Valentin Schmalz

Valentin Schmalz (Latinized: Valentinus Smalcius , Polonized: Walenty Smalc ; * 1572 in Gotha , † 1622 in Raków ) was a German theologian and representative of anti-Trinitarian Unitarianism .

life and work

Schmalz was born in Gotha in 1572 and later studied in Strasbourg in Alsace , where he came into contact with Unitarianism through Andreas Wojdowski in 1592 . After completing his studies, Schmalz moved to Poland , where he became the principal of a school in Śmigiel (Schmiegel) . In 1598, he became minister of the Polish brothers in Lublin and later in Raków (Rakau) . Raków was considered one of the centers of Polish Unitarians in the early modern period. Here, the Raków Academy was the central educational institution of the Polish Brothers. After Fausto Sozzini's death in 1604, Schmalz, together with Johann Völkel and Hieronymus Moskorzowski, took over the work on the Rakau Catechism , which appeared for the first time in 1605 and became the central confession of Socinianism . To this day it is a central document of faith of the anti-Trinitarian Unitarians. Three years after its first edition, a German translation made by Schmalz was published, which, together with corresponding English, Dutch and Latin editions, paved the way for the spread of socian ideas in Western Europe. In addition to his work on the Rakau Catechism , Schmalz translated the New Testament from Greek into Polish in 1606 . Theologically he also dealt with representatives of Lutheran Orthodoxy such as Wolfgang Franz . He wrote a total of 52 scriptures; he also composed a number of Polish hymns. Schmalz died in Raków in 1622.

literature

• Martin Schmeisser: Socinian Confessions: The Rakow Catechism of Valentin Schmalz (1608) and the so-called Soner Catechism. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-05-005200-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Jakob Herzog (Ed.): Realencyclopadie for Protestant Theology and Church . tape 14 . Rudolf Besser, Gotha 1861, p. 493 .