Any student of the Protestant Reformation will be intimately familiar with the likes of Luther and Melanchthon, both of whom spearheaded the reforms in the western church in the first half of the 16th century. However, their legacy only endured because of those who followed their teachings and preserved their Lutheran heritage in the subsequent generations, ensuring that the gospel, as the reformers understood it, would continue to proliferate long after they were gone.
Reformation history is a story of many twists and turns. There are many names to know and many treatises to read. In order to understand how the Reformation endured even in the midst of sure defeat, we must get to know those Lutheran reformers who came later to carry the Lutheran torch.
1. Martin Chemnitz
Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) was perhaps the most significant and impactful Lutheran theologian aside from Luther and Melanchthon. In fact, so impressive was Chemnitz as a theologian that even Roman Catholic theologians are purported to have had a saying about him in the 17th century; “If the second Martin had not come, the first never would have prevailed.” Chemnitz was one of the chief architects of the Formula of Concord, which along with the rest of the 1580 Book of Concord, serve as the cornerstone of confessional Lutheran doctrine to this day.
Chemnitz was born in Treuenbrietzen, Germany, and studied at Wittenberg University under both Luther and Melanchthon, becoming deeply engaged in the Reformation effort. After earning a Master of Arts, he was eventually employed by the Duke of Prussia as the court librarian for Konigsberg State and University library, which he had unrestricted access to for study. It is here that Chemnitz was able to acquire much in terms of history as he had deep access to many sources that would have been hard to obtain elsewhere.
He eventually returned to Wittenberg and joined the faculty in 1554. He would also become ordained by Johannes Bugenhagen later that same year. Chemnitz would go on to make a profound impact during the time period referred to as the Lutheran Orthodoxy, having an enormous effect on subjects like church history, dogmatics, and Christology.
Among his chief contributions, Chemnitz is perhaps best known for his Examen Concilii Tridentini, or The Examination of the Council of Trent, a four-volume work that examines the Roman Catholic Council of Trent which was convened in response to the Protestant movement. Here, Chemnitz seeks to demonstrate that the canons and decrees of this council are incompatible with both history and the scriptures and it remains a major resource for theologians today who are interested in a Protestant appraisal of the Council of Trent.
2. Philip Melanchthon
Melanchthon (1497-1560), whose real name was Philip Schwartzerdt, is well-known for being Luther’s right-hand man during the early Reformation. His being overshadowed by Luther is somewhat unfortunate, as Melanchthon’s talent as an academic and as a teacher has been well-established by scholars of the Reformation. Educated at Tubingen, Melanchthon would later go on to a professorship at Wittenberg. It is here that he would strike up a friendship with Luther and begin to lay the groundwork for the Lutheran Reformation.
While Luther is somewhat infamous for his combative and abrasive temperament, Melanchthon is known for being a much more irenic, even compromising figure. In fact, his reputation as one who would make concessions in theological disputes for the sake of peace would often earn him scorn from others, who believed that Melanchthon lacked the sort of conviction and tough-mindedness to truly carry the Lutheran torch after Luther’s death. His sympathies toward Calvin and other reformed positions would serve to get him into turbulence with other theologians.
Nevertheless, Melanchthon to this day is often still referred to as the “teacher of Germany,” and for good reason. He was known as a magnificent expositor on complex theology, able to systematize things in ways that Luther truly admired. His Loci Communes or Theological Commonplaces was held in high esteem by Luther himself and continues to be influential. It is hard to imagine the Reformation ever gaining traction without the contributions of Melanchthon.
3. Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558) was a contemporary of Luther and Melanchthon. Born in Pomerania, Bugenhagen first became acquainted with Luther after reading some of his theological treatises. While at first unimpressed, Bugenhagen was eventually persuaded by Luther’s ideas and moved to Wittenberg where he served as both a theologian and as a pastor to Luther at St. Mary’s Church.
Having previously been influenced by the contemporary humanist movement, Bugenhagen was a close friend and confessor to Luther. He would lend his hand in helping Luther to translate the Bible into vernacular Greek from the original Greek and Hebrew.
Apart from being a close comrade to Luther, Bugenhagen is perhaps best known for his work in spreading the Reformation through the northern parts of Europe: Pomerania, Northern Germany, and Scandinavia. His tireless work in these areas has earned him the nickname from some as “the second apostle to the north.”
4. Johann Gerhard
Historians of the Lutheran Reformation often refer to the “big three” theologians. These three include Luther himself, Martin Chemnitz, and lastly, Johann Gerhard (1582-1637). Arriving on the scene a generation after Luther’s death, Gerhard would prove to be instrumental in the decades following the establishment of Lutheranism in many parts of Europe and in the wake of the 1580 Book of Concord.
As a graduate of the University of Jena and the University of Wittenberg, Gerhard became immersed in the teachings of Luther and the other early reformers. He would later take that passion for the Reformation into his professorship at the University of Jena in 1608.
Gerhard was known as a tireless producer of theological material, having churned out over 500 works on everything ranging from polemics to dogmatics, to prayers and commentaries. He was also known for a long disputation responding to the Jesuit Cardinal and Counter-Reformation figure Robert Bellarmine on a variety of theological topics.
While he was undoubtedly famous for his pastoral and devotional material, the capstone of his career is widely thought to be his Commonplaces on Dogmatic Theology, a tour-de-force tome of Lutheran dogmatics which is often thought to be the gold standard in Lutheran theology even to this day. His influence on Lutheran Christian spirituality continues to make an impact, as his devotional works are also still widely studied and commented upon.
5. Matthias Flacius
Another important figure of the Lutheran Reformation was Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-1575), better known simply as Matthias Flacius. A native of the Venetian Republic in modern Croatia, Flacius made his way to the University of Wittenberg where he studied under both Luther and Melanchthon and would later go on to be appointed as professor of Hebrew at Wittenberg in 1544. Flacius would soon earn the reputation as a diligent scholar and graduated from Wittenberg at the top of his class.
Flacius was widely known as an intensely combative and bitter polemicist. Among some of his chief targets were Roman Catholic theologians, synergists (those who affirm free will), and perhaps most surprisingly, Lutheran theologians such as Melanchton himself. Flacius had much vitriol for Melanchthon due to his part in the Augsburg Interim, an agreement following the Schmalkaldic War (1546-1547) wherein Flacius saw Melanchton as conceding far too much to the Roman Catholics in terms of doctrine and practice. Melanchthon in turn was also no fan of Flacius, whom he viewed as a rabble-rouser and referring to him as “a snake in their midst.” Nevertheless, Flacius went on to play a significant role in the polemical exchanges in Protestant Europe for many decades.
Flacius was also known for his contributions to the concepts of church history as an academic discipline, toward which he contributed to the publishing of the well-known work Magdeburg Centuries which attempted to chronicle 13 centuries of church history from a Protestant and specifically Lutheran perspective. It is here that he pioneered many modern critical methods, viewing church history through the lens of historical-critical analysis that some view as revolutionary in its methods and which would influence the way church history was subsequently studied.
Conclusion
While Reformation history is certainly a well-studied period in history the strictly Lutheran aspects of the Reformation are sometimes swallowed up in the broader Protestant spectrum, especially in light of the advance of Calvinism and other flavors of reformed Christianity. However, the Lutheran Protestant Christian tradition is unique in its own right and truly distinct from later Calvinist Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.
While there are certainly many more theologians of the Lutheran persuasion who made an impact, these five are crucial for a full understanding of early Lutheranism. Thus, the Lutherans are a must-study for any serious student of church history who wants to understand the nuances present within the greater reforming movement of the 16th and 17th centuries.
