Eschatology and Prophetic Exegesis in Andreas Osiander’s Early Writings: From the Nürnberger Ratschlag (1524–1525) to the Wunderliche Weissagung (1527)

Abstract

The article examines Andreas Osiander’s eschatological and apocalyptic thought in the 1520s by analyzing the extensive Antichrist section of the Nürnberger Ratschlag (1524/1525), a lengthy theological survey that paved the way for the formal adoption of Lutheranism by the city of Nuremberg. Particular attention is given to Osiander’s historical-theological redefinition of the papal Antichrist, his transfer of the katéchon motif to the past with the Constantinian shift, and his integration of biblical passages from Daniel, Revelation, and 2 Thessalonians into a coherent account of universal history. The study also explores how this framework shaped Osiander’s reading of the Vaticinia de summis pontificibus in the 1527 Wunderliche Weissagung , where late-medieval prophetic figures are reinterpreted as symbolic representations of the rise, domination, and gradual decline of the papal Antichrist and of the progressive restoration of evangelical truth. The article highlights the Ratschlag as one of the earliest Lutheran attempts to embed apocalyptic expectation within a structured theology of history.