Heretical microcosmogony in Paracelsus's Astronomia Magna (1537/8) and the anonymous Astrologia Theologizata (1617): Paracelsian anthropology in the light of Lutheran biblical hermeneutics.

The study evaluates Paracelsus's and Paracelsian-Weigelian microcosmogonies, i.e. theories concerning the nature and creation of human beings, especially their biblical underpinnings, and particularly in the light of Luther's and Lutheran anthropological and biblical-exegetical stances. The Lutheran approach to the origin and components of human beings-as seen in Luther's early Magnificat Commentary and the Genesis Commentary of his late career-relied on such magisterial principles as adherence to sola scriptura , literal biblical exegesis, and the hermeneutical standard to 'let scripture interpret scripture,' whereas the Paracelsians, Weigelians, and Pseudo-Weigelians-in such works as Paracelus's Astronomia Magna (1537/38) and the anonymous Astrologia Theologizata (1617)-employed such extra-biblical concepts as 'sidereal bodies,' the 'light of nature,' and a microcosm-macrocosm theory based on an alchemical interpretation of the limus terrae of Genesis 2:7. Seventeenth-century Orthodox Lutherans, including Nikolaus Hunnius and Ehregott Daniel Colberg, castigated the 'heretical' in Paracelsus and the Astrologia Theologizata . The study also addresses the authorship of several texts entitled Astrologia Theologizata and speculates on reasons for the tracts' deviations from Paracelsus's views. The case study of Paracelsian-Weigelian microcosmogonies underscores the centuries-long staying power of some of Paracelsus's core theological concepts, which were both seconded by votaries and vituperatively criticized by opponents.