JONAS, JUSTUS

born June 5/6, 1493, Nordhausen died Oct. 9, 1555, Eisfeld, Saxony original name Jodocus Koch German religious Reformer and legal scholar. A colleague of Martin Luther, he played a prominent role in the early Reformation conferences, particularly at Marburg (1529) and at Augsburg (1530), where he helped draft the Augsburg Confession, a fundamental statement of Lutheran belief. He is best known for his German translation of the Latin writings of Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. An advocate of Erasmus' Humanism, he introduced Greek and Hebrew into the curriculum on becoming rector of the University of Erfurt (1519).