Andreas Osiander

Timeline

1. 1498–1522Gunzenhausen · EuropeBorn in Gunzenhausen in the Franconia region, he studied at the University of Ingolstadt, learning theology and Hebrew. After ordination he briefly served in Heilbronn, gradually coming into contact with humanist and Lutheran ideas, and was called to Nuremberg in 1522.
2. 1522–1548Nuremberg · EuropeHe became priest at St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg and the driving force of the city's religious reform. In 1529 he took part in the Marburg Colloquy and oversaw the related record-keeping. In 1533 he led the drafting of the Nuremberg-Brandenburg Church Order (Kirchenordnung), an important model for the organization of Protestant churches in Germany. In 1543 he anonymously wrote the preface to Copernicus's De revolutionibus, claiming the heliocentric theory was a computational device rather than a physical truth; this was later exposed and drew criticism from historians of science. After the 1548 Augsburg Interim was promulgated, he was forced to leave Nuremberg.
3. 1549–1552Königsberg · EuropeAt the invitation of Duke Albrecht of Prussia, he became theology professor at Königsberg University and priest of the cathedral. In 1550 he published Von dem einigen Mittler, arguing that justification rests on a mystical union with Christ's divinity rather than on Christ's atoning death; this provoked strong opposition from all Lutheran theologians, known historically as the "Osiander controversy." He died of illness in Königsberg on October 17, 1552, and after his death his theological position was condemned as heresy by Lutheran orthodoxy.