Beurlin, Jakob

BEURLIN, boi´´er-lîn, JAKOB: German Lutheran theologian; b. at Dornstetten (35 m. s.w. of Stuttgart) 1520; d. at Paris Oct. 28, 1561. In Nov., 1533, he entered the university of Tübingen. When the Reformation was introduced in 1534, he remained faithful to Catholicism, but diligently studied philosophy and the writings of the Church Fathers, so that his transition to the new doctrine took place quietly. In 1541 he was made governor of the Martinianum, and at the same time lectured on philosophy. In 1549 he accepted the pastorate of Derendingen near Tübingen, and in 1551 he was called as professor to Tübingen. On June 2, 1557, he examined and signed, together with other theologians, the Confessio Wirtembergica, which had been prepared for the Council of Trent, and in the month of August, together with Brenz's friend Johann Isenmann, he went to Langensalza and afterward to Saxony to come to an understanding with the theologians and councilors of the elector Maurice concerning the Württemberg Confession as compared with the Saxon, which bad also been prepared for the Council of Trent. In Nov., 1551, in company with Luther's former steward, Jodocus Neuheller, pastor at Entringen, he was sent as theological adviser of the Württemberg delegates to Trent, where they took notes of the disputations. On Jan. 13, 1552, both returned home, but on Mar. 7, Beurlin, Brenz, Heerbrand, and Vannius again started for Trent to oppose the erroneous decisions of the council, and to defend the Confessio Wirtembergica before it; but the council would not hear them in a public session, and they returned home. Beurlin now devoted all his time to his academic duties. He lectured on Melanchthon's Loci, the Gospel and First Epistle of John, and the Epistles to the Romans sad Hebrews, and drilled the young theologians in admirably conducted disputations. In May, 1554, the duke sent him to Prussia to pacify those who had been stirred up by Osiander's teaching. He was unsuccessful, however, and, disgusted with the behavior of the factions, he declined the bishopric offered to him by Duke Albert, and returned home. In the interest of his academic office he now retired in favor of Jakob Andreä, who was a more willing interpreter of the theology and ecclesiastical policy of Brenz. In Oct., 1557, Beurlin and his father-in-law, Matthaeus Alber, went to the religious conference at Worms in place of the Thuringian theologians. At the Stuttgart synod Beurlin also remained in the background, but he assisted Brenz in the defense of the Confessio Wirtembergica against Peter a Soto, and his attack upon the central point of the Roman system is still worthy of consideration. Vice-chancellor of the university after 1557, Beurlin was the leader of the Swabians at the Erfurt Conference, Apr., 1561, and was still more prominent on his last journey made in the service of the Evangelical Church. King Antony of Navarre sought both at Stuttgart and Heidelberg for a theologian to advise him in the controversy which arose in Sept., 1557, at the religious conference in Poissy between the cardinal of Guise and Beza concerning the relation of the French Protestants to the Augsburg Confession. Duke Christopher sent three theologians, Jakob Beurlin, Jakob Andreä, and Balthazar Bidembach. Before leaving, Beurlin was made chancellor of the university and provost of the Collegiate Church (Sept. 29). The theologians left Oct. 3, and arrived at Paris Oct. 19. Meanwhile the conference at Poissy had been broken off, and the theologians had to wait till the king called them. On Oct. 24 Beurlin fell ill with the plague and died in Paris.

G. Bossert.

Bibliography: The sources are: T. Schnepffius, J. Beurlinus redivivus et immortalis, Tübingen, 1613; J. V. Andreä, Fama Andreana, Strasburg, 1530. Consult G. C. F. Fischlin, Memoria theologorum Vittebergensium resuscitata, i, 82–87, Ulm, 1710; C. F. Sattler, Geschichte von Württemberg unter der Regierung der Herzoge, Ulm, 1771; H. F. Eisenbach, Beschreibung und Geschichte der Stadt und Universität Tübingen, pp. 108–112, Tübingen, 1822; H. L. J. Heppe, Geschichte des deutschen Protestantismus, Vol. i, Marburg, 1852–59; C. von Weizsäcker, Lehrer und Unterricht an der evangelisch-theologischen Fakultät . . . Tübingen, Tübingen, 1877; C. A. Hase, Herzog Albrecht von Preussen und sein Hofprediger, Leipsic, 1879; G. Bossert, Die Reise der württembergischen Theologen nach Paris 1561, in Württembergische Vierteljahrshefte, 1899, pp. 387–412.