Balthasar Meisner

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Balthasar Meisner

Balthasar Meisner, also: Meißner (born February 3, 1587 in Dresden , † December 29, 1626 in Wittenberg ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and ethicist.

Life

Meisner was the son of the eponymous Dresden preacher Balthasar Meißner the Elder. Ä. (* May 24, 1556 in Axien; † May 1, 1623 in Dresden) and his wife Anna (* 1565; † 1630 in Dresden), a daughter of the elector's court servant Franziskus Krantz. He was able to enroll at the University of Wittenberg in June 1602 after taking lessons from private tutors and attending the city school in his hometown . Supported by an electoral scholarship, he found acceptance in Wittenberg in the house of Aegidius Hunnius the Elder , who became his sponsor. First, Meisner completed a course of studies at the philosophical faculty, where he obtained the academic degree of a master's degree on March 27, 1604 at the end of the study of the liberal arts and devoted himself to theological studies.

After attending lectures by Jakob Martini and Leonhard Hutter in addition to his sponsor's lectures in Wittenberg , he took part in lectures and achieved such a reputation that on May 1, 1608, he was accepted as an adjunct in the philosophical faculty. For further studies he went to the newly founded University of Gießen , on April 11, 1609 to the University of Strasbourg , in October to the University of Basel and the University of Tübingen . When the professorship for ethics and politics at the philosophical faculty became vacant in 1611 , Meisner was able to obtain it through the mediation of Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg and his father.

During the time of his ethics professorship, he was mainly known for his Philosophia sobria , which he started as a school philosopher . The work contains fundamental information on the relationship between theology and philosophy. Whereby he placed the art of right thinking at the service of right faith. Nevertheless, his ethics professorship was only intended to be a temporary solution to a professorship at the higher theological faculty. When Meisner was appointed professor of ethics, Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony gave Meisner permission to dispute in theology as well as his ethics lectures. He therefore allowed him to obtain a degree in theology. Thereupon he acquired this on November 22, 1611, received his doctorate in theology on January 21, 1612 and moved up to the theological professorship of Johannes Förster in 1613 . He was associated with Ephorus the electoral scholarship holder and worked as a preacher at the Wittenberg Castle Church .

From now on he devoted himself extensively to church issues and faced the adversaries of Lutheran Orthodoxy . During his time, he experienced a further professionalization, which was reflected in the formation of the parish. This was reflected in the dispute with the Helmstedt scholar Cornelius Martini , who represented the Irish point of view of Georg Calixt . In doing so, he further developed religious Lutheran piety by internalizing mysticism and effectively combining it with ethics. Acting from this point of view, he opposed the Socinians , whose rationalism he opposed. In this context, he denied their accusation that Lutheran orthodoxy offered no basis for a piety carried from the heart, and as an opponent of the Protestant metaphysics that was flourishing in Helmstedt and Gießen, he became an outstanding representative of Orthodox Lutheran theology.

Despite his theological debates, he took an active part in the organizational design of university life. In the years 1614/15, 1616/17, 1618, 1620, 1622, 1624, 1626, he was dean of the theological faculty seven times. In addition, he was elected rector of the Alma Mater in 1614/15, 1620/21 and 1626/27 . He died during his last term of office and was buried on January 2, 1627 in the Schlosskirche Wittenberg , where an epitaph was erected for him.

family

On January 21, 1612, he married Magdalena Person in Wittenberg, the daughter of the Wittenberg professor of law Ludwig Person . Nine children emerged from this 15 year association. Of these, three sons and one daughter survived their father. In addition, his wife was pregnant at the time of his death. It is known about the children:

  1. To. Magdalena Meisner (~ January 1613 in Wittenberg)
  2. So. Balthasar Meisner (~ May 1614 in Wittenberg; closed December 14, 1640 ibid) January 23, 1621 immat. UWB, Mag. March 29, 1631, Mag. Legens July 14, 1635, Adj. D. phil Fak October 18, 1637, drowned in the swamp near Kemberg, was buried on December 14, 1640 in Wittenberg
  3. Sun. Ludwig Meisner (~ January 2, 1617 in Wittenberg)
  4. So. Gottfried Meisner (born November 13, ~ November 14, 1618 in Wittenberg; † August 3, 1690 in Großenhain, c. Uebigau) Superintendent in Großenhain;
  5. To. Anna Magdalena Meisner (~ June 18, 1620 in Wittenberg)
  6. To. Anna Maria Meisner (~ December 4, 1621 in Wittenberg)
  7. So. Daniel Meisner (~ December 17, 1622 in Wittenberg)
  8. To. Charitas Meisner (* January 23, 1624 in Wittenberg; † April 5, 1657 in Zeitz) m. 1642 Enoch Himmel Dr. and Superintendent in Torgau and had 4 children with him
  9. So. Daniel Meisner (~ July 10, 1625 in Wittenberg; † 1684 Schmiedeberg) Rev. Schmiedeberg m. November 1st, 1653 in Großenhain with Sara Ritter, the daughter of the pastor in Mühlberg / Elbe Valentin Ritter and his wife Christiane Prellhus

Works (selection)

  • Disputatio de natura Metaphysicae. 1606
  • Philosophia sobria, hoc est, pia consideratio quaestionum Philosophicarum in controversiis Theologicis… occurentium. Giessen 1611, 1655
  • Secunda pars Philosophiae sobriae. 1613, 1655
  • Dissertation de summo bono. 1614
  • Dissertatio de legibus. 1616
  • Anthropologias Sacrae, in qua status naturae humanae, et eo spectantes articuli exponuntur, decas I-III. Dublin 1619
  • Brevis consideratio Theologiae photinianae. 1619
  • Quaestiones vexatae, I. An semper syllogistice de rebus Theologicis disputantdum sit? 1620
  • Brevis admonitio de Cornelii Martini… maledicentia. 1621
  • Tertia pars Philosophiae sobriae, 1623. 1655
  • Christologias Sacrae disputationes L. 1624
  • Disputatio de fidei justificantis appellationibus, partibus, causa efficiente, objecto, et subjecto. 1625
  • Disputatio de Calvinismo fugiendo, ob principium ejus incertum, quod est rationis speculatio. 1625
  • B. Meisneri pia desideria paulo ante beatum obitum ab ipso manifestata. Frankfurt a. M. 1679
  • De praestantia et dignitate Christiani… oratio. Leipzig 1693
for more see Zedler

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Meisner, Balthasar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meisnerus, Balthasar; Meisnerus, Balthasarus; Meisnerus, Balthasar; Meissner, Balthasar; Meißnerus, Baltasar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and ethicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1587
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1626
Place of death Wittenberg