Adam Christian Agricola

Adam Christian Agricola (born December 24, 1593 in Teschen ; † May 29, 1645 in Königsberg ) was a German Reformed theologian and court preacher at various royal courts.

Life

Adam Christian Agricola came from a family of theologians. His father Johannes Agricola (1567–1609) was the royal court preacher and superintendent of Jägerndorf , while his grandfather of the same name, Johann Agricola (approx. 1534–1590), was the pastor of Bautzen. His mother Martha was the daughter of the Bautzner Rector Thomas Faber.

After school and private lessons in Jägerndorf, Adam Christian was sent to a grammar school in Breslau for three years after the death of his father , before moving to Leipzig University in 1612 , where he studied philosophy and theology for two years . In 1614 he was called to Jägerndorf as a teacher, but in 1617 he was sent to the University of Frankfurt an der Oder at the expense of Margrave Johann Georg , where he obtained his master's degree in 1618 . Then Agricola traveled on to the Netherlands at princely expense and took part in the Dordrecht Synod . Then he undertook an almost two-year Peregrinatio academica through England, the Palatinate , where he matriculated at the University of Heidelberg on September 6, 1619 , and Hesse. In 1620 he followed a call from Johann Georg to his homeland and served him as field and court preacher and accompanied his prince to Bohemia, Lusatia and Silesia. He married Rosina Kümmel, the daughter of a Jägerndorfer forester, who gave birth to nine children.

In 1622 his service in Jägerndorf ended with the expulsion of his prince after the battle of the White Mountains . Agricola was called to Güstrow by Duke Johann Albrecht von Mecklenburg and worked there as court preacher for six years, until this prince was also forced to go into exile. Agricola lived in Gdansk for almost a year before he was appointed court preacher in 1629 by the Brandenburg Elector Georg Wilhelm, first to Berlin and from 1636 to Königsberg, where the electoral court was also relocated in 1638.

Agricola wrote some controversial theological writings that also concern the sacrament controversy between Reformed and Lutherans.

On May 29, 1645 he suffered a stroke early in the morning in the pulpit and died without regaining consciousness at 7 o'clock in the evening at the age of 51. He left three daughters and three sons. The main source for his résumé is the funeral sermon given by his colleague Johann Bergius .

Fonts

Willingness of the children of God to die, funeral sermon to Elisabeth von Mecklenburg , Güstrow 1626 ( online )
Refutation of the final speeches by D. Lucae Backmeister's Superint. to Güstrow, s. l. approx. 1628 ( online )
CommunicantenBüchlein. This is instruction before those who believe in right how they should behave before, during and after the use of the Lord's Supper by our Lord Jesus Christ, Hanau 1628, Hanau 1651 ( online )
Spes Et Desiderium Filiorum Dei, funeral sermon for Anna Füsselin, Berlin 1633 ( online )
A Christian funeral sermon of a yawning death, as the same children of God are not damnable but blessed, Berlin 1636
Christian funeral sermon, the weyland HochEdlen, Gestrengen and Vesten Mr. Baltzer von Brunnen , Berlin 1644 ( online )

Footnotes

↑ So in the résumé of his funeral sermon, which calculates his total life span at 55 years, five months and five days. However, according to the external title of the same funeral sermon, Agricola died on June 1st (Gregorian date).
↑ Born in 1567 in Calau, attended school in Calau and Cottbus, around 1582 attended the electoral state school St. Afra in Meißen under Johann Ladislaus, enrolled at the University of Leipzig in the summer semester of 1585, enrolled in Wittenberg on August 10, 1588, acquired there on August 18. March 1589 the degree of Mag. Phil. (Deanery book phil. Fac.), Was ordained on April 22, 1590 in Wittenberg by Urban Pierius (see WOB 1590 p. 26), 1590 preacher in Trenčín, 1592 court preacher in Teschen, 1592 in the same position in Jägerndorf, † there as Superintendent on June 30, 1609.
↑ Lt. Matriculation I, 552b, already registered in 1611, there with the note: "complevit sub rectore Magiro", d. H. in the winter semester 1617/18.
↑ Matrikel Heidelberg II, 296, No. 122
↑ Berlin 1646 ( online)

personal data
SURNAME	Agricola, Adam Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Reformed court preacher in Berlin and Königsberg
DATE OF BIRTH	December 24, 1593
PLACE OF BIRTH	Teschen
DATE OF DEATH	May 29, 1645
Place of death	Königsberg (Prussia)

[1] So in the résumé of his funeral sermon, which calculates his total life span at 55 years, five months and five days. However, according to the external title of the same funeral sermon, Agricola died on June 1st (Gregorian date).

[2] Born in 1567 in Calau, attended school in Calau and Cottbus, around 1582 attended the electoral state school St. Afra in Meißen under Johann Ladislaus, enrolled at the University of Leipzig in the summer semester of 1585, enrolled in Wittenberg on August 10, 1588, acquired there on August 18. March 1589 the degree of Mag. Phil. (Deanery book phil. Fac.), Was ordained on April 22, 1590 in Wittenberg by Urban Pierius (see WOB 1590 p. 26), 1590 preacher in Trenčín, 1592 court preacher in Teschen, 1592 in the same position in Jägerndorf, † there as Superintendent on June 30, 1609.

[3] Lt. Matriculation I, 552b, already registered in 1611, there with the note: "complevit sub rectore Magiro", d. H. in the winter semester 1617/18.

[4] Matrikel Heidelberg II, 296, No. 122

[5] Berlin 1646 ( online)