Nicholas von Amsdorf

Nicolaus von Amsdorf (German: Nikolaus von Amsdorf, 3 December 1483 – 14 May 1565) was a German Lutheran theologian and an early Protestant reformer. As bishop of Naumburg (1542–1546), he became the first Lutheran bishop in the Holy Roman Empire.

He was born in Torgau, on the Elbe.

He was educated at Leipzig, and then at Wittenberg, where he was one of the first who matriculated (1502) in the recently founded university. He soon obtained various academic honours, and became professor of theology in 1511.

Like Andreas Karlstadt, he was at first a leading exponent of the older type of scholastic theology, but under the influence of Luther abandoned his Aristotelian positions for a theology based on the Augustinian doctrine of grace. Throughout his life he remained one of Luther's most determined supporters; he was with him at the Leipzig conference (1519), and the Diet of Worms (1521); and was privy to the secret of his Wartburg seclusion. He assisted the first efforts of the Reformation at Magdeburg (1524), at Goslar (1531) and at Einbeck (1534); took an active part in the debates at Schmalkalden (1537), where he defended the use of the sacrament by the unbelieving; and (1539) spoke out strongly against the bigamy of the Landgrave of Hesse.

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