GERHARD, JOHANN (1582-1637), Lutheran divine, was born in Quedlinburg on the 17th of October 1582, and studied at Wittenberg, Jena and Marburg. He was general superintendent of the duchy of Coburg until 1616, when he became theological pro fessor at Jena, where the remainder of his life was spent. Here, with Johann Major and Johann Himmel, he formed the "Trigs Johannea." Gerhard had already come to be regarded as the greatest living theologian of Protestant Germany ; in the nu merous "disputations" of the period he was always protagonist, and his advice was sought on many public and domestic questions touching on religion or morals. He died in Jena on the 2oth of August 163 7.
Of his many works the most important is the Loci communes theologici (1610-22), in which Lutheranism is expounded with a fulness of learning, a force of logic and a minuteness of detail that had never before been approached. His devotional work, Meditationes sacrae (16°6), has been frequently reprinted and has been translated into most of the European languages, including Greek. The English translation by R. Winterton (1631) passed through at least nineteen editions. There is also an edition by W. Papillon in English blank verse (i8oi). His life, Vita Joh. Gerhardt, was published by E. R.
Fischer in 1723, and by C. J. Bottcher, Das Leben Dr. Johann Gerhards, in 1858. See also W. Gass, Geschichte der protestantischen Dogmatik (1854-67).