Daniel Ernst Jablonski

Daniel Ernst Jablonski (20 November 1660, Mokry Dwór (Nassenhuben), Royal Prussia, Crown of Poland – 25 May 1741, Berlin) was a German theologian and reformer of Czech origin, known for his efforts to bring about a union between Lutheran and Calvinist Protestants.

Having studied at Frankfurt (Oder) and at Oxford, Jablonski entered upon his career as a preacher at Magdeburg in 1683, and then from 1686 to 1691 he was the head of the Brethren college at Polish Leszno (German: Lissa), a position which had been filled by his grandfather.

His idea appears to have been to form a general union between the German, the English and the Swiss Protestants, and thus to establish una eademque sancta catholica et apostolica eademque evangelica et reformata ecclesia ("the one and selfsame holy, catholic, and apostholic and selfsame evangelical and reformed Church").

For some years negotiations were carried on with a view to attaining this end, but eventually it was found impossible to surmount the many difficulties in the way; Jablonski and Leibniz, however, did not cease to believe in the possibility of accomplishing their purpose.

[1] As a scholar, Jablonski brought out a Hebrew edition of the Old Testament, and translated Bentley's A Confutation of Atheism into Latin (1696).