Valentin Weigel was a German theologian, philosopher and mystical writer, from Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

, and an important precursor of later theosophy

Theosophy

Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...

. In English he is often called Valentine Weigel.

He was born at Hayn

Hayn

Hayn is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Südharz....

, near Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, into a Catholic family. He studied at Meissen

Meissen

Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...

, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, and Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....

. In 1567 he became a pastor at Zschopau

Zschopau

Zschopau , a town in the German state Saxony, is located on both banks of the river Zschopau, south-east from Chemnitz. It is part of the Erzgebirgskreis district. Its population is 11,584...

, near Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

. There, he lived out a quiet life, engaged in his writings.

Weigel was best known for his belief that the Virgin Mary was herself the product of a virgin birth. He based his belief on the idea of the immaculate conception, which required that Mary must also be sinless in order to bear God in the flesh. He kept his ideas secret, entrusting them only to personal friends (in contrast to Jakob Böhme

Jakob Böhme

Jakob Böhme was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition...

). He carried out his parishioner duties and kept a low profile. He left around 6000 pages in printed or manuscript works. His ideas on human nature were only gradually and posthumously published. Johann Arndt

Johann Arndt

Johann Arndt was a German Lutheran theologian who wrote several influential books of devotional Christianity...

, Gottfried Arnold

Gottfried Arnold

Gottfried Arnold was a German Lutheran theologian and historian.Arnold was born at Annaberg, in Saxony , where his father was schoolmaster. In 1682 he went to the Gymnasium at Gera, and three years later to the University of Wittenberg...

, and Gottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....

 helped to spread Weigel's ideas.

His mysticism was marked by that of Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler was a German mystic theologian.- Life :He was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city, where Meister Eckhart, who greatly influenced him, was professor of theology in the monastery school...

 and by doctrines of Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Paracelsus was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist....

; he was also a follower of Sebastian Franck

Sebastian Franck

Sebastian Franck was a 16th century German freethinker, humanist, and radical reformer.Franck was born about 1499 at Donauwörth, Bavaria. Because of this he styled himself Franck von Word...

 and Caspar Schwenckfeldt. Like these two latter, he emphasized the inner life.

Works

• "Unterrichts-Predigt: Wie man christlich trauern und täglich solle im Herrn sterben", 1576
• "Libellus de vita beata", 1609
• "Ein schön Gebetsbüchlein, welches die Einfältigen unterrichtet", 1612
• "Der güldene Griff, alle Ding ohne Irrtum zu erkennen", 1613
• "Ein nützliches Traktätlein vom Ort der Welt", 1613
• "Dialogus de Christianismo", 1614
• "Erkenne dich selbst", 1615
• "Informatorium oder Kurzer Unterricht", 1616 (erweitert: "Soli deo gloria", 1618)
• "Kirchen- oder Hauspostill", 1618
• "Libellus disputatorus", 1618
• "De bono et malo in homine", 1618
• "Zwei schöne Büchlein", 1618
• "Studium universale", 1618
• "Tractatus de opere mirabili", 1619

External links

• Astrology Theologised, online book