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MENIUS, JUSTUS (1494-1558)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 132 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MENIUS, JUSTUS (1494-1558) , Lutheran theologian, whose name is Latinized from See also:Jost or Just (i.e. Jodocus) Menig, was See also:born at See also:Fulda, of poor but respectable parents, on the 13th of See also:December 1499. Entering the university of See also:Erfurt in 1514, he took the See also:bachelor's degree in 1515, the See also:master's in 1516. At this See also:time, in association with the keen humanists See also:Conrad See also:Mutian, Crotus Rubeanus and Eoban See also:Hess, he was of sceptical tendency; moving to See also:Wittenberg in 1519, he became evangelical under the teaching of See also:Melanchthon and the See also:preaching of See also:Luther. After travel in See also:Italy (1521-1522) he was appointed (1523) See also:town's preacher at Wittenberg, but was soon transferred to the See also:charge of See also:Muhlberg, under Erfurt. Here he published his commentary on Acts (1524) and married. He resigned his charge (1525) and opened a school at Erfurt, but the town See also:council insisted on his resuming his See also:ministry, appointing him preacher in St See also:Thomas', Erfurt. He worked in See also:conjunction with Luther's friend, See also:John See also:Lange, and was opposed by the See also:Franciscans under Conrad Kling. Hence he See also:left for See also:Gotha (1528), resumed teaching, and enjoyed the friendship of See also:Friedrich See also:Myconius. See also:Duke John of See also:Saxony had placed him on the See also:commission for See also:church visitation in Thuringia, and in 1529 appointed him pastor and See also:superintendent at See also:Eisenach, where for eighteen years he administered church affairs with tact, and fostered the spread of See also:education. In 1529 he brought out his Oeconomia christiana (a See also:treatise in See also:German, on the right ordering of a See also:Christian See also:household) with a See also:dedication to the duchess Sybil of Saxony and a See also:preface by Luther. His tractate, written in See also:concert with Myconius, controverting Der Wiedertliufer Lehre and Geheimniss (1530) was also prefaced by Luther.

The reversion to the See also:

Roman communion of his old friend Crotus led to his See also:mordant Responsio See also:amici (1532, anon.) to the Apologia (1531) of Crotus. He took his See also:part in the theological disputations of the time, at See also:Marburg (1529), the See also:Concordia at Wittenberg (1536), the See also:Convention at See also:Schmalkalden (1537), the discussions at See also:Hagenau' and Worn;s (1540). His tractate (1542) against the permission of See also:bigamy the See also:case of See also:Philip of See also:Hesse was not allowed to be printed (the See also:manuscript is in the See also:Heidelberg university library). In 1542 he removed to See also:Muhlhausen, being appointed by Duke See also:Henry of Saxony for the ordering of the church there. On the See also:death of Myconius (1546) he was entrusted with the oversight of Gotha, in addition to that of Eisenach; to Gotha he returned in 1547• The See also:remainder of his See also:life was not happy. He was against the See also:Leipzig See also:Interim (1548) with its See also:compromise on some See also:Catholic usages, and was involved in controversies and quarrels; with Georgius See also:Merula, against whom he maintained the need of See also:exorcism in See also:baptism; with See also:Osiander's adherents in the See also:matter of See also:justification; with his colleague, See also:Nicholas von See also:Amsdorf, to whom he had resigned the Eisenach superintendency; with See also:Flacius Illyricus, and others. He lost favour with Duke John See also:Frederic of Saxony; See also:fell into See also:bad See also:health, was deposed (1555) from his offices, and was disappointed in his hopes of being reinstated, after the colloquy at Eisenach (1556). He died at Leipzig on the 11th of See also:August 1558. He was twice married, and had several sons, of whom See also:Eusebius held a See also:chair of See also:philosophy at Wittenberg, and married Melanchthon's See also:grand-daughter, See also:Anna Sabinus. See also:Schmidt gives a full bibliography of the numerous writings of Menius, who translated several of Luther's biblical commentaries into German. His Oeconomia was reprinted in 1855. See G.

L. Schmidt, Justus Menius, der Reformator Thiiringens (1867) ; Wagenmann, in Allgemeine deutsche Biog. (1885) ; G. Kawerau, in Hauck's Realencyklopadie (1903). (A.

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