Hoffman was born at
Schwäbisch Hall in southwest Germany before 1500. His biographers usually give his surname as
Hofmann; in his printed works it sometimes appears as
Hoffman, and in his manuscripts as
Hoffmann. He was without scholarly training, and first appeared as a furrier in
Livonia. Attracted by
Luther's teachings, he came forward as a
lay preacher, combining business travels with a religious mission. He worked as a lay preacher in the cities of
Wolmar (from 1523),
Dorpat and
Reval. In Dorpat he became involved in an
iconoclastic revolt, and the magistrates obliged him to go to
Wittenberg to obtain Luther's approval of his preaching. After his return to Dorpat he was involved in more controversy and forced to leave the city. After the same thing happened in Reval, he decided to go to
Stockholm,
Sweden, where he arrived in the autumn of 1526. Here too he was involved in religious disturbances and so left Sweden again. After a short stay in
Lübeck he made his way to
Denmark, where he found favour with King
Frederick I, and was appointed by royal ordinance to preach the Gospel at
Kiel. He was probably the first printer in the city. He was extravagant in his denunciations, and developed a
Zwinglian view of the Eucharist. Luther himself was alarmed at this. At a colloquy of preachers in
Flensburg on (April 8, 1529), Hoffman,
John Campanus and others were put on their defence. Hoffman maintained (against the "magic" of the Lutheran interpretation) that the function of the
Eucharist, like that of preaching, is nothing more than an appeal for spiritual union with Christ. Refusing to retract, he was banished. Making his way to
Strasbourg in June 1529, he was well received, until his
Anabaptist tendencies became apparent. He joined with the Anabaptists of the city, and, according to Estep, was rebaptized in April 1530. In May he travelled to
East Frisia, where he established churches and baptized about 300 people. He was in relations with
Kaspar Schwenkfeld and with
Andreas Karlstadt, but assumed a prophetic role of his own. In 1532 he founded a community at
Emden, securing a large following of artisans. Because of the prophecy of an old man foretelling six months in prison for him, he returned in the spring of the following year to Strasbourg, where there is reference to his wife and child. He gained from his study of
Apocalypse the belief that the Lord would return there in 1533 and received a vision of "resurrections" of apostolic Christianity, first under
John Hus, and now under himself. The year 1533 was to inaugurate the new era; Strasbourg was to be the seat of the
New Jerusalem. When however he prophesied that the return of Christ would be preceded by a purging of the ungodly, Hoffman was seen as a revolutionary. Under examination, he denied that he had made common cause with the Anabaptists and claimed to be no prophet but a mere witness of the Most High, but nevertheless refused the articles of faith proposed to him by the provincial
synod. Hoffman's failed prophecy of the return of Christ contributed significantly to the
Münster Rebellion (1534–1535), of which he is seen as one of the authors. Two of his followers,
Jan van Matthijs and
Jan van Leiden, proclaimed that Hoffman was wrong on the questions of the exact time and place, where Christ would return and reign, and named
Münster as the correct location. As a consequence of the terror inspired by the rebellion and its savage suppression, Hoffman, together with
Claus Frey, another Anabaptist, was detained in prison. Although the synod made a further effort to reclaim him in 1539, he stayed there for the rest of his life, until his death in 1543. ==Teachings and influence==