CALOVIUS

calovius, abraham (1612-1686), german lutheran divine, was born at mohrungen in east prussia, on the 16th of april 1612. after studying at konigsberg, in 1650 he was appointed professor of theology at wittenberg, where he afterwards became general superintendent and primarius. he died on the 25th of february 1686. calovius was the most noteworthy of the champions of lutheran orthodoxy in the 17th century. he strongly opposed the catholics, calvinists and socinians, attacked in particular the reconciliation policy or "syncretism" of georg calixtus (cf. the _consensus repetitus fidei vere lutheranae,_ 1665), and as a writer of polemics he had few equals. his chief dogmatic work, _systema locorum theologicorum_ (12 vols. 1655-1677), represents the climax of lutheran scholasticism. in his _biblia illustrata_ (4 vols.), written from the point of view of a very strict belief in inspiration, his object is to refute the statements made by hugo grotius in his commentaries. his _historia syncretistica_ (1682) was suppressed.