Adam Contzen
Encyclopedia
Adam Contzen was a German Jesuit economist and exegete.

Contzen was born in 1573, or, according to Carlos Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel
Carlos Sommervogel was a French Jesuit scholar. He was author of the monumental Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, which served as one of the major references for the editors of the Catholic Encyclopedia....

, in 1575. Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz gives the 1571 date listed above. Contzen entered the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 at Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....

 in 1595. He was professor of philosophy in the University of Würzburg
University of Würzburg
The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

 in 1606, and was transferred to the University of Mainz in 1610, where he occupied the chair of Holy Scripture for more than ten years. He had a share in the organization of the University of Molsheim, in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

, of which he was chancellor in 1622-23.

Contzen was a learned and versatile writer in theological controversy, in political economy, and in the interpretation of scriptures. He defended the controversial works of Cardinal Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine was an Italian Jesuit and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation...

 against the attacks of Professor David Pareus
David Pareus
David Pareus was a German Reformed Protestant theologian and reformer.-Life:He was born at Frankenstein December 30, 1548. He was apprenticed to an apothecary and again to a shoemaker...

 of Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

. When the latter sought to unite the Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

s and the Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

s against the Catholics, Contzen demonstrated the impractical nature of the project in his work, De unione et synodo Evangelicorum, and showed the only way of restoring peace to the German nation in his important work De Pace Germaniæ libri duo, prioe de falsâ, alter de verâ (Mainz, 1616). This work was twice reprinted in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, in 1642 and in 1685. His ideas on the restoration of peace were further developed in the works occasioned by the centenary of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, one of which, Jubilum Jubilorum, was published (1618) in Latin and German.

His most interesting work, which marks him as a thinker in advance of his age, Politicorum lib. X, was published in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

 in 1621 and 1629. The book has been called an "Anti-Macchiavelli" because the author describes the ruler of a Christian commonwealth in accordance with the principals of revelation. In the questions of political and national economy which he discusses he advocates the reform of taxation, the freeing of the soil from excessive burdens, state ownership of certain industries for the purposes of revenue, indirect taxation of objects of luxury, a combination of the protective system with free trade, and state aid for popular associations. The Elector Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....

 of Bavaria was so impressed by the ability shown in this work that he chose Contzen for his confessor. During his residence in Munich, which began in 1623, he completed and published his commentary on the four Gospels, and on the epistles of St. Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...

 to the Romans
Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

, the Corinthians
Epistles to the Corinthians
There are two Epistles to the Corinthians in the Bible:* First Epistle to the Corinthians* Second Epistle to the CorinthiansThere is also a Third Epistle to the Corinthians, once considered canonical by the Armenian Apostolic Church, but now almost universally believed to be pseudepigraphical....

, and the Galatians
Epistle to the Galatians
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of Early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia...

. He also wrote a political novel, Methodus doctrinæ civilis, seu Abissini regis Historia, in which he showed the practical working of his political theories.
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