Erastus, Thomas (1524–1583)

Swiss theologian. At the conferences of Heidelberg (1560) and Maulbronn (1564) he upheld the Zwinglian doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a merely symbolical ordinance (see Ulrich Zwingli), and, through the influence of the Calvinists, he was excommunicated on a charge of Socinianism. He published treatises on the theories of Paracelsus, astrology, alchemy, and medicine, among other topics. His most important work, however, written in 1568, and published posthumously 1589, upheld the right of the state to punish ecclesiastical offenders. Hence, Erastianism denotes the doctrine of the supremacy of the state in ecclesiastical matters, though this was supported by Hugo Grotius rather than by Erastus. He denied the right of the church to inflict civil penalties, or to exercise discipline.

Erastus was born in Baden, Switzerland. He studied theology at Basel, Switzerland, in 1540, and later philosophy and medicine at Padua, Italy. In 1558 he became professor of medicine at Heidelberg University in modern-day Germany, and private physician to the Elector Palatine. He was elected privy councillor and a member of the Church Consistory in 1559, and professor of ethics at Basel in the last year of his life.