AGRICOLA (SCHNEIDER), JOHANN. – Protestant theologian, born in 1494 at Eisleben, whence the appellation Magister Islebius, and died in Berlin in 1566. He studied and later taught theology at Wittenberg. He was among the signatories of the Articles of Smalcald and collaborated in preparing the Augsburg “Interim.” He preached the new doctrines at Frankfurt, and later at the court of Berlin. Initially a friend of Luther, he was subsequently bitterly persecuted by him on account of his “antinomian” doctrines, which he defended with extreme rigor against Melanchthon’s mitigations. He published several works of a theological nature and a collection of 750 German proverbs.
BIBL.: G. Kawerau, Joh. Agricola V. Eisleben, Berlin 1881.