In 1545 he was made professor in the theological faculty, in which his authority increased to such an extent that in the following year the elector sent him to the Conference of Regensburg, where he was soon captivated by the personality of Butzer. Like Philipp Melanchthon, he fled before the disastrous close of the Schmalkald war, and found refuge in Magdeburg. In the summer of 1547, he returned to Wittenberg, and in the same year became cathedral superintendent at Merseburg, although he resumed his activity at the university in the following year.