- Stephan Praetorius
Stephan Praetorius or Prætorius ( _de. Stephan Prätorius;
May 3 1536 –May 4 1603 ) was a German Lutherantheologian andpastor .Praetorius was born in
Salzwedel ,Margraviate of Brandenburg . He was educated at theUniversity of Rostock , where he also taught in the local schools; was ordained byAgricola atBerlin in 1565; becamepreacher in the same year at the monastery of the Holy Ghost at Salzwedel, and soon afterdeacon of the Church of St. Mary's; and from 1569 until his death paster in Salzwedel.A great admirer of
Martin Luther , and an opponent ofJesuitism andCalvinism alike, Prætorius laid great stress on thesacraments , though not in the Roman Catholic sense, and held tojustification by faith , though he also insisted on purity of life. He was a precursor ofJohann Arndt andPhilipp Jakob Spener , though notPietist in the narrow sense. His lack of caution brought upon him the charges ofantinomianism and "perfectionism", the latter theory later even being called "Praetorianism". Through his tracts, which he or his friends published after 1570, Praetorius exercised an influence far beyond his own congregation; these were collected and published by Arndt under the title "Acht-und-fünfzig schöne, auserlesne, geist- und trostreiche Traktätlein" (Lüneburg , 1622), containing also fourteen hymns with their melodies, one of them being "Was hat gethan der heilige Christ?"Praetorius' tracts were later arranged in the form of dialogues, with certain moderations, by M. Statius in his "Geistliche Schatzkammer der Gläubigen" (Lüneburg, 1636, and often). There arose over his writings the Praetorian controversy,
Abraham Calovius assailing the view of Praetorius and Statius that the faithful possess salvation not only in prospect but in reality. Spener's antagonist, G. C. Dilfeld, considered Praetorius akin toEsaias Stiefel , and the general superintendent ofGreifswald ,Tiburtius Rango , secured the prohibition of the "Schatzkammer" inSwedish Pomerania . Despite all this, Praetorius' writings were continually read, and in the second quarter of the 17th century they influenced a circle of converts inCottbus and its vicinity. Spener frequently alludes to him admiringly, and the "Schatzkammer" has been revised by the Kornthal pastor J. H. Stoudt (Stuttgart , 1869).References
*Schaff-Herzog
External links
* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/p/praetorius_s.shtml Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon] de icon
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