Eilhard Lubinus

Eilhard Lubinus (1565 to 1621) was a German Lutheran theologian and philosopher, also known as a social critic, classical scholar, linguist, mathematician and cartographer. Born in Westerstede in the Duchy of Oldenburg as the son of a pastor, he studied at Leipzig and other universities, became Professor of Poetry at the University of Rostock in 1595 and moved to the Chair of Theology there in 1605. In his Phosphorus, a treatise on the first cause and the nature of evil published at Rostock in 1596, he taught, following a neo-Platonist position, that there are two primordial principles, Being and Nothing. This was considered heretical and drew attacks from Albert Grauer and others. He also produced editions and translations of classical and patristic texts, a trilingual New Testament in 1617 with a preface arguing for teaching Latin as a living language through pictures, and a map of Pomerania commissioned by Philip II of Pomerania. He influenced Comenius and Leibniz.