Philip Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems. He stands next to Luther and John Calvin as a reformer, theologian, and molder of Protestantism. After Luther himself, he is the primary founder of Lutheranism.
Body of Doctrine
It was a term first used by Philipp Melanchthon, a collection of whose confessional writings was published as the "Corpus Doctrinae Philippicum" or the "Corpus Doctrinae Misnicum". Melanchthon had conceived the notion of assembling his most important theological writings, along with the ecumenical creeds, into a single book called a "corpus doctrinae", or body of doctrine. The Leipzig printer, Ernst Vögelin, published it with Melanchthon’s preface around the time of the reformer’s death in April 1560.