Reihing, Jacob

Reihing, Jacob a Roman Catholic divine of Germany, was born in 1579 at Augsburg. He joined the Jesuits at Ingolstadt, taught theology and philosophy there and at Dillingen, and was in 1613 appointed courtpreacher to the apostate count-palatine, Wolfgang Wilhelm. In 1615 Reihing published at Cologne, Muri Civitatis Sanctiae etc., a kind of apology for his master's apostasy, which elicited rejoinders from the Lutheran theologians Balthasar Meisner and Matthias Hoe von Hoenegg, and from the Reformed theologian Bassecourt. Reihing, not satisfied with this apology, commenced to Romanize the Palatinate. But the careful study of the Bible, which he found necessary in order to dispute with the Protestants, had its influence. In the beginning of the year 1621 Reihing suddenly fled to Stuttgard, and joined the Evangelical Church November 23 of the same year. In 1622 he was made professor of theology at Tubingen, and died May 5, 1628. His writings are mostly polemical. See Oehler, in Mariott's Wahren- Protestanten, volume 3, 1854; Plitt-Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s.v. (B.P.)