Salomo Glassius (; 20 May 1593 – 27 July 1656) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

critic born at Sondershausen, in the principality of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county (earldom) until 1697. In that year, it became a principal ...

. In 1612, he entered the University of Jena. In 1615, with the intent of studying law, he moved to

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

. Due to illness, he returned to Jena after a year. Here, as a student of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

under Johann Gerhard, he directed his attention especially to

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and the cognate dialects. In 1619 he was made an adjunctus of the philosophical faculty. He later was appointment as Professor of Hebrew. From 1625 to 1638, he was superintendent in Sondershausen. Shortly after the death of Gerhard (1637) he was, in accordance with Gerhard's last wish, appointed to succeed him at Jena. Later, at the earnest invitation of Duke Ernest the Pious, he relocated in 1640 to Gotha as court preacher and general superintendent in the execution of important reforms which had been initiated in the ecclesiastical and educational establishments of the

Duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...

. He played a role in the Syncretistic Controversy. His principal work, ''Philologia sacra'' (1623), marked the transition from the earlier views on questions of biblical criticism to those of the school of Spener. It was more than once reprinted during his lifetime, and appeared in a new and revised form, edited by J. A. Dathe (1731-1791) and G. L. Bauer at

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Glassius succeeded Gerhard as editor of the ''Weimar Bibelwerk'', one of the

Elector Bible The Elector Bible () is a German language folio-sized, Martin Luther translation of the Bible (Old and New Testament) that was authorized by Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and printed by Wolfgang Endter in Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the ...

s, this particular one called the ''Nuremberg Bible''. He wrote the commentary on the poetical books of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

for that publication. A volume of his ''Opuscula'' was printed at

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

in 1700. Glassius died in Gotha on 27 July 1656, aged 63.

References

* 1593 births 1656 deaths People from Sondershausen German Lutheran theologians 17th-century writers in Latin 17th-century German Protestant theologians German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German male writers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub 17th-century Lutheran theologians