Ludwig Lavater

author

Ludwig Lavater

1527–1586

A Swiss Reformed theologian from Zurich, he is now especially remembered for a lively and influential book on ghosts, spirits, and strange signs. His writing brings together church history, debate, and the fears and curiosities of the sixteenth century.

1 Audiobook

Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night And of Straunge Noyses, Crackes, and Sundrie Forewarnings, Which Commonly Happen Before the Death of Men: Great Slaughters, and Alterations of Kingdoms

Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night And of Straunge Noyses, Crackes, and Sundrie Forewarnings, Which Commonly Happen Before the Death of Men: Great Slaughters, and Alterations of Kingdoms

by Ludwig Lavater

About the author

Born at Kyburg in 1527 and dead in Zurich in 1586, Ludwig Lavater was a Swiss Reformed theologian closely connected to the Zurich church. He studied in Zurich and elsewhere, became archdeacon at the Grossmünster, and near the end of his life briefly served as Antistes, the leading pastor of the Zurich church.

Lavater wrote widely: sermons, commentaries, accounts of Zurich church practices, and biographical and historical works connected with the Reformation. He also moved in the circle of Heinrich Bullinger, his father-in-law, which placed him near the center of Reformed religious life in Zurich.

Many readers now know him best for his treatise on ghosts and spirits, first published in Latin and later translated into English as Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night. In that book, he tackled reports of apparitions, noises, and omens with the mind of a pastor and polemicist, trying to explain popular supernatural fears within a Reformed Christian framework.