Wolfgang Musculus

Born in the village of Duss (Moselle), in a German-speaking area (French-speaking, from the Thirty Years War), Musculus was a lover of song and of knowledge, of languages, Humanism and religion. The oral tradition of his songs is still found in the churches of the Reformation.

In 1527, he left the Benedictine monastery at Lixheim (now in the area of Moselle), to serve as deacon of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg ({{langx|fr|link=no|Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg}}) and preaching assistant to Matthäus Zell while studying under Bucer and Capito. He left for Augsburg in 1531, and after 17 years of service, he left the town after the introduction of the Augsburg Interim, and came to Switzerland, where he was the primary professor of theology at Bern from 1549. At Bern, he wrote several biblical commentaries and Loci communes sacrae theologiae (Common Places of the Christian Religion), a major systematic theology.{{cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=J. James Dixon|last2=Comfort|first2=Philip Wesley Comfort|last3=Mitchell|first3=Donald R.|title=Who's Who in Christian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl8qy2l9TIAC&pg=PA496|year=1992|publisher=Tyndale House Publishing|isbn=978-0-8423-1014-7|page=496}}

J. S. Bach used Musculus' 1530 hymn, a paraphrase of Psalm 23, as the text for his chorale cantata Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, BWV 112, which he first performed in Leipzig in 1731.{{cite book|last=Dürr|first=Alfred|title=The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9JuwslMcq4C&pg=PA304|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-929776-4|page=304}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Meuslin.htm|title=Wolfgang Meuslin|publisher=Bach Cantatas|accessdate=9 April 2013}}

He also published a book on usury entitled De usuris ex verbo dei, in which he criticized the practice of the triple contract,{{cite book|language=fr|last1=Decock|first1=Wim|chapter=L'esprit catholique du capitalisme.Éthique et investissement selon Musculus et Lessius|title=Le Droit face à l'économie sans travail. Tome I. Sources intellectuelles, acteurs, résolution des conflits|publisher=Garnier|date=2019|editor1=L. Brunori and al.|pages=61–84}} and a German version of which appeared in Strasbourg in 1593.

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• {{cite book |last=Ballor |first=Jordan |title= Covenant, Causality, and Law: A Study in the Theology of Wolfgang Musculus |url= http://www.v-r.de/en/covenant_causality_and_law/t-0/1008125/ |year= 2012 |publisher= Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |isbn= 978-3-525-55036-6 |pages=270}}
• {{cite book |last=Farmer |first=Craig |title=The Gospel of John in the Sixteenth Century: The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus |url= https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gospel-of-john-in-the-sixteenth-century-9780195099034?cc=us&lang=en& |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-509903-6 |pages=250}}
• {{cite book |last1=McKim |first1=Donald Keith |last2=Wright |first2= David Frederick |title= Encyclopedia of the Reformed faith |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MJPsgwN789gC&pg=RA1-PA248 |year= 1992 |publisher= Westminster John Knox Press |isbn= 978-0-664-21882-9 |pages=248}}
• {{Citation | last = Musculus | title = Common places | url = http://www.paedocommunion.com/articles/musculus_common_places.php | publisher = Pædocommunion}}. The Validity of Children at the Lord's Table in the Words of an Early Reformed Theologian.
• {{cite journal|last= Musculus|first= Wolfgang|title= Commentary on Psalm 15 |journal= Journal of Markets & Morality|others= Introduction by Jordan J. Ballor, Translation by Todd M. Rester |orig-date= 1551|year=2008|volume=11|issue=2|url= http://www.marketsandmorality.com/index.php/mandm/article/view/203/195}} Includes appendices on oaths and usury.
• {{cite book |last= Musculus |first=Wolfgang |title=On Righteousness, Oaths, and Usury: A Commentary on Psalm 15 |url= http://www.clpress.com/publications/righteousness-oaths-and-usury |year=2013 |publisher=CLP Academic |isbn=978-1-938-94872-5 |pages=160}}.

• {{Librivox author |id=16331}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Musculus, Wolfgang}}

Category:1497 births

Category:1563 deaths

Category:People from Dieuze

Category:German Calvinist and Reformed theologians

Category:Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians

Category:16th-century Swiss writers

Category:16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians

Category:German male non-fiction writers

Category:16th-century German Roman Catholic priests

Category:German Protestant clergy

Category:German Christian monks

Category:German Protestant hymnwriters

Category:Academic staff of the University of Bern