This week in Christian history: Pope Francis addresses Congress, Johann Agricola dies

Johann Agricola dies – Sept. 22, 1566

This week marks the anniversary of when Johann Agricola, a friend of Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther, who helped to spread his ideas, died at age 72.

A native of Eisleben, Saxony, Agricola accompanied Luther in 1519 to his Leipzig debate with Catholic scholar Johann Eck and is credited with introducing Lutheranism to Frankfurt in 1525.

Agricola garnered controversy for his endorsement of antinomianism, a theology that claims Christians are no longer subject to any biblical laws due to grace.

“In 1527 [Agricola] became more forceful, attacking the Reformer Philipp Melanchthon, an associate of Luther, for Lutheran inclusion of the law in Reformation theology,” noted Britannica.

“The conflict was enlarged when Agricola returned to Wittenberg in 1536, and Luther responded with five disputations and the treatise ‘Against the Antinomians.’ Under persecution for his attacks on Luther’s position, in 1540 Agricola went to Berlin, where he retracted his views …”