Background

Martin Chemnitz was born in Treuenbrietzen, Brandenburg, Germany on November 9, 1522; the youngest of three children of a clothmaker. His father was a successful merchant who died when Martin was eleven: thereafter, the family suffered from financial difficulties.

Education

For years, because of a serious stammer, he could not attend school, but he studied diligently and at age 14 he was inspired to redoubled efforts by hearing one of Luther's sermons. After graduating from school in 1538, he earned his living by working for a clothmaker. He was unable to resume his schooling until he found work as a Latin secretary. From 1539 to 1542 he studied in Magdeburg, and here he learned rhetoric and dialectic. In 1543 he entered the University of Frankfurt for one year, and in 1545, after working for a fish merchant for a year and a half in the little city of Writzen on the Oder, he entered Wittenberg University. At this time he was befriended by Melancthon, whom he had convinced of his ability by producing a translation of a speech of Demosthenes from the Greek. When the school at Wittenberg was interrupted by war, Chemnitz went to Prussia and entered the University of Königsberg in May 1547; here, in 1549, he began the study of theology which launched him on his life's work.

Career

In 1550 at Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), he became librarian to Duke Albert of Prussia, an appointment that afforded him an opportunity to continue his theological studies. He returned to Wittenberg in 1553, entered the ministry as the pastor of the church of St. Aegidi, and began to lecture on Melanchthon’s Loci communes rerum theologicarum (“Theological Commonplaces”), the first systematic treatise on Reformation theology. The following year Chemnitz became coadjutor to Joachim Mörlin, whom he succeeded in 1567 as superintendent of the churches of Braunschweig, a post he held for the rest of his life.

In 1568 he began a decade of work with the theologian Jakob Andreä in uniting German Lutheranism, which had been divided by theological disagreement after Luther’s death in 1546. This end was achieved by the Formula of Concord (1577), which inaugurated the era of Lutheran orthodoxy and was primarily the work of the two men.

Chemnitz’s works include a defense of the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist (1561); a systematic discussion of the relation between the divine and human natures of Christ (1570); Examen concilii tridentini (1565–73; Examination of the Council of Trent), the standard Lutheran analysis of the doctrinal decisions of the Council of Trent (1545–63); and a partial presentation of his theology in the form of a commentary on Melanchthon’s Loci communes (1591).

Achievements

• He came to be recognized as one of the outstanding Lutheran theologians in the second half of the 16th century, noted for his bitter attacks on the Jesuits in both oratory and pamphlets, as, for example, in his Theologiae Jesuitorum praecipua capita.

Works

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  • Ministry, Word, and Sacraments An Enchiridion

    (Martin Chemnitz (the Second Martin) is credited with soli...)

  • The Harmony of the Four Evangelists

    (After Martin Luther, Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard a...)

  • Loci Theologici

    (This extensive theological overview is a commentary on Me...)

  • Chemnitz's Works

    (This is a translation of Chemnitz's De Duabus Naturis in ...)

  • Enchiridion Lord's Supper Lord's Prayer

    (A translation of Chemnitz' little book for pastors.)

  • The Lord's Supper/De Coena Domini

    (English and Latin Edition.)

Connections

Father:

Paul Chemnitz

Mother:

Euphemia Chemnitz

sibling:

Ursula

sibling:

Matthew