Our navigation bar is loading . . . . . .


Advertise on JCSM - Hear JCSM's Weekly Devotions via Podcast/RSS Feed! - Skip These Ads

You can advertise your site right here!Third Day, Switchfoot, and Jars of Clay - MercyMe and David CrowderClick here to learn more!

 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings by Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 JCSM's Top 1000 Christian Sites - Free Traffic Sharing Service! Join the Online Christ-Centered Ministries!

-
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

Click here and add this page to your favorites!

Return to the JCSM Study Center!

Encyclopedia Britannica



THOMASIUS, CHRISTIAN (1655-1728)

This article appears in Volume V26, Page 868 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: THE-TOO
THOMASIUS, CHRISTIAN (1655-1728) , German jurist and publicist, was born at
Leipzig
  on the 1st of January 1655, and was educated by his father, Jakob
Thomasius
  (1622-1684), at that time head master of the Thomasschule. Through his father's lectures Christian came under the influence of the political philosophy of Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf, and continued the study of law at Frankfort-on-Oder. In 1684 he commenced the career of professor of natural law at
Leipzig
 , and soon attracted attention by his abilities, but particularly by his daring attack upon traditional prejudices, in theology and jurisprudence. In 1687 he made the daring innovation of lecturing in German instead of Latin, and in the following year published a monthly periodical (Scherzhafte and ernsthafte, vernunftige and einfaltige Gedanken fiber allerhand lustige and niltzliche Bucher and Fragen) in which he ridiculed the pedantic weaknesses of the learned, taking the side of the Pietists in their controversy with the orthodox, and defending mixed marriages of
Lutherans
  and Calvinists. In consequence of these and other views, he was denounced from the pulpits, forbidden to lecture or to write (May to, 169o), and his arrest was ordered. The latter he escaped by flight to Berlin, and the elector Frederick III. offered him a
refuge
  in
Halle
 , with a salary of 5oo talers and the permission to lecture. He took partin founding the university of
Halle
  (1694), where he became second and then first professor of law and
rector
  of the university. He was one of the most esteemed university teachers and influential writers of his day. He died, after a successful and honourable career, on the 23rd of September 1728.
Though not a profound and systematic philosophical thinker,
Thomasius
  prepared the way for
great
  reforms in philosophy, and, above all, in law, literature, social life and theology. It was his mission to introduce a rational, common-sense point of view, and to bring the high matters of divine and human sciences into close and living contact with the everyday world. He thus created an epoch in German literature, philosophy and law, and Spittler opens with him the modern period of ecclesiastical history. He made it one of the aims of his life to free politics and jurisprudence from the
control
  of theology, and fought bravely and consistently for freedom of thought and speech on religious matters. He is often spoken of in German works as the author of the " territorial system," or Erastian theory of ecclesiastical government. But he taught that the state may interfere with legal or public duties only, and not with moral or private ones. He would not have even atheists punished, though they should be expelled the country, and he came forward as an
earnest
  opponent of the prosecution of witches and of the use of torture. In theology he was not a naturalist or a deist, but a believer in the necessity of revealed religion for salvation. He came strongly under the influence of the pietists, particularly of Spener, and there was a mystic vein in his thought; but other elements of his nature were too powerful to allow him to attach himself wholly to that party.
Thomasius's most popular and influential German publications were his periodical already referred to (1688-1689) ; Einleitung zur Vernunftlehre (1691, 5th ed. 1719); Vernunftige Gedanken fiber allerhand auserlesene and jusistische Handel (17201721) ; Historie der Weisheit and Torheit (3 vols., 1693) ; Kurze Lehrsdtze von dem Laster der Zauberei mit dem Hexenprozess (1704) ; Weitere Erlduterungen der neueren Wissenschaft anderer Gedanken kennen zu lernen (1711).
See Luden, Christian Thomasius nach semen Schicksalen and Schriften (1805); H. Dernburg, Thomasius and die Stiftung der Universitdt Halle (1865) ; B. A. Wagner, Thomasius, ein Beitrag zur Wurdigung seiner Verdienste (1872) ; Nicoladoni, Christian Thomasius. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Aufklarung (Berlin, 1888) ; and E. Landsberg, Zur Biographic von Christian Thomasius (1894)


End of Article: THOMASIUS, CHRISTIAN (1655-1728)


If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/THE_TOO/THOMASIUS_CHRISTIAN_1655_1728_.html">
THOMASIUS, CHRISTIAN (1655-1728)
</a>
(Previous)
THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554) 		(Next)
THOMASON, GEORGE (d. 1666)

 


 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

The JCSM Study CenterAmerica's Christian FoundationSkeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and ExplainedNKJV Web Hosting and Services
JCSM's Sermons, Debates and the Bible on MP3The Online Christ-Centered MinistriesDo You Have A Web Site?  Your Ad Could Be Here!Seminary Notes and PapersThe Picturesque Photo Albums


Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present.


Kingdom Debt Solutions - Be Debt Free! Sport Logos - Quality Athletic Equipment The JCSM Study Center Your Ad Could Be Here! Launch A Successful Internet Organization or Business! Learn Guitar, Bass, or Piano in San Diego county!

You can advertise your site right here!

Free & Cheap Cell Phones  |  Cheap Long Distance Phone Service Carriers  |  Talk America Local Phone Service  |  Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare Cell Phone Plans & Companies  |  International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards  |  Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone Service  |  Wireless Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones

Dr. Jason Gastrich

Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.

 

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries is directed by Dr. Jason Gastrich.  It was founded in 1997 and it exists to bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ.  JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, discussion boards, weekly html and mp3 devotionals, free email accounts, and much more.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA  92169
1-877-850-3878 or Email

JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-2008.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Online First Aid and CPR Certification  .  The Online Christ Centered Ministries  .  The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained  .  The Inerrancy Discussion Board  .  Free Email Accounts  .  Home Equity Loans  .  JasonGastrich.com  .  The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference  .  Young Earth Creation Science  .  San Diego Music Lessons  .  10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings  .  Gastrich.net  .  Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success  .  Louisiana Baptist University  .  NKJV Web Hosting and Services  .  Michael Newdow  .  San Diego Soccer Training  . Christian Guitar Lessons  .  Jesus Christ Saves Ministries  .  Eternal Security