Philipp Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt , was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems. He stands next to Luther and Calvin as a reformer, theologian, and molder of Protestantism. Along with Luther, he is the primary founder of Lutheranism. They both denounced what they believed was the exaggerated cult of the saints, asserted justification by faith, and denounced the coercion of the conscience in the sacrament of penance by the Catholic Church, that they believed could not offer certainty of salvation. In unison they rejected transubstantiation, the belief that the bread from the Lords Supper becomes Christs body when consecrated. Melanchthon made the distinction between law and gospel the central formula for Lutheran evangelical insight. By the law, he meant Gods requirements both in Old and New Testament
He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt onFebruary 1497, at Bretten, near Karlsruhe, where his father Georg Schwarzerdt was armorer to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine. His birthplace, along with almost the whole city of Bretten, was burned in 1689 by French troops during the War of the Palatinate Succession. The towns Melanchthonhaus was built on its site in 1897.
Source: Wikipedia