The New International Encyclopædia/Brenz, Johann

BRENZ, brĕnts, Johann (1499-1570). A German reformer. Under the influence of Luther he reorganized his church at Hall, Suabia, but at the time of the Smalkaldie War, in 1546, he was obliged to flee to Württemberg. He was appointed minister of the Collegiate Church of Stuttgart in 1553, and is said to have been the first exponent of the Reformation there. In the controversies between Zwingli and Luther, he took the side of the latter, and with others wrote the famous Syngramma Suevicum (1525). He was a writer of great ability and popularity. One of his teachings was that the body of the Lord is everywhere present; hence his followers were called ‘Ubiquitarians.’