Johann Habermann

author

Johann Habermann

1516–1590

A 16th-century Lutheran theologian and devotional writer, he became especially known for prayer books that stayed popular long after his lifetime. Writing under the name Johannes Avenarius as well as Johann Habermann, he helped shape everyday Protestant devotion in German-speaking Europe.

1 Audiobook

Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week Together With Confessional, Communion, and Other Prayers and Hymns for Mornings and Evenings, and Other Occasions

Morning and Evening Prayers for All Days of the Week Together With Confessional, Communion, and Other Prayers and Hymns for Mornings and Evenings, and Other Occasions

by Johann Habermann

About the author

Born in Eger on August 10, 1516, Johann Habermann was a German Lutheran theologian, Hebraist, and religious writer. He is also often listed under the Latinized name Johannes Avenarius, a common scholarly custom of his time.

After joining the Lutheran movement around 1540, he studied theology and served in several pastorates. He also held brief academic posts at Jena and Wittenberg before later serving as superintendent in the Naumburg-Zeitz area, where he died in Zeitz on December 5, 1590.

Habermann is remembered less for controversy than for practical devotion. His prayer books and meditative writings were widely used, and contemporaries praised him as a gifted interpreter of the Old Testament. For readers today, he stands out as a writer who tried to bring learned theology into the rhythm of ordinary prayer.