Most of Gerhard’s life was spent during the devastating Thirty Years’ War, and his theology was shaped in the crucible of conflict, suffering, and destruction, producing a body of works that is both well-thought and practical.

Johann Gerhard is often seen as the third pillar of the Lutheran tradition, after Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz (author of the Formula of Concord and the Examination of the Council of Trent). Gerhard is considered the foremost Lutheran theologian of what is commonly known as the time of Lutheran Scholasticism, or Lutheran Orthodoxy. His works are considered unmatched by any later Lutheran theologian.

If the word “scholasticism” brings a yawn to your face, think again. Most of Gerhard’s life was spent during the devastating Thirty Years’ War, and his theology was shaped in the crucible of conflict, suffering, and destruction, producing a body of works that is both well-thought and practical.

A Troubled Life

Born on October 17, 1582, to a noble family in Quedlinburg, Germany, he was one of seven children. During a serious illness at age fifteen, he vowed to become a minister if he recovered. He kept his vow. At the same time, he experienced many of the same stings of conscience as Luther, lacking assurance of his salvation. He found comfort in the counsel and friendship of the Lutheran pastor Johann Arndt (often considered the father of Lutheran Pietism).

In 1598, just one year after his first major illness, he fell prey to the plague that claimed the lives of over 3000 people just in his town. He recovered but became sick again in 1603, this time so seriously that he wrote his last will. This pattern continued throughout his life.

After getting a thorough education (he was fluent in Latin and Greek and able to write Greek verse), Gerhard served as superintendent of twenty-six parishes in the Duchy of Coburg. It was an impressive assignment, given his young age (he was about 25 when he started). During this time, he also lectured at the local high school and wrote some devotional works that show a true pastor’s heart. The best-known of these is Sacred Meditations, with a Postille including a treasury of sermons.

In 1608, he married a young woman named Barbara Neumeye, who died five years later, shortly after the death of their only child. One of Gerhard’s most moving devotional works, Handbook of Consolations for the Fears and Trials that Oppress Us in the Struggle with Death, was written at this time. The book is organized in sections, each starting with a common temptation at the prospect of death and followed by wise words of biblical comfort.

Gerhard remarried in 1614. His second wife, Maria Mattenberg, stayed at his side for the next twenty-three years. Together, they had ten children, four of whom died in childhood. The oldest, Johann Ernst Gerhard, followed in his father’s footsteps.

Read More