Calovius, Abraham (1612–1686)

German Lutheran theologian. He was the most ardent upholder of Lutheranism in the 17th century. He strenuously resisted Catholics, Calvinists, and Socinians, and was particularly opposed to the reconciliation policy, or ‘syncretism’, of the German Protestant theologian Georg Calixtus. He wrote his Systema locorum theologicorum between 1655 and 1677 in 12 volumes.

Calovius was born in Mohrungen, Prussia. He studied at Konigsberg, and in 1650 became professor of theology at Wittenberg, and later general superintendent and primarius. His Historia Syncretistica, written in 1682, was suppressed.