Girolamo Zanchi

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Girolamo Zanchi, copper engraving from the 16th century

Girolamo Zanchi (born February 2, 1516 in Alzano Lombardo , † November 19, 1590 in Heidelberg ) was an Italian Reformed theologian, Old Testament scholar in Strasbourg and Heidelberg, reformer and preacher in Chiavenna and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse .

Life

Zanchi was born as the son of lawyer and historian Francesco Terenzio Zanchi in Alzano Lombardo near Bergamo . After initial basic training in his hometown, he entered 1531 at the age of 15 with the regulated Augustinian canons in Bergamo and made his profession . After completing his humanistic studies in the monastery of S. Spirito in Bergamo, he came to the monastery of S. Frediano in Lucca and, under the influence of Peter Martyr Vermigli , decided to continue studying theology. In addition to the works of the church fathers, he gained knowledge of Martin Bucer and Philipp Melanchthon , and also read Martin Luther's writings and those of the Swiss reformers; but John Calvin determined him most strongly .

Even after Vermigli had to flee in 1542, Zanchi stayed behind as a teacher at the monastery school. In 1551, however, he too had to flee and first went to Chiavenna in Graubünden. After a short stay in Geneva he wanted to go to England , but was called to Strasbourg and worked there as professor of the Old Testament . His position was rather legal, the interpretation of meticulous precision. In his overall theological conception, he committed himself neither to the Lutheran nor to the Calvinist doctrine, although he can be attributed to them. He was one of the most learned theologians of the second half of the 16th century, without introducing entirely new ideas, but an excellent and consistent teacher.

Even the request to commit to the Confessio Augustana caused him difficulties. He had to refuse appointments to Geneva and Lausanne because he was being held in Strasbourg. But the dispute with Johannes Marbach could not be stopped , so that a dispute broke out in 1561. Zanchi had described the differences in the doctrine of the Lord's Supper as insignificant, and also taught in strict Calvinist predestination , the predestination of man by God. After obtaining many reports from foreign theologians, a consensus was found and the unification formula was signed by all Strasbourg preachers and professors.

When Calvin reprimanded him for his indulgence and he then repeated his point of view more precisely, the argument began again. Now Zanchi left Strasbourg and in November 1563 became a reformed pastor in Chiavenna as the successor to the recently deceased reformer Agostino Mainardi , who had founded and led the Protestant church there in 1545. In 1568 he received a call to Heidelberg , where he gave lectures on dogmatics and took the first position alongside Zacharias Ursinus . Here he wrote some significant works, mostly apologetic and polemical in character. The representation is still quite scholastic. On behalf of the reformed state, he finally wrote a »Harmonia confessionum fidei« in 1581, which, as a counterpart to the "Formula Concordiae", was to summarize the existing reformatory confessions. When the Reformed professors in Heidelberg were driven out by a change of government, he went to Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . He died on a visit to Heidelberg and was buried in the university church.

Zanchi's first marriage was to Violante Curione, the daughter of Celio Secondo Curione , and his second marriage to Livia Lumaga, a daughter of Lorenzo Lumaga, a wealthy trader from Plurs near Chiavenna.

Works

  • De Tribus Elohim, Aeterno Patre, Filio et Spiritu Sancto, Uno Eodemque Iehova , Corvinus, Frankfurt 1573:
    • In Duas Distincti Partes, Cum Indice Triplici 1: In qua tota orthodoxa de hoc magno mysterio doctrina, ex sacrarum literarum fontibus, explicatur, et confirmatur .
    • In Duas Distincti Partes, Cum Indice Triplici 2: In qua continentur refutationes, tam exceptionum, quam sophismatum: quae aduersus doctrinam, superius confirmatam, fieri ab Antichristis solent .
  • De natura Dei ... libri 5 , Heidelberg 1577 and 1598.
  • Ad Cuiusdam Ariani Libellum. Cui Titulus Est, Antithesis doctrinae Christi & Antichristi de uno vero Deo. Responsio Ad Joan. Sturmium V. Ampl. AAP , Neostadii Palatinorum, Harnisch 1586
  • De spirituali inter Christum et ecclesiam, Singulosque Fideles, connubio, Liber VNVS. Ad Hortium Palauicinum, Equitem Auratum , Christoph Rab, Herborn 1591
  • with Lodovico Zanchi: De scriptura sacra, Liber nouus. Controversias Eius Argumenti omnes ex ipsis sacris fontibus, & Orthodoxorum Patrum authoritatibus accuratissima tractatione & Methodo explicans. Praefixa est eiusdem Oratio grauissima de Verbo Dei puro putoqúe in Ecclesia et Scholis conseruando. Oratio de verbo Dei puro putoque in ecclesia et scholis conservando , Josua and Matthäus Harnisch, Heidelberg, 1593
  • In Hoseam primum et difficilimum ... prophetam Commentarius , 1600
  • De religione Christiana fides , 1601. De religione Christiana fides - Confession of Christian Religion , 2 volumes ed. Luca Baschera and Christian Moser, Brill, Leiden 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-16118-4

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Conradin Bonorand: History of the Reformation in the former Bündner Unterlanden, especially in the Chiavenna area. Article in Bündner Monatsblatt, magazine for Bündner history, regional studies and building culture. Issue 1-2, 1979, pages 31 and 32
  2. ^ Emidio Campi: Girolamo Zanchi. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 10, 2014 , accessed February 14, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Zanchi, Girolamo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zanchius, Hieronymus; Zanchi, Hieronymus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reformed theologian, confessionalist and reformer
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1516
PLACE OF BIRTH Alzano Lombardo
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1590
Place of death Heidelberg