Matthias Martinius (Martini) (1572 – 30 December 1630) was a German Calvinist theologian and educator.

Life

He was born in Freienhagen, Waldeck and educated at Herborn Academy. He became court preacher at Dillenburg, and then taught at Herborn before moving to

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

in 1607.

Lyzeum Kleine Helle - Bremen, Kleine Helle - Portal

From 1610 Martinius was the founding rector of the Gymnasium Illustre at

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. The teaching at Bremen influenced in particular

Johannes Cocceius Johannes Cocceius (also Coccejus; ; 9 August 1603 – 5 November 1669) was a Dutch theologian born in Bremen. Life After studying at Hamburg and the University of Franeker, where Sixtinus Amama was one of his teachers, he became in 1630 profess ...

, student under Martinius and

Ludwig Crocius Ludwig Crocius (also Ludovicus Crocius; 29 March 1586 – 7 December 1653 or 1655) was a German Calvinist minister. He was a delegate at the Synod of Dort and professor of theology and philosophy in Bremen. Background and career Ludwig Crocius wa ...

. At the

Synod of Dort The Synod of Dort (also known as the Synod of Dordt or the Synod of Dordrecht) was an international Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. The fi ...

of 1618 Martinius was present as a representative of Bremen. He was involved in controversy with the Lutherans Balthasar Mentzer and Philipp Nicolai.

Views

Martinius and the Bremen academy played an important role in the later developments of

covenant theology Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an organ ...

. His views as Calvinist were considered moderate, and anticipated

hypothetical universalism Hypothetical universalism is the belief that Christ died in some sense for every person, but his death effected salvation only for those who were predestined for salvation. In the history of Reformed theology, there have been several examples of h ...

. The Bremen delegation at Dort, together with the English delegates John Davenant and Samuel Ward, were conspicuous for arguing against the Gomarist line on doctrine. Martinius absented himself from a number of sessions, clashed with Gomarus, Abraham Scultetus and Sibrandus Lubbertus, and was close to walking out of the Synod. The Synod's preference for infralapsarianism has been attributed to Martinius.

Works

*''Lexicon philologicum'' *''Idea Methodica et brevis encyclopaediae''. John Platts, ''A Universal Biography: 3rd series'' (1826), p. 699
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Life

Views

Works

Notes

Further reading