scholarship during the middle ages, and he attained a level which was
not surpassed till the modern development of philological science in the
19th century.
See S. Munk, _Notice sur Abou'l Walid_ (Paris, 1851); W. Bacher,
_Leben und Werke des Abulwalid und die Quellen seiner
Schrifterklärung_ (Leipzig, 1885); id., _Aus der Schrifterklärung des
Abulwalid_ (Leipzig, 1889); id., _Die hebr.-arabische
Sprachvergleichung des Abulwalid_ (Vienna, 1884); id., _Die
hebräisch-neuhebräische und hebr.-aramäische Sprachvergleichung des
Abulwalid_ (Vienna, 1885). (W. Ba.)
JONAS, JUSTUS (1493-1555), German Protestant reformer, was born at
Nordhausen in Thuringia, on the 5th of June 1493. His real name was
Jodokus (Jobst) Koch, which he changed according to the common custom of
German scholars in the 16th century, when at the university of Erfurt.
He entered that university in 1506, studied law and the humanities, and
became Master of Arts in 1510. In 1511 he went to Wittenberg, where he
took his bachelor's degree in law. He returned to Erfurt in 1514 or
1515, was ordained priest, and in 1518 was promoted doctor in both
faculties and appointed to a well-endowed canonry in the church of St
Severus, to which a professorship of law was attached. His great
admiration for Erasmus first led him to Greek and biblical studies, and
his election in May 1519 as rector of the university was regarded as a
triumph for the partisans of the New Learning. It was not, however,
until after the Leipzig disputation with Eck that Luther won his
allegiance. He accompanied Luther to Worms in 1521, and there was
appointed by the elector of Saxony professor of canon law at Wittenberg.
During Luther's stay in the Wartburg Jonas was one of the most active of
the Wittenberg reformers. Giving himself up to preaching and polemics,
he aided the Reformation by his gift as a translator, turning Luther's
and Melanchthon's works into German or Latin as the case might be, thus
becoming a sort of double of both. He was busied in conferences and
visitations during the next twenty years, and in diplomatic work with
the princes. In 1541 he began a successful preaching crusade in Halle;
he became superintendent of its churches in 1542. In 1546 he was present
at Luther's deathbed at Eisleben, and preached the funeral sermon; but
in the same year was banished from the duchy by Maurice, duke (later
elector) of Saxony. From that time until his death, Jonas was unable to
secure a satisfactory living. He wandered from place to place preaching,
and finally went to Eisfeld (1553), where he died. He had been married
three times.
See _Briefswechsel des Justus Jonas, gesammelt und bearbeitet von G.
Kawerau_ (2 vols., Halle, 1884-1885); Kawerau's article in
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_, ed. 3, with bibliography.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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