Johann Funck

Johann Funck,FunkorFunccius(7 February 1518 – 28 October 1566) was a GermanLutherantheologian. He was beheaded after a court intrigue.

Life

Funck was born inWöhrd,now part ofNuremberg.After obtaining an M.A. at theUniversity of Wittenbergand preaching in several places, he was recommended toAlbert, Duke of Prussia,byVeit Dietrich,and went toKönigsberg(Królewiec) in 1547. Initially the pastor atAltstadt Church,Funck was made court preacher in 1549.

In theOsiandrian controversy,Funck sided withAndreas OsianderandAndreas Aurifaberwho wasphysician in ordinaryto the duke; when Osiander died in 1552, Funck delivered the eulogy.Joachim Mörlin,his main opponent, was obliged to leave Prussia in 1553. and Funck became the dominant representative of Osiander's theology.John Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg,son-in-law of Duke Albert and a Lutheran, intrigued against Funck, who had to retract certain "heresies" at a synod held atRiesenburg(Prabuty) in 1556 and to promise to abide by theAugsburg Confessionand theLoci TheologiciofMelanchthon.

Funck still enjoyed favour at court, however. Aurifaber died in 1559, and Funck married his widow, Osiander's daughter; Funck was both the confessor and counsellor of the duke and treasurer of the duchess, but his position was exposed. An adventurer,Paul Skalich,took advantage of the aging duke; councillors belonging to the nobility were pushed aside. ThePrussian estates,feeling that their rights were infringed, appealed to the suzerain of the country, KingSigismund II of Poland,who sent a commission in August 1566 to Königsberg to investigate the matter. Funck, together with the councillorsMatthias Horst,Hans Schell,andJohann Steinbach,was charged with opposition to the ecclesiastical and political governance of the state. The Polish commission directed that the case be tried by the court inKneiphof(Knipawa), Königsberg. Funck, Horst, and Schell were condemned and executed in the marketplace beforeKneiphof Town Hallon 28 October 1566. Steinbach had to leave the duchy and Skalich escaped.

Works

The works of Funck are:

• Chronologia ab urbe condita(2 vols., Königsberg, 1545–52);
• expositions of Psalms xlvi. (1548), ciii. (1549), and ix. (1551);
• Auszug und kurzer Bericht von der Gerechtigkeit der Christen für Gott(1552);
• Wahrhaftiger und grundlicher Bericht wie und was Gestalt die ägerliche Spaltung von der Gerechtigkeit des Glaubens sich anfänglich im Lande Preussen erhoben(1553);
• Der Patriarchen Lehre und Glauben(1554);
• Vier Predigten von der Rechtfertigung des Sünders durch den Glauben für Gott. Item: Kurtze Bekenntnis(1563).

External links

• Biography - Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur Mainz

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication in thepublic domain:Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "Funck, Johann".New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge(third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.