Andreas Riem

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Johann Andreas Riem ( pseudonym : CAE Schmidt ; born August 22, 1749 in Frankenthal ; † March 21, 1814 in Speyer ) was a German Protestant Reformed theologian , clergyman and publicist of the Enlightenment period .

Life

Riem was the son of a rector of the Latin school and pastor in Frankenthal. He studied Protestant theology and philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and then worked as a private tutor. In 1776 he got the parish office in Friedrichswalde and began his journalistic activities. In 1782 he became pastor at the Friedrichshospital in Berlin . In 1787 he also took over the directorate of the royal art and bookshop in Berlin.

In 1788, Riem was appointed permanent secretary and assessor of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences . In the same year he appeared as a strong opponent of the religious edict of Johann Christoph von Woellner, which was directed against the efforts of the Enlightenment . This opposition earned him disciplinary proceedings for seditious behavior. That finally ended with a mere reprimand and the request to resign from his pastoral office, which he did in 1789. Until 1790 he was still active at the academy, in 1791 he became a non-resident canon at Herford Abbey .

Riem took part in current political events through his writings. From 1793 onwards he advocated a peace treaty with revolutionary France. In 1795 the Prussian government increasingly perceived him as a danger, expelled him to the Electorate of Saxony without trial or judgment and had his journal Europa banned in its political and financial circumstances while his family remained in Berlin. He then traveled to Western Europe and worked as a diplomat for the government of France and the Batavian Republic . He pursued these activities until 1800 and reported on them in his eight-volume work Travels through Germany, France, England and Holland in various, particularly political, respects in the years 1785, 1795, 1796, 1797 and 1798 . In 1799 he was detained by Austria for several months after he was arrested after a defeat in the coalition wars together with French troops he was accompanying.

Riem finally returned to his home in the Palatinate and settled in Speyer as a lawyer in 1802 . Financially and in terms of health, however, his situation deteriorated so that in 1811 he had to be admitted to the town's citizen hospital.

Riem's ​​journalistic activities were very diverse. He began with historical novels, then made a name for himself as a representative of Neology (the evangelical Enlightenment theology) and finally took a turn from the representative of the Berlin Late Enlightenment to one of the first radical democrats in Germany. He fought for legal security, the abolition of privileges and civil equality for Jews.

Publications (selection)

Editorships
  • [ Hermann Samuel Reimarus ] The rest of the unprinted works by the Wolfenbüttlischen Fragementist. An estate from GEL [= Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ]. Published by CEA Schmidt , Berlin 1787.
  • with Gottlob Nathanael Fischer : Berlin Journal for Enlightenment , Berlin 1788–1790.
  • Europe in its political and financial circumstances , 4 volumes, Leipzig 1795.
  • Europe's political situation and interest in the state , Mannheim / Speyer 1795–1799.
Fonts
  • Timoklea and Charitides . Leipzig 1773.
  • Dorset and Julia . 2 volumes, Leipzig 1773/1774.
  • From the influence of religion on the state system of the peoples . Berlin 1778.
  • Compatibility of the religions with the politics of the states together with a draft of a work: climate, state constitution and religion in their mutual influence on one another . Berlin 1779.
  • History of some donkeys or continuation of the life and the opinions of the world famous John Bunkels , 3 volumes, Hamburg and Leipzig 1782/1783.
  • Philosophical and critical research on the Old Testament and its divinity, especially on the Mosaic religion . London and Dessau 1785.
  • The purer Christianity or the religion of the children of light. Continued reflections on the very truths of religion or progress where Abbot Jerusalem stood still. Four volumes, 1789–1795.
  • New system of nature about God, intelligence and morality . Dresden and Leipzig 1792.
  • Apology for the oppressed Jewry in Germany. o. O. [Leipzig] 1798; Reprint: Edited by Georg Bürger. With an introduction to the life and work of the author by Walter Grab . Niemeyer, Tübingen 1998
  • Diary of the strangest world events, along with a commentary on the most important newspaper articles . 2 volumes. Frankenthal 1799.
  • About written language and pasigraphy . Mannheim 1809.
  • What should the rulers do to protect themselves against revolutions? Edited with an afterword by Karl HL Welker. Wehrhahn, Hanover 2000.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Riem, Andreas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riem, Johann Andreas (full name); Schmidt, CAE (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publicist, theologian and clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankenthal (Palatinate)
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1814
Place of death Speyer