Tilemann Heshusius

Tilemann Heshusius
Born 3 November 1527
Wesel
Died 25 September 1588 (aged 60)
Helmstedt
Nationality German
Occupation Theologian
Religion Lutheran

Tilemann Heshusius (also Hesshus, Heßhusen, Hess Husen, Heshusen (November 3, 1527 in Wesel—September 25, 1588 in Helmstedt) was a Gnesio-Lutheran theologian.

Life

Heshusius came from an influential family in Wesel. He was a student of Philipp Melanchthon at the University of Wittenberg and was consequently close to him. During the time of the Augsburg Interim, he lived in Oxford and Paris. In 1550 he took his master’s degree and was received by the Senate of the philosophical faculty; he lectured on rhetoric and as well as theology. In 1553 he became Superintendent in Goslar and acquired his doctoral degree in Wittenberg on May 19 the same year at the expense of the city. However, he soon came into conflict with Goslar and left in 1556 to take a post at the University of Rostock.

There too he became involved in a dispute over Sunday weddings and the participation of Protestants in Roman Catholic celebrations. After attempting to excommunicate two leading city officials, he was expelled from the town. Melanchthon was able to arrange his appointment as general superintendent of the church of the Electorate of the Palatinate in Heidelberg. In 1559 a controversy broke out in Heidelberg over the Lord's Supper between Heshusius and his deacon Wilhelm Klebitz. To restore peace, Elector Frederick released both clerics from their posts—a decision later approved by Melanchthon. He became involved in another controversy over the Lord’s Supper in Bremen, which did not redound to his glory, opposing Albert Hardenberg and Jacob Probst. From Magdeburg, he composed responses to his opponents and endeavored to establish a strict form of Lutheranism. He likewise came into conflict in Magdeburg and was driven from the town.

Even his hometown Wesel refused him asylum. Count Palatine Wolfgang of Pfalz-Zweibrücken took him in. After Wolfgang’s death, Heshusius went to Jena. There he advocated the theological position that obedience should be a defining mark of the church in addition to Word and Sacrament (the only two “marks” recognized by most Lutherans). For that reason he challenged Jacob Andreae, Victorinus Strigel, Matthias Flacius and all those who pursued the cause of Lutheran unity.

In 1573, when the Elector August of Saxony took over the administration of Saxe-Weimar after the death of Duke John William, nearly 100 pastors were forced to leave the territory. Heshusius and Johann Wigand went to Königsberg in East Prussia. There Heshusius became the Bishop of Samland in 1573, but when Wigand turned against him, he was dismissed from his post. Martin Chemnitz helped him secure a professorship in Helmstedt. In 1578 his claims against Wigand were vindicated at the Herzberger Konvent.

Though he had earlier opposed the union efforts of Andreae, he was finally persuaded to sign the Formula of Concord, and every obstacle to its introduction in Brunswick seemed to be removed; but in comparing the printed copy with the written text, Hesshusius found a considerable number of deviations, and was not satisfied with the explanations of Chemnitz. Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, also opposed the Formula, so that it was not accepted in his country, and thus lost much of its general authority.

Further reading

External links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "article name needed". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.

Tilemann Hesshus(en), Latinised: Tilemann Heshusius
Born: 3 November 1527 in Wesel Died: 25 September 1588 in Helmstedt
Religious titles
Preceded by
Joachim Mörlin		 Bishop of Samland
1571–1577 		Succeeded by
Johannes Wigand per pro
Bishop of Pomesania