Home > Christian Thomasius

He was born at Leipzig and was educated by his father, Jakob Thomasius (1622-1684), at that time head master of the Thomasschule. Through his father's lectures, Christian came under the influence of the political philosophy of Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf, and continued the study of law at Frankfurt an der Oder. In 1684 he became professor of natural law at Leipzig, and soon attracted attention by his abilities, and particularly by his daring attack upon traditional prejudices, in theology and jurisprudence. In 1687 he made the daring innovation of lecturing in German instead of Latin, and in the following year published a monthly periodical (Scherzhafte und ernsthafte, vernüftige und einfältige Gedanken über allerhand lustige und nutzliche Bücher und Fragen) in which he ridiculed the pedantic weaknesses of the learned, taking the side of the Pietists in their controversy with the orthodox, and defending mixed marriages of Lutherans and CalvinJohn Calvin ( July 10, 1509 May 27, 1564) founded Calvinism, a form of Protestant Christianity, during the Protestant Reformation. He was born Jean Chauvin in Noyon, Picardie, France, and French was his mother tongue. Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses inists. In consequence of these and other views, he was denounced from the pulpits, forbidden to lecture or to write ( May 10May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). There are 235 days remaining. Events 1291 Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England. 1497 Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cadiz for his first, 1690Events Giovanni Domenico Cassini observes differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere. January 6 Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I becomes King of the Romans January 14 The clarinet is invented in Nuremberg, Germany May 20 England passes Act of Grace), and his arrest was ordered. He escaped by going to Berlin, and the elector Frederick III offered him a refuge in HalleHalle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. It lies in the southern part of the state, on the river Saale. Population: 243,045 (2001)., with a salary of 500 thalerThe Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. The roots and development of the thaler-sized silver coin dates back to the mid- 1400s. As the fifteenth century drew to a close the state of much of Europe's coinage was q and the permission to lecture. He helped found the University of Halle (1694), where he became second and then first professor of law and rector of the university. He was one of the most esteemed university teachers and influential writers of his day.

Though not a profound philosophical thinker, Thomasius prepared the way for great reforms in philosophy, as well as in lawThis article is about law in society. For other possible meanings, see law (disambiguation). Law (a loanword from Danish-Norwegian lov , in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules of conduct which mandate or proscribe (or both) specified relationshi, literature, social life and theology. It was his mission to introduce a rational, common-sense point of view, and to bring the divine and human sciences to bear on the everyday world. He thus created an epoch in German literature, philosophy and law, and, along with Spittler, began the modern period of ecclesiastical history. One of the aims of his life was to free politics and jurisprudence from the control of theology, and fought bravely and consistently for freedom of thought and speech on religious matters. He is often spoken of in German works as the author of the "territorial system," or Erastian theory of ecclesiastical government; but he taught that the state may interfere with legal or public duties only, and not with moral or private ones. He would not have even atheists punished, though they should be expelled the country, and he came forward as an earnest opponent of the prosecution of witches and of the use of torture. In theology he was not a naturalist or a deist, but a believer in the necessity of revealed religion for salvation. He came strongly under the influence of the pietists, particularly of Spener, and there was a mystic vein in his thought; but other elements of his nature were too powerful to allow him to attach himself wholly to that party.

Thomasius's most popular and influential German publications were his periodical already referred to (1688-1689); Einleitung zur Vernunftlehre (1691, 5th ed. 1719); Vernünflige Gedanken über allerhand auserlesene und juristische Handel (1720-1721); Historie der Weisheit und Torheit (3 vols., 1693); Kurze Lehrsätze van dem Laster der Zauberei mit dem Hexenprozess (1704); Weitere Erläuterungen der neueren Wissenschaft anderer Gedanken kennen zu lernen (1711).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.