Jerome Zanchius
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Protestant 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...
clergyman and educator.
He was born the son of a noble lawyer and historian, in Alzano Lombardo
Alzano Lombardo
Alzano Lombardo is a commune in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy.Alzano received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree of March 11, 1991....
near Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
. His father died in the plague of 1528 and his mother died only three years later. At age 15 he entered the monastery of the Augustinian Order of Regular Canons, where he studied Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, languages and divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
. After completing his studies, he went to Lucca, and there under the influence of Peter Martyr Vermigli he opted for a theological career, being especially impressed by Vermigli's lectures on Romans. In addition to works of the Fathers, he became aware of Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...
and Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
, also read Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
's writings and the Swiss reformers. John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, however, had the greatest influence on him.
Even after Vermigli’s forced flight in 1542, Zanchi remained as a teacher at the monastery school. In 1551, however, he also was forced into exile. After a brief stay in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, he wanted to go to England, but was called to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
and worked there as a professor of the Old Testament at the college of St. Thomas. His style is legalistic, and he interpreted with meticulous accuracy. In his overall theological orientation, he tacked neither directly along a Lutheran or a Calvinist line, although he was reckoned a Calvinist. He was one of the most learned theologians of the second half of the 16th Century, if he is not considered to be an especially original thinker. He was regarded an excellent teacher.
The demand for Strasbourg faculty and pastors to commit themselves to the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
created difficulties for him. He had previously declined offers to move to Geneva and Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
because he was committed to Strasbourg. However, he could not remain after the controversy with the Lutheran superintendent Johann Marbach
Johann Marbach
Johann Marbach was a German Lutheran reformer and controversialist.-Life:He was born at Lindau in Bavaria. He began his studies at Strasbourg in 1536, and three years later went to Wittenberg, where he shared a house with Martin Luther and took his doctor's degree in 1543...
. Zanchi had described the differences in the doctrine of the Eucharist between the Lutheran and Reformed as being relatively minor and also taught a strict Calvinist doctrine of predestination. After receiving many consultations from theologians outside of Strasbourg, the disputing parties were able to reach an agreement in constructing a formula of unity (The Strasbourg Consensus) signed by all the city's preachers and professors.
When Calvin chided him for his equivocation, Zanchi went public with his views again causing the controversy to erupt anew. He consequently left from Strasbourg to become the pastor of the Italian Protestant congregation in the Graubünden
Graubünden
Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
in Chiavenna. In 1568 he received a call to the University of Heidelberg, where he took over the chair of Dogmatics formerly occupied by Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus was a sixteenth century German Reformed theologian, born Zacharias Baer in Breslau . He became the leading theologian of the Reformed Protestant movement of the Palatinate, serving both at the University of Heidelberg and the College of Wisdom...
. Here he wrote important works which tend to bear either an apologetic or polemical character. His method of presentation is quite scholastic. After the Palatinate returned to Lutheranism during the reign of Elector Ludwig VI
Louis VI, Elector Palatine
In the history of the Holy Roman Empire, Louis VI, Elector Palatine was an Elector from the Palatinate-Simmern branch of the house of Wittelsbach. He was the first-born son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine and Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach...
, Zanchi moved with many other Reformed professors to the Casmirianum, a Reformed academy in Neustadt in the dominions of Count Palatine Johann Casimir. He died during a return visit to Heidelberg and was buried in the University Church.
Zanchius was a voluminous writer whose works include, Confession of the Christian Religion and Observation on the Divine Attributes. He is perhaps best known for his book The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination, which is still in publication today.
The following is a translation of the inscription on the headstone of Zanchius' grave:
- 'Here Zanchius rests, whom love of truth constrained
- to quit his own and seek a foreign land.
- How good and great he was, how formed to shine,
- How fraught with science human and divine;
- Sufficient proof his numerous writings give,
- And those who heard him teach and saw him live.
- Earth still enjoys him, though his soul has fled:
- His name is deathless, though his dust is dead.'
Further reading
- Theologische RealenzyklopädieTheologische RealenzyklopädieThe Theologische Realenzyklopädie is a German encyclopedia of theology and religious studies. It contains some 2000 articles in 36 volumes...
, volume 36, pp. 482-485 - Burchill, Christopher J. “Girolomo Zanchi: Portrait of a Reformed Theologian and his Work.” Sixteenth Century Journal 15 (1984): 185-205.
- Burnett, Amy Nelson. "Simon Sulzer and the Consequences of the 1563 Strasbourg Consensus in Switzerland," Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 88 (1992): 154-179
- Kittelson, James. “Marbach vs. Zanchi: the Resolution of Controversy in Later Reformation Strasbourg.” Sixteenth Century Journal 7 (1977): 31-44.
- Zanchius, Jerom. "The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination" translated by Augustus M. Toplady. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 1977. ISBN: 0-9010-9927-7.