Editing Matthias Flacius (section)

=== Career and teachings ===
Soon, Flacius was prominent in the theological discussions of the time, strenuously opposing the ''[[Augsburg Interim]]'', and the compromise of Melanchthon known as the ''[[Leipzig Interim]]''. Melanchthon wrote of him with venom as a renegade (''aluimus in sinu serpentem'', "we have nourished a snake in our bosom"). In 1549, Flacius moved to [[Magdeburg]]. On 7 May 1557, he was appointed professor of [[New Testament]] at the theological faculty in [[Jena]] but was soon involved in controversy with his colleague [[Victorinus Strigel]] on the [[synergistic question]] (relating to the function of the will in the conversion).<ref name="Chisholm1911"/> He remained at the university between 1557 and 1562.<ref name="Jugoslovenski književni leksikon">{{cite book |author1=Milorad Živančević |editor = Živan Milisavac |date=1971 |title=Jugoslovenski književni leksikon |trans-title=Yugoslav Literary Lexicon |publisher=[[Matica srpska]] |location= [[Novi Sad]] ([[Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina|SAP Vojvodina]], [[Socialist Republic of Serbia|SR Serbia]]) |page=570 }}</ref>

Affirming the natural inability of man, he adopted a position on [[sin]] as not being an accident of [[human nature]], but involved in its substance, since [[The Fall of Man]].<ref name="Chisholm1911"/> Holding to a strong view of what [[Calvinism|Calvinists]] later called [[total depravity]], Flacius insisted that human nature was entirely transformed by [[original sin]], human beings were transformed from [[Goodness and value theory|good]]ness and almost wholly corrupted with [[evil]], making them kin to the [[Devil]] in his view, so that within them, without divine assistance, there lies no power even to cooperate with the [[Gospel]] when they hear it preached.  Human acts of [[piety]] are valueless in themselves, and humans are entirely dependent on the [[divine grace|grace]] of God for [[salvation]]. Those who agreed with him on this point, for example, [[Cyriacus Spangenberg]], were termed [[Flacians]].

Resisting ecclesiastical censure, he left Jena in December 1561 to found an academy at [[Regensburg]].<ref name="Chisholm1911"/> That assignment was not successful, so in October 1566 he accepted a call from the Lutheran community at [[Antwerp]]. Thence he was driven in early 1567 by the exigencies of war, and went to [[Frankfurt]], where the authorities stood against him. He proceeded to [[Strasbourg]] where he was well received by the superintendent [[Johannes Marbach]]. Here again, his religious views caused controversies. The authorities ordered him to leave the city by [[May Day]] 1573. The prioress [[Catharina von Meerfeld]] of the {{ill|Convent of White Ladies|de|Weißfrauenkirche}} secretly harboured him and his family in Frankfurt where he fell ill and died on 11 March 1575.<ref name="Chisholm1911"/>