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JUSTUS MENIUS (1494-1558)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 132 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JUSTUS See also:

MENIUS (1494-1558)  , Lutheran theologian, whose name is Latinized from See also:Jost or Just (i.e . Jodocus) Menig, was See also:born at See also:Fulda, of poor but respectable parents, on the 13th of See also:December 1499 . Entering the university of See also:Erfurt in 1514, he took the See also:bachelor's degree in 1515, the See also:master's in 1516 . At this See also:time, in association with the keen humanists See also:Conrad See also:Mutian, Crotus Rubeanus and Eoban See also:Hess, he was of sceptical tendency; moving to See also:Wittenberg in 1519, he became evangelical under the teaching of See also:Melanchthon and the See also:preaching of See also:Luther . After travel in See also:Italy (1521-1522) he was appointed (1523) See also:town's preacher at Wittenberg, but was soon transferred to the See also:charge of See also:Muhlberg, under Erfurt . Here he published his commentary on Acts (1524) and married . He resigned his charge (1525) and opened a school at Erfurt, but the town See also:council insisted on his resuming his See also:ministry, appointing him preacher in St See also:Thomas', Erfurt . He worked in See also:conjunction with Luther's friend, See also:John See also:Lange, and was opposed by the See also:Franciscans under Conrad Kling . Hence he See also:left for See also:Gotha (1528), resumed teaching, and enjoyed the friendship of See also:Friedrich See also:Myconius . See also:Duke John of See also:Saxony had placed him on the See also:commission for See also:church visitation in Thuringia, and in 1529 appointed him pastor and See also:superintendent at See also:Eisenach, where for eighteen years he administered church affairs with tact, and fostered the spread of See also:education . In 1529 he brought out his Oeconomia christiana (a See also:treatise in See also:German, on the right ordering of a See also:Christian See also:household) with a See also:dedication to the duchess Sybil of Saxony and a See also:preface by Luther . His tractate, written in See also:concert with Myconius, controverting Der Wiedertliufer Lehre and Geheimniss (1530) was also prefaced by Luther .

The reversion to the See also:

Roman communion of his old friend Crotus led to his See also:mordant Responsio See also:amici (1532, anon.) to the Apologia (1531) of Crotus . He took his See also:part in the theological disputations of the time, at See also:Marburg (1529), the See also:Concordia at Wittenberg (1536), the See also:Convention at See also:Schmalkalden (1537), the discussions at See also:Hagenau' and Worn;s (1540) . His tractate (1542) against the permission of See also:bigamy the See also:case of See also:Philip of See also:Hesse was not allowed to be printed (the See also:manuscript is in the See also:Heidelberg university library) . In 1542 he removed to See also:Muhlhausen, being appointed by Duke See also:Henry of Saxony for the ordering of the church there . On the See also:death of Myconius (1546) he was entrusted with the oversight of Gotha, in addition to that of Eisenach; to Gotha he returned in 1547• The See also:remainder of his See also:life was not happy . He was against the See also:Leipzig See also:Interim (1548) with its See also:compromise on some See also:Catholic usages, and was involved in controversies and quarrels; with Georgius See also:Merula, against whom he maintained the need of See also:exorcism in See also:baptism; with See also:Osiander's adherents in the See also:matter of See also:justification; with his colleague, See also:Nicholas von See also:Amsdorf, to whom he had resigned the Eisenach superintendency; with See also:Flacius Illyricus, and others . He lost favour with Duke John See also:Frederic of Saxony; See also:fell into See also:bad See also:health, was deposed (1555) from his offices, and was disappointed in his hopes of being reinstated, after the colloquy at Eisenach (1556) . He died at Leipzig on the 11th of See also:August 1558 . He was twice married, and had several sons, of whom See also:Eusebius held a See also:chair of See also:philosophy at Wittenberg, and married Melanchthon's See also:grand-daughter, See also:Anna Sabinus . See also:Schmidt gives a full bibliography of the numerous writings of See also:Menius, who translated several of Luther's biblical commentaries into German . His Oeconomia was reprinted in 1855 . See G .

L . Schmidt, Justus Menius, der Reformator Thiiringens (1867) ; Wagenmann, in Allgemeine deutsche Biog . (1885) ; G . Kawerau, in Hauck's Realencyklopadie (1903) . (A .

End of Article: JUSTUS MENIUS (1494-1558)
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