Philip Melanchthon

Philip Melanchthon was twenty-one, small, shy, and already a brilliant Greek scholar when he arrived at Wittenberg to teach. Students laughed at his appearance until he opened his mouth. Luther supplied the fire; Melanchthon supplied the order, writing in 1521 the first book that laid out Protestant teaching topic by topic, so that a pastor could actually find what Scripture said about sin, law, and grace. When the German princes had to state their faith before the emperor at Augsburg in 1530, it was Melanchthon who wrote it out.

He also spent decades rebuilding schools and universities, drawing up curricula that shaped German education for centuries. His willingness to seek middle ground with Rome and with other Protestants cost him: in Luther's last years and after his death, harder men on his own side accused him of giving away too much. He kept negotiating anyway, believing the church should not be torn more than truth required.