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Abraham Calovius (alsoAbraham Calov orAbraham Kalau; 16 April 1612 – 25 February 1686) was aLutheran theologian, and was one of the champions ofLutheran orthodoxy in the 17th century.
He was born inMohrungen (Morąg),Ducal Prussia, afief ofCrown of Poland. After studying atKönigsberg, in 1650 he was appointed professor of theology atWittenberg, where he afterwards became generalsuperintendent andprimarius.[1]
Calovius opposed theCatholics,Calvinists andSocinians, and in particular attacked thesyncretism of his bitter enemy,George Calixtus.[1] While Calixtus affirmed that theApostles' Creed was an adequate definition of faith, Calovius rather held that one must believe every part of revealed truth in order to gain salvation. This led Calovius to deny as aheresy the idea that Roman Catholics or Calvinists could be partakers of salvation.
As a writer of polemics Calovius had few equals. His chief dogmatic work,Systema locorum theologicorum, (12 volumes, 1655–1677) represents the climax ofLutheran scholasticism. He produced a popular commentary onMartin Luther's translation of the Bible, "Die deutsche Bibel," today known as theCalov Bible.[2] He also wrote a much larger professional exegetical work on the entire Bible called "Biblia Illustrata". It is written from the point of view of a very strict belief in inspiration, his object being to refute the statements made byHugo Grotius in hisCommentaries.[1]
Calovius died inWittenberg.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Calovius, Abraham".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 68.
