Philipp Nicolai and Johann Gerhard

Chapter 14 Philipp Nicolai and Johann Gerhard

Thomas Illg

Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608) and Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) adopted mystical texts and topoi because they recognized their importance for personal piety. It is evident that both selected their sources in different ways and according to their respective interests. The selected sources also differ significantly. Both, however, assessed their sources according to the standards of Lutheran theology, assigning particular importance to the dogmatic loci of justification and sanctification, and to Lutheran teaching regarding the media salutis—that is, the doctrines of the sacraments and the Word of God.

I Nicolai’s Life and Work

Philipp Nicolai became known as an author of devotional texts and as a hym- nist. The greater portion of his body of work, however, consists of polemical theological writings in which he attacked both Reformed and Catholic posi- tions, but his devotional writings and sermons are no less significant.1 Nicolai drew upon his theological reflections to enrich his devotional literature, and dogmatic arguments that he advanced against Reformed confessional posi- tions proved to be central to his devotional writings. Nicolai published four of his still-familiar hymns, along with his Frewden-Spiegel deß ewigen Lebens (Mirror of the Joys of Eternal Life, 1599), and they are closely connected to his broader work. This makes clear that Nicolai viewed his lyrical works as compo- nents of his devotional writings.2 Nicolai was born on August 10, 1556, in Mengeringhausen in the countship of Waldeck. His father, the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Rafflenboel, had chosen to change his family name to Nicolai in accordance with his own father’s given name, and Philipp thus also dispensed with the older family name.3 Begin- ning in 1567, Nicolai attended schools in Kassel, Hildesheim, Dortmund, Mühl hausen, and Corbach. He and his siblings likely changed schools frequently

1 Mager, “Nicolai,” 608–9. 2 Axmacher, Praxis Evangeliorum, 140. 3 Steinmeier, Von Gott, 4–5.

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because they were dependent upon “free seats,” that is, upon a tuition-free ed- ucation. In Johann Lambach (1512–82)4 and Friedrich Beurhaus (1536–1609)5 in Dortmund and Ludwig Helmbold6 in Mengeringhausen, Nicolai studied under teachers who were both trained theologians and capable poets.7 Nicolai enrolled in the University of Erfurt in 1575 and transferred to the University of Wittenberg in 1576, where he studied until 1579. His most influential teacher was Polycarp Leyser. In Wittenberg, he became familiar with Lutheran Chris- tology and the doctrine of ubiquity, as distinct from Reformed theology.8 Nico- lai later used Lutheran Christology to oppose the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist in his polemical writings. According to the Reformed understanding, no corporeal real presence of Christ could be assumed in the Eucharist.9 Nico- lai based his argumentation on the Lutheran interpretation of the christologi- cal dogma of Chalcedon, which taught the ubiquity of Christ on the basis of the doctrine of communicatio idiomatum and also applied the former to the human nature of Christ.10 After a brief stay at the Volkhardinghausen Abbey, where Nicolai taught with his brother and pursued private studies, he returned to Mengeringhausen and supported his father in the latter’s administrative responsibilities. He was called to pulpit ministry in Herdecke in 1583. When Spanish troops from the Netherlands invaded in 1586, Nicolai fled for a brief period to Wetter, not far from Unna. In the same year, he likely took on the task of pastoring the under- ground Lutheran church in Cologne.11 Nicolai became a deacon in Lower Wildungen (today Bad Wildungen), in the countship of Waldeck, in 1587, where the widowed countess later named him court preacher. He entered into disputes with colleagues concerning the doctrine of ubiquity. The court at Wildungen sided with Nicolai, which led to a conflict with Landgrave Wilhelm iv of Hessen-Kassel, who was more in sympathy with the Reformed confession. The Landgrave subsequently pre- vented Nicolai’s promotion to doctor of theology in Marburg in 1590.12 In his dissertation De duobus Antichristis primariis, Mahumete et Romano Pontifice,

4 Döring, “Lambach, Johann,” 531–33. 5 Döring, “Beurhaus, Friedrich,” 584–85. 6 Kadelbach, “Helmbold,” 246–53. 7 Steinmeier, Von Gott, 6. 8 Ibid., 8. 9 Mager, “Nicolai,” 608. 10 Formula of Concord, art. 8; Hütter, Compendium, 1:73–103; cf. the English edition, 2:919–93; Baur, “Lutherische Christologie,” 164–203. 11 Mager, “Nicolai,” 605–6; Steinmeier, Von Gott, 8–10. 12 Baum, “Nicolais verhinderter Promotion,” 92–93.