Anmerkungen Zur Theolocgenausbildung in Herborn'

Ever since its foundation in 1584, the Herborn Academy pursued the ambitious goal of stabilizing and politically modernizing not only the regions within its own domain but also Reformed territories throughout Europe through the education of an elite class of social leaders. For this reason, Herborner conceptions of educational reform emphasized as a necessity the formation of an educated elite for the Reformed churches and European governments as a whole. Thcrefore the Academy's central political task was to train, according to so-called Ramist principles, an elite leadership for those societies in Europe that had been stamped by Reformed ideals. The practical orientation of the education aimed to prepare graduates to assume positions of leadership in and successfully weather the confessional disputes throughout Europe.