Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563)

Wolfgang Musculus who was born in 1497 in Dieuze (Lorraine) was an important Reformed theologian. Although he had been a pupil of Bucer and Capito in Strasbourg, he held to a magistratical view of Christian discipline, i.e. that the civil magistrate had primary concern over the externals of religion and social life. This included jurisdiction over clergy as well as laypersons, as well as ultimate responsibility for the care of religion (cura religionis).

Hendrik Hondius I (1576–1650), portrait of Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563), engraving, 1599; source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1908-2647.