Johann Drach (Draconites)

1494 - 1566

• Born	1494	Karlstadt on the Main
  Gender	Male
  Died	18 Apr 1566	Wittenberg, Germany
  Person ID	I2810	Johnson Hindin Tree
  Last Modified	14 Jul 2009

  
  

  Father	Johann Drach,   b. Abt 1458, Speyer, Germany , Karlstadt am Main, Germany
  Family ID	F1008	Group Sheet

  
  

• Notes

  Johann attend the University of Erfurt from 1509 to 1514, receiving his B.A. in 1512 and his M.A. in 1514. After receiving his Masters Degree, he remained in Thuringia through 1521, involving himself in humanistic circles under the influence of the University of Erfurt. He personally visited the great humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam, in 1520, being a zealous student and scholar already as young man. In 1521, he met Martin Luther. He received his doctoral degree from the Unviversity of Wittenberg, where he studied under Dr. Luther, who handled his oral exams in 1523. He joined Luther in the Reformation movement and was excommunicated from the Roman Church in September 1523. He was pastor in Waltershausen from 1525-28. He preferred the title of Bishop of Waltershausen because it referred to his pastoral rather than academic status. After Luther finished translating the New Testament in 1522, Luther undertook the translation of the Old Testament with Draconites as one of his research helpers from 1528-33 in Eisenach. With the completion of that project in 1534, Draconites became a fulltime professor of theology at the University of Marburg from 1534-37. He participated and signed the Smalcald Articles (one of the Lutheran Confessions included in the Book of Concord) in 1537. In 1541, he attended the Regensburg Conference, which attempted to restore religious unity in Germany. He was a professor in Rostock from 1551-60, and was president of the Diocese of Pomerania from 1560-64. He was an intense student of the Scripture, a brilliant scholar and a strong Lutheran. After Luther, Myconius, Jonas, Bugenhagen and Melanchthon died, Draconites was the key figure attempting to hold high the Lutheran torch. He regarded his 1523 doctoral examination under Luther as the highpoint of his life. He is buried in the Castle Church of Wittenberg, where Luther is also buried. He changed his name from Drach to Draconites for academic reasons. A more complete biography is follows: DRACONITES, JOHANNES (Johann Drach, Trach; also Carlstadt, from his native town): German Reformer and Biblical scholar; b. at Carlstadt (14 m. n.w. of Würzburg) 1494; d. at Wittenberg Apr. 18, 1566. He entered the University of Erfurt in 1509, and after taking his master's degree in 1514 lived there as a prominent member of the circle of young poets and enthusiasts led by Eobanus Hessus. Erasmus was the object of their admiration, and in 1520 Draconites traveled to the Netherlands to make the acquaintance of the great scholar. With the advent of Luther, however, he found a new leader, his devotion dating particularly from the Reformer's visit to Erfurt in Apr., 1521. In June of the same year he was expelled from his office of canon of the cathedral church because of his open adherence to Luther's teachings, but violent demonstrations by the populace and students led to his reinstatement. To him was ascribed the instigation of the antisacerdotal riots of June, 1521, which led to a definite cleavage between the Evangelical and Roman Catholic elements. An outbreak of the plague drove him to Wittenberg in the same month, and there he pursued the study of Hebrew, but the following year he accepted the pastorate of Mlltenberg on the Main. In dogma and practice he approached closely to the Wittenberg model, and thus gained the enmity of the local Roman Catholics, though the majority of the inhabitants were on his side. Cited to appear before the commissary of the archbishop of Mainz, he refused to obey, and was excommunicated. At the urgent entreaty of his parishioners, he fled from threatening danger in Sept., 1523, and lived at Wertheim, Nuremberg, Erfurt, and Wittenberg, whence he addressed epistles of consolation to the inhabitants of Miltenberg, where the old system had been reestablished by force. In 1525 Draconites became pastor at Waltershausen near Gotha, and in the following year was made inspector for the district of Tenneberg. Owing to the frequent conflicts in which the performance of his duties involved him, he resigned in 1528 and retired to private life at Eisenach, actuated partly by the desire to devote himself to the preparation of a polyglot Bible. His retirement was regarded with suspicion by his friends, and the charge of heresy was brought against him, but he held to the Evangelical faith in spite of efforts to win him away, and in his defense published Bekenntnis den Glauiens and der Lehre (Erfurt, 1532). In 1534 Draconites became pastor and professor at Marburg, and labored with zeal in both fields. His publications during this period include Biblical commentaries, sermons, and devotional works. He renewed his friendship with Eobanus Hessus, and in 1540 pronounced the funeral oration over his friend, and later edited his letters (Epistolm fdmiliarm Eoboni Hessi, Marburg, 1543). A noteworthy feature of his activity was his successful missionary labor among the Jews. He was present at the Diet of Frankfort in 1536, signed the Schmalkald articles in the follow ing year, and in 1541 attended the negotiations at the Interim of Regensburg. . A letter addressed to the authorities of that town exhorting them to adopt Lutheranism attracted the dangerous attention of Granvella, whom, however, he eluded. At this time he came into conflict with Thamer, a member of the University of Marburg, on the relation of faith and penitence. Thamer enjoyed the protection of the young landgrave, and after a pastorate of fourteen years Draconites left Marburg in Oct., 1547. For a while he lectured at Lübeck on the prophets, and in 1549-50 published there a long-contemplated work on Messianic prophecy under the title Gotten Verheimungen von Christo Jesu. His reputation as a Hebrew scholar brought him a call to a chair in the University of Rostock, where at different times he held the rectorate. In 1557 he was made superintendent of Rostock, and as such was plunged into the bitter controversy between the civic authorities and the clergy, whose champions were Hesshusen and Eggerdes. His liberal interpretation of the laws of the Sabbath again brought upon him the charge of antinomianism, and in 1560 he was glad to abandon the conflict on receiving from Duke Albert of Prussia the offer of the presidency of the see of Pomerania, while he also welcomed the new position as an opportunity for bringing to completion his contemplated polyglot Bible. Under leave of absence he proceeded to Wittenberg and there remained to the end of his life, enjoying the revenues of his Prussian office until removed by the duke in 1564. His Biblia Pentapla began to appear at Wittenberg in 1563, and by 1565 he had published Gen. i.-v., Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Malachi, Joel, Zechariah, and Micah. The Hebrew text was presented in very large type, and beneath each word appeared the translation in Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and German, while passages which he regarded as Messianic were printed in red. The value of the work is small, however, because of the radical changes which he made in the text of his versions, and its completion was found impracticable.