Latin

Die Heubtartikel Christlicher Lere/ zusamen gezogen/ Durch Philippum Melanthon/ im latin genant/ Loci communes Theologici. Verdeudscht durch Justum Jonam/ Doctor. und im 1542. jar/ Durch Philip. Melanth. widerumb durchsehen und gebessert.

1544 · 321627 — Wittenberg Germany: Veit Kreutzer 1544. Hardcover. Very Good. Wittenberg: Veit Kreutzer 1544 German edition of Melanchthon's Loci Communes first published in Latin in 1521 as "Loci communes or Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae" Latin for Common Places in Theology or Fundamental Doctrinal Themes. Very good. Pages of the text are numbered entirely in roman numerals to page CCCLIII. With an unnumbered register index of 23 pages. Beautiful contemporary stamped ivory vellum veneer boards with a set of elegant silver clips. No front endpaper. The copy bears an early bookplate "Ex bibliotheca Gust. Ad. Hauseri theol et philos. stud. Cl nr" inside the front board. Light pencil signatures from the 19th century trace the stewardship of Ole Lokensgaard 1854-1931 Granite Falls Minnesota who came to the US in 1857. The family was associated through his son Gerhard W. Lokensgard with St. Olaf College in Northfield. It has been held by the family through 3 generations. The Loci Communes evolved with the reform movement. This 1544 edition is translated by Justus Jonas into German based on Melanchthon's 1542 revision. Title in English: "The Heubtartike Christian Literature/ drawn together/ By Philippum Melanthon/ called in Latin/ Loci Communes Theologici. Germanized by Justum Jonam/Doctor/ and in the 1542nd year/ By Philip. Melanth. checked again and improved." The Loci Communes evolved with the movement. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560 was a German reformer a collaborator with Martin Luther and part of the Wittenberg team that established the foundation of the Protestant Reformation. Melanchthon was its first systematic theologian and an intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation who with Luther was a primary founder of Lutheranism. Loci Communes was Melanchthon's Magnum Opus. "Melanchthon points out that he wrote the Loci Communes to encourage people to bypass extra-biblical sources and go straight to scripture. He does not believe it makes sense to try to integrate philosophy with the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. Melanchthon berates the scholastic methodology of dialectic. He discusses the skewing of scripture that those who employ such methodology foisted upon the interpretation of scripture". The colleagues that Luther assembled in Wittenberg’s theological faculty formed the nucleus of his team. This included Justus Jonas 1493 –1555 who served in addition to roles as advisor and legal expert as translator of the works of Luther and Melanchthon from Latin into German or German into Latin. In the 16th century intellectuals across Europe spoke Latin. To spread the Wittenberg message this process of translation and revision was essential to the maturing of the movement. The later editions were published from 1543-1559 with the final edition being published just one year before Melanchthon’s death in 1560. The 1560 edition is four times the size of the original 1521 edition. "The German text of the third generation remains close to the second generation of the Latin Loci; the text is a revision by Melanchthon of the translation of Jonas.He once confessed that he found the final revision of this German translation better than the Latin Loci CR 22 31/32." We believe that this 1544 Jonas translation may be the one to which Melanchthon refers. But that is a matter for further scholarly investigation. The simple beauty of the copy with its silver clasps is exceptional. Veit Kreutzer hardcover