ABSTRACT

Danish reformer who studied at Rostock, later in Wittenberg. Returning to Denmark in 1524, Tausen began to preach Reformation notions and was expelled from his monastic order in 1526 but received appointment as preacher to King Frederick I that same year. In 1529 Tausen became minister at the important St. Nicolaj Church in Copenhagen, from which position he played an important role in facilitating the introduction of the Reformation in Denmark. When, in 1536 the new king Christian III officially introduced the Reformation in Denmark, Tausen became the leading spokesperson for the Lutheran cause. Strasbourg was unwilling to agree to the Lutheran interpretation of the Lord's Supper, which meant that a separate confession of faith had to be submitted. Theologically he was a committed Lutheran who embraced certain of Philip Melanchthon's notions concerning the relationship of the ecclesiastical and temporal realm as well as John Calvin's notion of church discipline.