melanchthon

Melanchthon, Philip, whose real surname, Schwaezerd, was Grsecised by the pedantry of his age, was born in 1497. After finishing bis studies at Tubingen under Reuchlin, he began to lecture publicly on the classics. In 1518 he was appointed to the chair of Greek at Wittenberg, where he assisted Luther in translating the Bible, and soon adopted his theological views. He filled Luther's place during his confinement in the Wartburg (1521), having previously published his first treatise in support of the authority of the Scriptures as against that of the Fathers. In 1526 he was appointed as one of the commissioners, in accordance with the result of the Diet of Spires, to visit the reformed communities. At the Marburg Conference he argued with Zwingli on the doctrine of the real presence, and next year (1530) he drew up the Augsburg Confession. He was not averse to a compromise with Rome, whose errors he regarded as outgrowths rather than wilful impostures; and this spirit, which showed itself in the reservations with which he signed the Smalkalden Articles, comes out more clearly after Luther's death. His attitude towards the overtures for reconciliation made in 1547, led to the adiaphorist controversy as to what matters were or were not indifferent to the faith. His later years were somewhat marred by bitter and profitless disputes not only with Romanists, but with reformers also. He died in 1560, and was buried beside Luther in Wittenberg church. His two chief works are entitled Loci Communes Rerum Theoloqicarum, Libellus Visitatorius, and An Apology for the Augsburg Conference.