Andreas Gottlieb Masch

Andreas Gottlieb Masch (1794)

Andreas Gottlieb Masch , also called the elder to distinguish himself from the son of the same name (born December 5, 1724 in Beseritz ; † October 26, 1807 in Neustrelitz ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian, superintendent for Mecklenburg-Strelitz and ducal court preacher in Mecklenburg-Strelitz Neustrelitz.

Live and act

Andreas Gottlieb Masch was the only son of the pastor von Dahlen (with owner), Andreas Masch (1681–1770), and his wife Anna Christine, born on the island of Rügen. Scheven. He attended schools in Friedland (1737), Neubrandenburg (1738), Stralsund (1742) and Stettin , studied Protestant theology at the University of Halle from 1745 , especially with Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten , and from 1746 to 1749 at the University of Jena . From 1749 he was the librarian of Johann Salomo Semler's library in Halle.

Because of his poor health, he gave up an academic career and returned to Mecklenburg . He became his father's adjunct in 1752 and city preacher in Neustrelitz in 1756. In 1756 Duke Adolf Friedrich IV appointed him court preacher and consistorial councilor and, after the death of Theodor Trendelenburg, superintendent and thus leading clergyman of the Church of Mecklenburg-Strelitz .

Masch was considered an excellent pulpit speaker and scholar. He demonstrated a great deal of skill in administrative matters and was able to initiate many regulations for problem cases in his regional church, such as the management of church property in the domains , the order of the year of grace and the handover of office between predecessor and successor.

He took an interested part in the beginning regional antiquity research. After the appearance of the Prillwitz idols, he published the pieces that had become known by then in 1771 together with the draftsman Daniel Woge (1717–1797) as religious antiquities of the Obotrites from the temple at Rhetra . In the heated writings dispute about their authenticity, which aroused the learned archaeologists far beyond the borders of Mecklenburg, Masch tried to defend the authenticity of the idols with all his erudition . The argument continued long after his death and continues to flare up to this day.

On his fiftieth anniversary in 1802, Duke Charles II presented him with an honorary doctorate (D. theol.) From the theological faculty of the University of Halle. He was an honorary member of the natural research society in Neustrelitz.

Since 1752 he was with Eleonora Dorothea, geb. Bunthebarth, married, a daughter of the preposition Martin Friedrich B. in Bahn near Stettin. After her death in 1782, Margarethe married Elisabeth, born in 1784. Käding, from Knegendorf († 1822) His children included Andreas Gottlieb (1753–1832), court advisor , councilor and administrator in Mirow , also an astronomer; Eleonore (* 1754), married to Pastor Ludolf Kortüm (1750–1828) in Kublank ; Samuel (Friedrich) (1756–1831), merchant in Lübeck; Carl Theodor (* 1761), administrator in Mirow; Friedrich (1765–1838), administrator in Mirow, then pastor in Schlagsdorf and father of Gottlieb Matthias Carl Masch ; Christiane (1767–1844), married to Pastor Johann Gottlieb Rudolphi (1760–1838) at St. Marien zu Friedland.

The family grave of Masch in the old cemetery of Neustrelitz (a typical, comparatively simple grave facade in the cemetery wall for him and his two wives) was removed soon after 1945.

Ratzeburg Cathedral Library

In 1769 Masch set up a preacher's library at the Ratzeburg cathedral courtyard , as the basis of which he acquired the library of the deacon Johann (es) Bähr (1685–1758) for 400 thalers in gold. It was opened in 1774, served the pastors of the Principality of Ratzeburg to support their studies and is the basic stock of today's cathedral library.

Bible collection

Masch put together an extensive biblical collection of over 400 partly rare copies in many languages. In 1784 it was sold to the Ratzeburg Cathedral Library , but came to Neustrelitz as early as 1809 on the orders of Duke Karl II , where it became part of the Grand Ducal and later Neustrelitz State Library . In 1950 it came to the Rostock University Library as a special collection .

Works

• Discussion of the basic language of the Evg. Matthai. Hall 1755.
• The teaching of Jesus the Savior dealt with in sermons. 2 parts. Rostock 1759/60
• Examination of the translation of the NT for thinking readers (von Damm). 2 parts. Bützow 1763-67
• Contributions to the history of strange books. 1st - 9th Piece. 1769 to 1774.
• The religious antiquities of the Obotrites from the temple at Rhetra on the Tollenzer See, ground down to the greatest detail and in copperplate engravings, with Mr. Andreas Gottlieb Maschens, Herzogl. Mecklenb. Strelitz Court Preacher, Consistorial-Raths and Superintendent's Explanation of the same, edited by Daniel Wogen, Herzogl. Mecklenb. Strel. Court meal. Rellstab, Berlin 1771 (on the Prillwitz idols )

Digital copy of the copy in the Herzog August Library

• Treatise on the distribution of the increases in the year of grace and on the calculation of the widow's salary. Neubrandenburg 1792. 2nd edition. 1831.

literature

• Ludwig Schultz:  Masch, Andreas Gottlieb . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 550 f.
• Georg Krüger: The pastors in Stargard since the Reformation. In: Association for Mecklenburg history and antiquity (ed.): Yearbooks of the association for Mecklenburg history and antiquity. Volume 69 (1904), pp. 1-270 (full text) , here pp. 141f.
• Karl Schmaltz : Church history of Mecklenburg. Third volume. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1950, pp. 211f.
• Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. The dictionary of persons . Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-356-01301-6 , p. 6377 .

Web links

• Literature about Andreas Gottlieb Masch in the state bibliography MV

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ADB
2. ↑ Entry in the handbook of historical book collections (full text).
3. ^ Nilüfer Krüger: The incunabula of the Rostock University Library: With the incunabula of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Library in Schwerin and the Friedland Church Library. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04788-7 , p. 25; there note 75 also on other versions, according to which the Bible collection has not left Neustrelitz despite being sold; however, that would not explain the Ratzeburg ownership notes.
4. ^ Special collections: holdings , Wiki of the University of Rostock , accessed on March 6, 2013; Catalogs: Johann Friedrich Gentzen : Catalog of the Grand Ducal Library in Neustrelitz. I. Division. Neustrelitz 1862 (on Bibles especially pp. 278–317); Catalog of the Hebrew Bible prints from the Masch. Rostock collection 1992 (printed as a manuscript)