Johannes Wolleb (Wollebius) (1589–1629) was a Swiss Protestant theologian. He was a student of Amandus Polanus, and followed in the tradition of a Reformed scholasticism, a formal statement of the views arising from the Protestant Reformation.[1]
He was the successor of Johann Jakob Grynaeus at Basel Cathedral. The Compendium Theologiae Christianae of 1626 is his major work; it is shorter than the Syntagma Theologiae Christianae (1609) of Polanus, and served as an abridgement and development. It was translated into English by Alexander Ross, as Abridgement of Christian Divinitie (1650).[2]
Wolleb influenced the Westminster Catechisms.[3] His Compendium, with William Ames's Medulla, and Francis Turretin's writings, were used as textbooks into the 18th century and beyond.[4] In the late 17th century, Wolleb's system began to displace Ames's in favour at Harvard University.[5] Students at Yale University in the early 18th century used to study the Abridgement every Friday afternoon;[6] the books by Wolleb and Ames were written into the university Regulations (1745).[7]