Everything about Johann Von Staupitz totally explained
Johann von Staupitz (
1460 –
December 28 1524) was a
theologian, university preacher, Vicar-General of the
Augustinian Order in Germany who supervised
Martin Luther during a critical period in that man's spiritual life. Martin Luther himself remarked, "If it hadn't been for Dr. Staupitz, I should have sunk in hell." He is commemorated on November 8 as a priest in the
Calendar of Saints of the
Lutheran Church.
Biography
Von Staupitz was born in Motterwitz sometime around the year 1460 (the exact date remains uncertain). Descended from an old
Saxony family, he
matriculated in the year
1485 and officially joined the order in
Munich before relocated to
Tübingen where he received promotion to the rank of
prior. In
1500 Von Staupitz was made Doctor of
Theology and achieved election to the post of
Vicar general of the German Congregation of Augustinians in
1503. He was also made dean of the theology faculty at the University of
Wittenberg when it was founded in
1502. In
1512, while in his 50s, Von Staupitz resigned his professorship and relocated to the southern part of
Germany, resigning his vicar-generalship officially in
1520.
In
1507 he accepted an offer from the
Benedictines inviting him to join their order, becoming
Abbot of St Peter's in
Salzburg. It was here that Von Staupitz finally met Martin Luther, a young monk plagued by persistent thoughts of spiritual inadequacy. Luther felt compelled to confess to Von Staupitz everything sinful the young man may have ever done. At least once, Luther spent six hours confessing to Von Staupitz and later wrote, "I was myself more than once driven to the very depths of despair so that I wished I'd never been created. Love God? I hated him!"
Von Staupitz responded to the young man's doubt by counseling Luther on the
Means of Grace and salvation through
the blood of Christ. He also commanded the young monk to pursue a more academic career, as a hoped distraction from Luther's recurrent theological brooding.
After Luther was later branded a
heretic in
1518, Von Staupitz was appointed promagister of the order to plead in protest with Luther, discussing the issue of
indulgences in great detail. Von Staupitz is sometimes categorized as a forerunner of Luther, though his actual words indicate a man driven by anxious suspicion and an encouraging desire to understand Luther's objections. Von Staupitz perceived Luther's complaints as questions against clerical abuses rather than fundamental dispute of
dogma. Ultimately Von Staupitz released Martin Luther from the Augustinian Order, preserving the good name of the order while simultaneously performing to Luther's intellectual protests. His connection with Luther's 'heresy' was now sealed, and in
1520 the
Pope demanded
abjuration and revocation of heresy from Von Staupitz. He refused to revoke, on the grounds he'd never asserted Luther's heresies himself, but did abjure and recognize the
Catholic Pontiff as his judge. Luther perceived this as a betrayal of sorts, while Staupitz saw it merely as maintaining standing as a good Catholic. In his last letter to Luther, in 1524, Staupitz made clear he wasn't completely happy with the direction the Reformation had taken.
Von Staupitz wrote theological books on the topics of
predestination,
faith, and
love. In
1559,
Pope Paul IV put these texts on the
Index of Prohibited Books.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Johann Von Staupitz'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://johann_von_staupitz.totallyexplained.com">Johann von Staupitz Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
