PAUL

See also:

• PAUL LAURENTIUS (1554-1624)

LAURENTIUS (1554-1624)  , Lutheran divine, was born on the 3oth of March 1554 at Ober Wierau, where his father, of the same names, was pastor . From a school at Zwickau he entered (1573) the university of Leipzig, graduating in 1577 . In 1578 he became rector of the Martin school at Halberstadt; in 1583 he was appointed town's preacher at Plauen-im-Vogtland, and in 1586 superintendent at Oelnitz . On the zoth of October 1595 he took his doctorate in theology at Jena, his thesis on the Symbolum Athanasii (1597), gaining him similar honours at Wittenberg and Leipzig . He was promoted (1605) to be pastor and superintendent at Dresden, and transferred (1616) to the superintendence at Meissen, where he died on the 24th of February 1624 . His works consist chiefly of commentaries and expository discourses on prophetic books of the Old Testament, parts of the Psalter, the Lord's Prayer and the history of the Passion . In two orations he compared Luther to Elijah . Besides theological works he was the author of a Spicilegium Gnomonologicum (1612) . The main authority is C . Schlegel, the historian of the Dresden superintendents (1698), summarized by H . W . Rotermund, in the additions (181o) to Jocher, Gelehrten-Lexicon (175o) .

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