Adam Tanner (Jesuit theologian)

Adam Tanner (in Latin, Tannerus; April 14, 1572 – May 25, 1632) was an Austrian Jesuit theologian.

Teaching career

He was born in Innsbruck, Austria. In 1589 he joined the Society of Jesus and became a teacher. By 1603 he was invited to join the Jesuit College of Ingolstadt and take the chair of theology at the University of Ingolstadt. Fifteen years later he was given a position at the University of Vienna by the Emperor Matthias.^[1]

Theological work

He was noted for his defense of the Catholic church and their practices against Lutheran reformers, as well as the Utraquists. His greatest work was the Universa theologia scholastica, published in 1626–1627.^[1]

Tanner was also noted for his opposition to the witch hunts. During his time in Bavaria, he witnessed contemporary debates in which the skeptics had some success imposing limits on the witch trials. He included a number of these skeptics' arguments in his Universa theologia scholastica, for instance, "that the use of torture makes the death of innocent people inevitable, that several denunciations are not sufficient to warrant torture, that torture may not be repeated".^[2] These arguments were subsequently influential on his fellow Jesuit Friedrich Spee, another opponent of the witch hunts.

Death and controversy over his burial

He died at the village of Unken near Salzburg, and rests in an unmarked grave. Apparently, the parishioners refused to give him a Christian burial because a "hairy little imp" was found on a glass plate among his possessions.^[3]

Legacy

The crater Tannerus on the Moon is named after him.

Bibliography

Anatomiæ confessionis augustanæ, 1613, Ingolstadt.
Astrologia sacra, 1615, Ingolstadt.
Apologia pro Societate Iesu ex Boemiae regno: Ab eiusdem regni statibus religionis sub utraque publico decreto immerito proscripta, 1618, Vienna.
Universa theologia scholastica, 1627, Ingolstadt.

References

^ ^a ^b Cotter, Anthony (1912). "Adam Tanner". The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^ Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld: Cautio Criminalis, or a Book on Witch Trials (1631), translated by Marcus Hellyer. University of Virginia Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8139-2182-1. Translator's introduction (pp. vii–xxxvi)
^ Carus, Paul (1900). The history of the devil and the idea of evil: from the earliest times to the present day. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. pp. 374–375. Retrieved 11 May 2024.