Basil Faber Lutheran

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 schoolmaster and theologian, was born in Żary

Zary

Żary is a town in western Poland with about 39,900 inhabitants , situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship...

 (German: Sorau), in lower Lusatia

Lusatia

Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...

, in 1520. In 1538 he entered the University of Wittenberg, studying as pauper gratis under Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...

.

Choosing the schoolmaster's profession, he became successively rector of the schools at Nordhausen

Nordhausen

Nordhausen is a town at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Nordhausen...

, Tennstadt (1555), Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

 (1557) and Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval court and the old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list....

 (1560). From this last post he was removed in December 1570 as a crypto-Calvinist

Crypto-Calvinism

Crypto-Calvinism is a term for Calvinist influence in the Lutheran Church during the decades just after the death of Martin Luther . It denotes what was seen as a hidden...

. In 1571 he was appointed to the Rathsgymnasium at Erfurt

Erfurt

Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...

, not as rector, but as director (Vorsteher). In this situation he remained till his death in 1575 or 1576.

His translation of the first twenty-five chapters of Luther's

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 commentary on Genesis was published in 1557; in other ways he promoted the spread of Lutheran views. He was a contributor to the first four of the Magdeburg Centuries

Magdeburg Centuries

The Magdeburg Centuries is an ecclesiastical history, divided into thirteen centuries, covering thirteen hundred years, ending in 1298; it was first published from 1559 to 1574. It was compiled by several Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg, known as the Centuriators of Magdeburg. The chief of the...

. He is best known by his Thesaurus eruditionis scholasticae (1571; last edition, improved by J. H. Leich, 1749, folio, 2 vols.); this was followed by his Libellus de disciplina scholastica (1572).

See Wagenmann and G. Muller in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopedie (1898).