Johann Valentin Andreae

1586-1654. Lutheran theologian, grandson of James Andreae.* Born at Herrenberg, he studied at Tübingen University, but was dismissed in 1607. During his subsequent journeyings he gained some sympathy for the Calvinistic churches. In 1614 he was ordained deacon in Veihingen and six years later was appointed superintendent minister in Calw. Here he showed courage in the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. In 1639 he went to Stuttgart as a court chaplain and was also a member of the consistorial court. By 1650 he was general superintendent and abbot of Bebenhausen. In 1654 he was appointed abbot of Adelberg; here he sought to reorganize and help the churches in Württemberg. When the storms of theological controversy raged around him, he took an irenic stance and hopefully wrote of a form of utopian state based on the example of Geneva-see his Rei publicae Christianopolitanae descriptio (1619). He died at Stuttgart.