HOFFMANN, MELCHIOR. - Anabaptist, b. at Schäwbach-Hall around 1500, d. at Strasbourg in 1543. A modest furrier, H. was so struck by Lutheran doctrine that he abandoned his trade to set himself up as a lay preacher of the Reformation. He thus traveled through almost all of Germany, Flanders and even Livonia — where he is recorded in 1523 — boldly mixing Luther's doctrines with personal eschatological and social views.

Indeed, commenting in his own way on the Johannine writings, he came to predict the imminent end of the world; in the social sphere he was moreover a herald of a sort of communism, whereby he found fanatical followers who gave themselves over to devastation and looting, especially of religious institutions. The followers of H. were particularly numerous in Holland, where they took the name of Melchiorites.

He subsequently came to detach himself from Lutheranism in order to adhere to Anabaptism; for this reason he incurred the persecution of the Lutherans: having moved to Strasbourg in 1533, he was arrested there and spent the last ten years of his life in prison.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: F. O. zur Linden, M. H., ein Prophet der Wiederläufer, Leipzig 1885; A. Hegler, s. v. in Realene, für prot. Theologie u. Kirche, VIII, pp. 222-27.

Renzo U. Montini

@incollection{ec6_hoffmann_melchior, author = {Montini, Renzo Uberto}, title = {Hoffmann, melchior}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1455}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/hoffmann-melchior} }

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Hoffmann, Melchior

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