RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Grellet Griesbach
logians, he was summoned to Urach (Sept. 10, 1537), to discuss the abolition of images, in regard to which he took a moderate line. Soon after he was called to Cannstadt and had a voice in the matrimonial court and in the theological examinations in Stuttgart, where he was made court preacher in 1540. A sermon which he delivered in the spring of 1542 so exasperated Duke Ulrich that Greter had to flee. He went to his former pupil, Philip von Gemmingen, and took up his abode in Neckarmuhlbach. The town of Wimpfen called him as pastor, and at the same time, he was recommended to the Margrave George of Brandenburg for the vacancy at the collegiate church of Ansbach. Meanwhile, however, he was recalled by Ulrich. He now enjoyed the fullest confidence of the duke, who sought his advice in all important questions pertaining to the Church of Wiirttemberg. It was due to his quick influence that the period of the Interim in Wiirttemberg did little harm, and that the duke took care of the victims of the imperial policy, such as Alber and Brenz. Greter rendered further assistance to the latter by publishing in 1548 the Explicatio psalmorum xciv. et cxxx., which Brenz had written in the fortress of Wittlingen, under the name of Gamaliel Gratius, and in 1552 the Catechismus pia et utili explicatione illustratus, composed by Brenz for the private use of his friends. After the death of Ulrich (Nov. 6, 1550) Greter had the full confidence of the next duke, Christopher, with whom he lived at Tubingen from 1551 to 1553, and whom he no doubt advised to appoint Brenz to the highest ecclesiastical office in his gift. He warmly defended Brenz in the answer of the Swabians to the Thuringians for his position in the Osiandrian controversy. G. Bossert.
Bibliography: L. M. Fischlin, Memoria theologorum Wirtembergensium, i. 3sqq., 40 sqq., 261 sqq., 313 sqq., TJlm, 1709; C. F. Schnurrer, Erlauterungen der wirtembergischen Kirchen-Reformations und Gelehrten-Geschichte, pp. 183 sqq., Tubingen, 1798; C. Jager, Mittheilungen der schwabischen und frdnkischen Reformationsgeschichte, pp. 80 sqq., 256, Stuttgart, 182S; J. Brenz, Anecdota Brentiana , pp. 306, 309, 363, 434 sqq., Tubingen, 1868; ADB, ix. 599; Beschreibung des Oberamts Heilbronn, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1901- 1903; Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica, vol. xxi., Berlin, 1900; J. M. Reu, Quellen zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Unterrichts, Giitersloh, 1904.
GRETSCHER, gret'sher (GRETSERUS), JACOB :
Jesuit controversialist; b. at Markdorf (11 m. e.n.e. of Constance) 1562; d. at Ingolstadt Jan. 29, 1625. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1578, and became professor in the University of Ingolstadt. Here he polemized indefatigably in all departments of theology and history against Protestantism. In his most important work, De sancta cruce, he treats of the cross in its historical and liturgical aspects. On account of his polemic zeal he was highly esteemed by Roman Catholic princes and ecclesiastical dignitaries. Constant fighting made his manner of speaking decidedly unpolished. His collected works (229 separate volumes in print) appeared in 17 vols., Regensburg, 1734-39; the first volume contains a biography. See Flagellation, Flagellants, II., § 6. Paul Tschackert.
Bibliography: Bibliotheque des ecrivains de la compagnie de Jesus, ed. C. Sommervogel, vol. i., Brussels, 1890; KL, v. 1199-1200.
GREVING gre'ving, KARL MARIA NIKOLAS JO- SEF: German Roman Catholic; b. at Aachen (40 m. w. of Cologne) Dec. 24, 1858. He was educated at the universities of Bonn and Munich (D.D., 1893), and at the theological seminary at Cologne (1893- 1894). He was then chaplain successively at Essen (1894-96) and Cologne (1896-99), and since 1899 has been privat-docent for church history at the University of Bonn. He has written Pauls von Bernried Vita Gregorii VII. Papce (Munster, 1893).
GRIBALDI, MATTEO: Italian anti-Trinitarian of the sixteenth century; d. at Farges, not far from Geneva, Sept., 1564. He studied law at Padua, and when visiting Geneva gave offense by anti- Trinitarian utterances made in a meeting of the Italian community. He was persecuted in Padua, and began a restless, vagrant life. In 1555 he was in Zurich, in Tubingen (where he was appointed teacher at the recommendation of Vergerio), then at Farges, whence he was sent to Bern. A partially satisfactory confession of faith assured him permission to reside on his estate at Farges, in spite of the objections of the Geneva theologians to his orthodoxy. K. Benrath.
Bibliography: J. M. Trechsel, Die protestantischen Antitrinitarier, ii. 277 sqq., Heidelberg, 1844; Fazy, in Memoires de I'institut Genevois, vol. xiv., 1878-79; J. H. Allen, Hist, of the Unitarians, p. 61, New York, 1894.
GRIESBACH, gris'baH, JOHANN JAKOB : German New Testament scholar; b. at Butzbach (11 m. s. of Giessen) Jan. 4, 1745; d. at Jena Mar. 24, 1812. He was educated at Tubingen, Halle, and Leipsic, and after a tour through Germany and Holland to London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris, he entered the theological faculty of Halle as privatdocent in 1771. Two years later he was appointed professor, but in 1775 was called to Jena, where he taught until his death. He was a deputy to the diet, and took a keen interest both in political and in academic affairs. As a textual critic Griesbach marks a new epoch in this department of study. He commenced his investigations by collecting and sifting variant readings, devoting special attention to the citations of the Greek Church Fathers and to various versions which had hitherto been little studied, such as the Philoxenian, the Armenian, and the Gothic. He then investigated the history of the text in antiquity, and on the basis of this history he constructed his theory of criticism which was intended to determine the choice and value of each individual reading, and which rested essentially on a combination of historic fact and logical principle. He was the first to print the text of the New Testament as modified by the results of his criticism. Before him there had been but two forms of the text, both products of the sixteenth century, the so-called Textus receptus of Stephens and Elzevir, which represented unimpeachable orthodoxy in the eyes of the Lutherans, and that of the Complutensian Polyglot (see Bibles, Polyglot, I.) and Plantin, which had been adopted by the Roman Catholics and, in part, by the Reformed. Griesbach's editions of the New Testament, which aroused conservative opposition, appeared in the following order: Libri Novi Testamenti historici (2
Griesbach G-rindal