Forgotten Reformer: Simon Grynaeus

Since the Calvin 500 push is on, it seems a decent time for me to return to the task of remembering the Forgotten Reformers. Simon Grynaeus is today’s forgotten reformer.

Grynaeus seems to have come to a Reformed understanding apart from most contemporary influences. He was a biblical scholar who came to Biblical beliefs. Thus, it is hard to pinpoint his departure from the Roman church because he was not a part of a particular movement. Simon was born in German (1493) and in accordance with what a lot of Renaissance scholars, changed his last name to Grynaeus. He had already been suspected by the Dominicans of non-catholic beliefs prior to his appointment to the chair of Greek at Heidelberg in 1524. Heidelberg was still under Roman control at this point, and so Simon must still have been at least outwardly apart of the Roman church. However, his views of the Lord’s Supper rejected Transubstantiation and took a Zwinglian approach. This led him into a correspondance with John Oecolampadius in 1526. In 1529 he went to Basel to replace Erasmus, which means that by this time Grynaeus must have been fairly open about his Reformed beliefs. In 1531 he toured England with letters of introduction that helped him be received by men such as Thomas More, and he furthered his education there. He did return to Basel in time to be at the death bed of Oecolampadius.

Grynaeus was more than just an academic. He did active reforming as well helping with the Reformation in Wurttenburg in 1534 and the work in Tubingen. He was a primary editor of the First Helvetic Confession with Oswald Myconius in 1536 (the confession was primarily written by the late Oecolampadius). He represented all of Switzerland at the Worms Conference in 1540. He died the next year in an outbreak of the plague which seems to have happened often in Basel.

He also aided the church through his children. His son Samuel became a professor of law. Simon was related to the future head pastor of Basel, John Jakob Grynaeus. Simon’s descendant Simon (of 1725-1799) made a modern German translation of the Bible and worked for the Reformation.

Grynaeus was a teacher of the Reformation and did just that for most of his life. He taught in Universities where he raised up the next generation of pastors. It is to be remembered that John Calvin went to study under Simon Grynaeus in 1534 to more fully master Hebrew. It is men like this that are forgotten because he did not write much or at least not much that has survived, but his legacy is important nonetheless.