BUGENHAGEN, JOHANN

Lutheran churchman, known as "Dr. Pommer"; b. Wollin, Pomerania, June 24, 1485; d. Wittenberg, Saxony, April 20, 1558. Bugenhagen, a Premonstratensian canon, became rector at Treptow (1504), was ordained (1509), and became a lector in Scripture and patrology at Belbuck (1517). Converted by Luther's treatise "Babylonian Captivity" (1520), he fled to Wittenberg in 1521 and studied theology. After his marriage (1522), he served as city pastor (1523–57) and held a professorship from 1535. Next to Philip Melanchthon, Bugenhagen was the most influential member of Luther's intimate circle: a lifelong friend, confessor, adviser, and lieutenant, endowed with Melanchthon's moderation and Luther's firmness. His works include commentaries, a Low German translation of the NT (1524) and the Bible (with colleagues, 1533), as well as polemical works against Catholics, Zwinglians, and Anti-Trinitarians. He established Lutheranism in North Germany and Denmark upon request of authorities there, writing church orders between 1528 and 1544 for Brunswick (city), Hamburg, Lübeck, Pomerania, Denmark, Holstein, Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel, and Hildesheim; these emphasized good schools, good administration of church property, good ministers, and liturgical conservatism. In 1537 he went to Denmark, where he crowned King Christian III, consecrated seven men as "bishops" or superintendents of the Danish church, and reorganized the University of Copenhagen.

Bibliography: j. bugenhagen, Sechs Predigten, ed. g. buchwald (Halle 1885); Katechismuspredigten, gehalten 1525 und 1532, ed. g. buchwald (Leipzig 1909) sermons; Briefwechsel, ed. o. vogt (Stettin 1888), letters. e. sehling, ed., Die Evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts, 5 v. (Leipzig 1902–13). h. hering, Doktor Pomeranus, Johannes Bugenhagen (Halle 1888). w. rautenberg, Johann Bugenhagen (Berlin 1958). e. wolf, Peregrinatio (Munich 1954), with sketch and bibliog. o. thulin, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Tübingen 1957–65) 1:1504. j. allendorf, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–65) 2:761.

[r. h. fischer]