Johann Dietenberger

Johann Dietenberger, OP (c. 1475 – September 4, 1537) was a German Counter Reformation-era Scholastic and theologian. He was canon and inquisitor-general of Mentz and Cologne.

Biography Dietenberger was born at Frankfurt-am-Main; his father was a cooper from . He was educated in his native city, and joined the Dominican Order. In 1510, he was first elected prior of his convent, an office he would retain nearly uninterrupted until 1526. On 3 June 1511, Dietenberger registered at Cologne as a theological student. There he received instruction from figures including Jacob van Hoogstraaten, Conrad Koellin, and Bernard of Luxemburg. In 1512, he spent some time at Heidelberg, where he studied under Michael Vehe.

Works His catechism was: Evangelischer Bericht und Christliche Unterweisung der furnehmlichsten Stuck des waren heyligen Christlichen Glaubens, published first at Mainz in 1537 and often re-edited, lastly by Christoph Moufang (Die Mainzer Katechismen).

Dietenberger's German Bible translation: Biblia beider Allt und Newen Testamenten, new verdeutscht, published at Mainz in 1534. This work, repeatedly corrected, especially by Kaspar Ulenberg (Cologne, 1630) and the Jesuit theologians of Mainz (1661), was destined to become for the German people Die Katholische Bibel.

He used freely the New Testament of Emser (1527), of whom Martin Luther was wont to say that "he had ploughed with his heifers"; he used likewise other translations compiled in pre-Reformation times, and so did Luther. He was well acquainted with the versions of Luther and of Leo Jud, and used them to improve his own.

Dietenberger composed fifteen polemical tracts, treating various subjects then much mooted: Mass, confession, vows, faith, etc.