JUSTUS

JONAS (1493–1555)  , German Protestant reformer, was born at Nordhausen in Thuringia, on the 5th of June 1493 . His real name was Jodokus (Jobst) Koch, which he changed according to the common custom of German scholars in the 16th century, when at the university of Erfurt . He entered that university in 15o6, studied law and the humanities, and became Master of Arts in 151o . In 1511 he went to Wittenberg, where he took his bachelor's degree in law . He returned to Erfurt in 1514 or 1515, was ordained priest, and in 1518 was promoted doctor in both faculties and appointed to a well-endowed canonry in the church of St Severus, to which a profes-sorship of law was attached . His great admiration for Erasmus first led him to Greek and biblical studies, and his election in May 1519 as rector of the university was regarded as a triumph for the partisans of the New Learning . It was not, however, until after the Leipzig disputation with Eck that Luther won his allegiance . He accompanied Luther to Worms in 1521, and there was appointed by the elector of Saxony professor of canon law at Wittenberg . During Luther's stay in the Wartburg Jonas was one of the most active of the Wittenberg reformers . Giving himself up to preaching and polemics, he aided the Reformation by his gift as a translator, turning Luther's and Melanchthon's works into German or Latin as the case might be, thus becoming a sort of double of both . He was busied in conferences and visitations during the next twenty years, and in diplomatic work with the princes . In 1541 he began a successful preaching crusade in Halle; he became superintendent of its churches in 1542 .

In 1546 he was

present at Luther's deathbed at Eisleben, and preached the funeral sermon; but in the same year was banished from the duchy by Maurice, duke (later elector) of Saxony . From that time until his death, Jonas was unable to secure a satisfactory living . He wandered from place to place preaching, and finally went to Eisfeld (1553), where he died . He had been married three times . See Brief swechsel des Justus Jonas, gesammelt .und bearbeitet von G . Kawerau (2 vols., Halle, 1884–1885) ; Kawerau's article in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, ed . 3, with bibliography .