Thomas Erastus

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Thomas Erastus or Thomas Erast , actually Lüber or Liebler (born September 7, 1524 in Baden ( Aargau / Switzerland ); † December 31, 1583 in Basel ), was a Reformed theologian from Switzerland, doctor and professor and holder of the chair for medicine in Heidelberg . Through numerous writings, he influenced the theological and medical scholars' dispute in southern Germany in the 16th century.

Life

Tobias Stimmer (?): Portrait of Thomas Erastus, 1582 (Kunstmuseum Basel)

Thomas Liebler, son of poor country folk, studied theology at the University of Basel in 1540 and philosophy and medicine nine years later in Bologna (three years) and Padua (six years). In accordance with humanistic custom, he had already changed his name to “Erast” in Basel. After his return from Italy, Thomas Erast became the personal physician of the Counts of Henneberg and in 1558 of the Elector Ottheinrich of the Palatinate († 1559) and at the same time (next to Jacob Curio second) professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg . It was through his sharp speeches against Paracelsus known provided medical writings as the Disputationum de Medicina Paracelsi . He also took a stand for Galen (against Pierre Brissot, who referred to Hippocrates) in the bloodletting dispute (in the context of the resistance against Arabist Galenism that emerged in the 16th century ) . With his work on the breaking of bread at the Last Supper has Lutherans Erastus the introduction of the Heidelberg Catechism supported.

Thomas Erast intervened so deeply in the ecclesiastical affairs of his time that in Great Britain , ever since the writing Explicatio gravissimae quaestionis, utrum excommunicatio mandato nitatur divino an excogitata sit ab hominibus ( treatment of the very difficult Question whether excommunication is based on a divine mandate or is invented by humans ) became known, to this day the direction which the church wants to subordinate to state authority is called Erastianism .

In sharp contrast to Calvinism , which Ottheinrich's successor Friedrich III. represented, which was introduced by the lawyer and chancellor Christoph Eheim and which the professors appointed by Ottheinrich - above all Erastus - opposed, Erastus fought against church discipline and presbyterial constitution and also represented the Zwinglische communion doctrine in several writings . Suspected of being a Unitarian , he went to Basel as a professor of medicine in 1580 and taught there from 1580 until his death in 1583, however, as a professor of ethics at the theological faculty, whose chair he received.

After his death, the interest of a foundation he had set up of 4,000 guilders went to a scholarship for two Protestant students each from the theological and medical faculties of the University of Basel and Heidelberg.

Publications (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf Heyers: Dr. Georg Marius, called Mayer von Würzburg (1533-1606). 1957, p. 15.
  2. ↑ a b Wolfgang U. Eckart : Erastus (Erast), Thomas . In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Christoph Gradmann (Hrsg.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present . 3. Edition. Springer, Heidelberg / Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-540-29584-4 , p. 109 ( doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 ).
  3. ↑ cf. Rochus Leonhardt: Religion and Politics in Christianity: Past and Present of a Tense Relationship. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2017, ISBN 978-3-8487-2104-7 , p. 201 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  4. ^ Rolf Heyers: Dr. Georg Marius, called Mayer von Würzburg (1533–1606). 1957, p. 15 f.
personal data
SURNAME Erastus, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lüber, Thomas (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss reformed theologian
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1524
PLACE OF BIRTH Baden AG
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1583
Place of death Basel