Balthasar Petersen

Balthasar Petersen

Balthasar Petersen (born May 7, 1703 in Tondern ; † January 1, 1787 ibid) was a German Lutheran provost and founder of the first seminar for school teachers in Schleswig-Holstein.

Life

Balthasar Petersen was the son of the Tondern lace dealer Peter Petersen and his wife Dorothea, née Reimers. He had a younger brother Christian Petersen (1718–1795) from his father's second marriage, who was pastor in Rise from 1747 .

He attended a Latin school in Tondern and, following a youth wish, studied theology in Jena from 1721, where he was particularly influenced by the orthodox Johann Franz Buddeus . He then moved to Kiel, where he passed the theological exam in 1724. He then worked as a private tutor for the Hardesvogt Knutzen in Rapstedt . His son Nicolai, whom he taught, later succeeded him in office as chief pastor. He then traveled as court master with a young nobleman to several universities, where he himself attended lectures in theology, philosophy, law and medicine. In 1729 Petersen received his first pastor as the main pastor in Leck and ten years later moved as the main pastor and provost to Sønderborg and in 1746 in the same positions to Tondern. In 1747 he was appointed Real Consistorial Councilor.

Act

Petersen went about his office very conscientiously and was very supportive of religious life, but rarely published. As an Orthodox preacher, because of his severity, he got into a dispute with his former student, his colleague Nicolai Knutzen, who was elected by the Tonderan congregation and who represented the Moravian Pietism . In a letter signed by King Christian VII in 1768, Petersen was forbidden from speaking against the Moravians from the pulpit. For years he had to send his sermon drafts to the German Chancellery and have them approved.

Petersen quickly realized that young men from non-academic families aspiring to the pastoral profession could not prepare adequately. Therefore, in the 1750s, he set up an “Academic Teaching Institution” in his house in Tondern, the graduates of which were able to take the official theological examination after a one-year course and were considered academic candidates. The Kiel University , which was attended at that time by only a few students recognized a dangerous competition in Petersen's educational institution and suggested the consistory therefore propose to require prospective theologians on several months of university studies. After a corresponding decision, Petersen dissolved his educational institution in 1762.

Petersen also taught the sons of farmers, sextons and teachers who wanted to become elementary school teachers themselves and for whom such an institution did not exist until then. He oriented himself to August Hermann Francke . In 1752 he set up what he called the “Schoolmaster Institute”. With the knowledge of God for catechists, sextons and teachers , he wrote a textbook that contained questions and answers and for a long time formed the basis of his teaching. The book appeared posthumously in print in 1788 and was also used in other schools.

Petersen apparently gave no German lessons at his institute, but gave an introductory course in Latin. As an extremely well-educated teacher, he quickly helped his students acquire a broad knowledge. In the bilingual office of Tondern, living on the language border between German and Danish, he was loyal to the state as a civil servant , but sided with the German cultural area. The graduates of his teacher training college should improve the German language skills of the population in the Duchy of Schleswig . One of his visitation reports , however, shows that he campaigned for congregations whose inhabitants were purely Danish-speaking to receive services in their language.

Half a year before his death, Petersen set up the foundation and foundation for good instruction and further professionalization of some school holders .... This institution should ensure the continued existence of his teaching institute. In addition to a lot of money, he brought the “Görrismark” farm near Tønder, inherited from his father, into the foundation. He had already bequeathed the farm to the orphanage in 1780. He later housed the poor house . Now he laid down in detail how income and interest income were to be used. So from the income of the legacy 12, later 18 scholarship holders, preferably "school teacher sons from the offices of Tondern, Aabenraa and Hadersleben", should be supported during the three-year training. In this way, the teachers' seminar in Tondern emerged from Petersen's “schoolmaster's institute”. In 1803 it was connected to the citizen school. After the Kiel school teachers 'seminar was closed in 1821, the teachers' seminar was very popular. A separate building and new school rules in 1829 enabled 80 students to be admitted. The German branch of this educational institution went to Niebüll when the country was ceded in 1921 .

In front of the teachers' college building in Tondern, an obelisk with its bronze relief commemorates him.

family

Petersen married Maria Fabricius in 1729 (born November 29, 1696 in Warnitz ; † August 6, 1771 in Tondern). She was the daughter of the Warnitz pastor Peter Fabrizius, who died in 1700, and the widow of Petersen's predecessor in Leck, Johann Friedrich Dörcks († 1728). From the marriage came a daughter Dorothea (* 1735). Maria's daughter from her first marriage, Anna Maria Dörcks, married Balthasar Petersen's brother Christian.

In his second marriage, Petersen married Anna Christina Sönksen in 1772 (* April 2, 1743 in Husum ; † April 15, 1779 in Tondern). She was the daughter of the Husum vice-principal and deacon Johann Hinrich Sönksen.

Works

• The life and suffering of Jesus (4 volumes), 1781–83,
• The Christian Doctrine of Beatitude , 1784
• Knowledge of God for catechists, sextons and schoolmasters , 1788

literature

• Siegfried Büchner: Petersen, Balthasar . In: Schleswig-Holstein biographical lexicon . Volume 5. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1979. ISBN 3-529-02645-X , pages 200-202.
• Carsten Erich Carstens :  Petersen, Balthasar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 500.
• Jens Holdt: Balthasar Petersen . In: Svend Cedergreen Bech , Svend Dahl (eds.): Dansk biografisk leksikon . Founded by Carl Frederik Bricka , continued by Povl Engelstoft. 3. Edition. tape 11 : Olsen-Rask . Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1982, ISBN 87-01-77472-7 (Danish, biografiskleksikon.lex.dk ).
• Frank Lubowitz: "He is a man who is serious about doing something good and promoting the glory of God." Balthasar Petersen and the founding of the teachers' seminar in Tondern. In: Writings of the local history study group for North Schleswig 67/68, 1994.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Otto Fr. Arends: Gejstigheden i Slesvig og Holstejn fra reformationen til 1864. Copenhagen 1932, Volume 2, p. 141.
2. ^ ^{A b c} Siegfried Büchner: Petersen, Balthasar. In: Schleswig-Holstein biographical lexicon. Volume 5. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1979, ISBN 3-529-02645-X , p. 200.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Siegfried Büchner: Petersen, Balthasar. In: Schleswig-Holstein biographical lexicon. Volume 5. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1979, ISBN 3-529-02645-X , p. 201.
4. ↑ Hans Nicolai Andreas Jensen , Andreas Ludwig Jacob Michelsen (ed.): Schleswig-Holstein Church History. IV., P. 198 ( wiki-de.genealogy.net ).
5. ↑ Chronological collection of the laws, ordinances and orders issued in 1786 for the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. Pp. 176-190.
6. ^ JA Petersen: Walks through the Duchy of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. 3. North Friesland department . Kiel 1939, p. 498.
7. ^ J. Greve: Geography and history of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . Kiel 1844, p. 383 ( books.google.de )