Chemnitz, Martin, the most eminent Lutheran theologian in the second half of the 16th century, was born at Treuenbrietzen, in Brandenburg, 9th November 1522. He had a hard struggle with poverty in his early years, and had repeatedly to interrupt his university studies at Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Wittenberg in order to obtain by school-teaching the means of pursuing them; but at length his proficiency in astrology led to his being appointed librarian of the ducal library at Königsberg in 1550, and from that time he devoted himself entirely to theology. In consequence of his opposition to the teaching of Osiander he was obliged to leave Königsberg and proceed to Wittenberg (1553), where he delivered lectures on the Loci communes of Melanchthon, which were published after his death as Loci theologici (1591). He was appointed a preacher at Brunswick in 1554, and 'superintendent' in 1567, and died there 8th April 1586. The chief works of Chemnitz were his Examen Concilii Tridentini (4 vols. 1565-73; new ed. Berlin, 1862), which was the first thoroughgoing criticism of Tridentine doctrine from a Protestant point of view; and his share in preparing and securing the acceptance of the 'Formula of
Concord'—the next in importance to that of Jacob Andreä. His Corpus Doctrinæ Pruthenicum, written in conjunction with Mörlin (1567), became a standard work of orthodox Lutheranism. In his De duabus Naturis in Christo (1571) Chemnitz developed the doctrine of the 'ubiquity' of Christ in a form mediating between Luther and Melanchthon. In every other point of his theology he was a steadfast follower of Luther. His Life has been written by Pressel (1862), Lentz (1866), and Hachfeld (1867).