SOURCE: Caroti, Stefano. “Melanchthon's Astrology.” In “‘Astrologi hallucinati’: Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time, edited by Paola Zambelli, pp. 109-121. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986.

In this essay, Caroti examines Melanchthon's fascination with astrology and the exposition of these ideas in his introductory text on physics and in other works.

The central role of divination in Melanchthon's thought has been emphasized by many scholars, notably by Johann Friedrich, Karl Hartfelder, Aby Warburg and Lynn Thorndike.¹ Nowhere is this better illustrated than in his letters, which, like a barometer, register precisely how his hopes and fears were fuelled by prophecies of future events foretold by stars, comets, monstrous births, by dreams and even everyday events.² Melanchthon combined absolute belief in an immanent, divine providence with a symbolic and—if we are to believe K. Hartfelder³—Neoplatonic interpretation of natural and historical phenomena. Accurate identification of his...