Huguenot theologian (1545?1602)
Franciscus Junius the Elder
(born
Francois du Jon
, 1 May 1545 – 23 October 1602)
was a
Reformed
scholar,
Protestant reformer
and theologian. Born in
Bourges
in central
France
, he initially studied law, but later decided to study theology in
Geneva
under
John Calvin
and
Theodore Beza
. He became a minister in
Antwerp
, but was forced to flee to
Heidelberg
in 1567. He wrote a translation of the Bible into Latin with
Emmanuel Tremellius
, and his Treatise on True Theology (
De Vera Theologia
) was an often used text in
Reformed scholasticism
.
Life
[
edit
]
Franciscus Junius was born in
Bourges
, and beginning at age twelve studied law at the
university there
under
Francois Douaren
and
Hugo Donellus
.
On account of his abilities in Greek and law, he was given the position of aide to the French ambassador at the court of
Suleiman I
in
Constantinople
, but before he reached
Lyon
, whence he was to travel by boat, the ambassador had departed.
Junius studied for two years at the gymnasium at Lyon, reading Greek and Roman classics. He nearly became an atheist while reading
Cicero
and
Epicurus
, but after reading the first chapter of
John
he was convinced to commit himself to God and he entered the
French Reformed Church
.
He went in 1562 to study at
Geneva
under
John Calvin
and
Theodore Beza
, where he was reduced to poverty by the failure of remittances from home, owing to
civil war in France
.
He would accept only the barest sustenance from a humble friend who had himself been a protege of Junius's family at Bourges, and his health was permanently injured. The long-expected remittance from home was closely followed by the news of the brutal murder of his father by a Catholic fanatic at
Issoudun
; and Junius resolved to remain at Geneva, where his reputation enabled him to live by teaching. In 1565, however, he was appointed minister of the
Walloon church
at
Antwerp
.
Junius was tasked with making a minor revision to the
Belgic Confession
, which was first prepared in 1561, and he also distributed it in Geneva in order to build consensus. In 1566, an
iconoclastic uproar
ensued in the
Netherlands
, but Junius did not take part.
William the Silent
made an agreement with
Philip II of Spain
in 1566 to protect Protestants, but only those who were natives of the
Low Countries
, placing Junius in danger.
Several times he barely escaped arrest, and finally, after spending six months preaching in
Limburg
, he was forced to flee to
Heidelberg
in 1567. There he was welcomed by the elector
Frederick II
, and temporarily settled in charge of the Reformed church at
Schonau
; but in 1568 his patron sent him as
chaplain
with
Prince William of Orange
in his unfortunate expedition to the
Netherlands
. Junius returned to his church and remained there till 1573.
From 1573 till 1578 he was at Heidelberg, assisting
Emmanuel Tremellius
,
whose daughter he married; their child, also called
Franciscus Junius
, became an early scholar of Germanic philology. The Tremellius-Junius Bible, a distinctively Reformed Latin translation, was first published in 1579. It received thirty-three printings between 1579 and 1764 and was very influential on Reformed dogmatics, shaping Protestant theology into the late eighteenth century.
The Tremellius-Junius Old Testament was often paired with
Theodore Beza
's translation of the New Testament.
Frederick III was succeeded by
Louis IV
, a Lutheran, in 1576, and the Reformed in Heidelberg who refused to sign the
Formula of Concord
were forced out. In 1579, German prince and friend of the Reformed
John Casimir
formed the
Casimirianum Neustadt
. Junius, along with author of the
Heidelberg Catechism
Zacharias Ursinus
, was one of the first faculty members. Junius became a friend of Ursinus, and delivered his funeral oration when he died in 1583. In 1583, John Casimir became
regent
, and Junius was invited back to become professor of theology at the
University of Heidelberg
.
From the late 1580s to 1592, Junius participated in diplomatic missions for the duke of
Bouillon
in France and Germany, which involved meeting personally with the king of France,
Henry IV of Navarre
.
In 1592, he was named professor of theology at the
University of Leiden
.
There he wrote his most famous work A Treatise on True Theology,
De Vera Theologia
, which became a cornerstone of
Reformed scholastic
theology. About the same time he also wrote
The Mosaic Polity
,
De politiae Mosis observatione
(1593), which addressed the contemporary political implications of the
Mosaic Law
.
In this latter work, Junius analyzes the relationship between church and state and argues against the idea that
humanism
and
scholasticism
are necessarily antithetical. Junius examines the classification of the Mosaic laws as moral, ceremonial, and judicial, and argues that the ceremonial laws typically contain a "composite rationale from the moral, judicial, and ceremonial law."
Upon his death in 1602, Junius was succeeded as chair of theology by
Jacobus Arminius
.
As to the date of his death, Latin scholar David C. Noe (of
Calvin College
) has identified a discrepancy in
Abraham Kuyper
's chronology in volume 1 of the Bibliotheca Reformata,
D. Francisci Junii Opuscula Theologia Selecta
, that lists October 26 as date of death. However, this is in fact the date when
Franciscus Gomarus
delivered the funeral oration at Leiden University. Gomarus notes two different dates for Junius's death: October 13 and October 20.
Most research libraries, reference materials, and library catalog authority files list the date of death as October 13.
[16]
Upon his death
Joseph Justus Scaliger
wrote this lament:
Te moerens scola flet suum magistrum,
Orba ecclesia te suum parentem,
Doctorem gemit orbis universus.
"For you a wailing school her master mourns,
An orphan church weeps for you her father,
And for her doctor groans the whole wide world."
tr. David C. Noe, 2014.
Works
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
Sources
[
edit
]
-
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Junius, Franz s.v. Franz Junius (1545?1602)
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 559.
- Fletcher, Harris (1927). "Milton's Use of Biblical Quotations".
The Journal of English and Germanic Philology
.
26
(2): 145?165.
JSTOR
27703025
.
- Haag, Eugene; Haag, Emile (1855).
La France protestante
. Vol. V. Geneve.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- Junius, Franciscus (2014).
A Treatise on True Theology with the Life of Franciscus Junius
. Translated by Noe, David.
Reformation Heritage Books
.
ISBN
978-1601783417
.
- Plathow, Michael (1992).
"JUNIUS, Franz the Elder"
. In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.).
Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon
. Vol. III. T. Bautz-Verlag.
- Rester, Todd M. (2011).
"Translator's Introduction"
.
Journal of Markets and Morality
.
14
(1): 237?241.
Archived
from the original on 2013-04-29
. Retrieved
2013-04-29
.
- Woodward, Bernard Bolingbroke; Cates, William Leist Readwin (1872).
Encyclopaedia of Chronology: Historical and Biographical
. Lee and Shepard.
- de Beze, Theodore (2006). Aubert, Hippolyte; Aubert, Fernand; Meylan, Henri (eds.).
Correspondance de Theodore de Beze: 1590
.
OCLC
268306
.
External links
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Preceded by
Unknown
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Chair of theology at the
University of Leiden
1592–1602
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