Caspar Sibel

Caspar Sibel, 1637

Caspar Sibel (born June 9, 1590 near Elberfeld (today in Wuppertal ), † January 1, 1658 in Deventer ) was a Reformed theologian who made a name for himself primarily through his catechetical and homiletic writings.

Life

Caspar Sibel, son of a yarn bleacher and linen dealer and grandson of the Elberfeld reformer Peter Lo, embarked on a spiritual career like his two brothers.

He received his previous education in the Latin School in Elberfeld , which he left at Easter 1605 to enter the Prima of the High School in Herborn . Just a year and a half later he was admitted to academic lectures. The main teacher here was the Bible theologian Johannes Piscator . At Easter 1608 he moved to the University of Leiden , where he was introduced to the rich literature of Reformed theology by his professor Franciscus Gomarus . The legacy of his mother gave him the means to build a selected library. He profited greatly from the lectures of Jacobus Arminius , who also recommended the study of important Arian , anti-Trinitarian and Jesuit theologians. Sibel completed his academic studies on July 15, 1609 with a public defense of various theses on the doctrine of predestination .

He then followed a call from the parishes of Randerath and Geilenkirchen im Jülichschen as pastor . There he gained such a reputation that he was appointed pastor to Jülich in 1611 , where he worked for six years and from there took a lively interest in the lively synodal system in the Jülich region.

On the recommendation of the Geldrischen Vogts Friedrich van de Sande, Sibel took over the ministry in the Dutch Deventer , which at that time suffered from terrible devastation by the plague. Sibel got into violent quarrels between Remonstrants , Reformed, Catholics , ubiquitists , Anabaptists and other sects , but Sibel emerged successfully from it, who is said to have been an extremely sociable person of a winning nature despite his strictly Orthodox- Reformed standpoint. In this sense, Sibel also worked as a participant in the great ecumenical national synod of the Reformed Church on Dordrecht .

Sibel is ascribed an essential part in the upswing of the secondary school system in Deventer, in that he ensured the appointment of capable teachers to the pedagogy which was newly established in 1619 and also worked towards the establishment of an academic high school in 1630. However, his greatest merit is his participation in the revision of the new Dutch translation of the Bible approved by the Dordrecht Synod . From 1632 he worked intensively on the revision of the parts of the New Testament that had been received.

In 1648 he had to pay for his retirement due to a stroke. Soon afterwards his only daughter died, whose son became his universal heir.

meaning

As a preacher, Sibel gained a significant reputation beyond his own community through the printing of his homilies across entire books of Scripture . His prayer book in Dutch, first published in 1633, has been published several times. The clarity of thought and accuracy of expression are praised in his Latin meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism .

His autobiography , written in Latin and also of general historical value, is testimony to his personality .

literature

• Self-biography (published in part in: Timeline of the history of the Latin School […] in Elberfeld. Ed. By Ludwig Scheibe. Elberfeld 1893, pp. 53–94)
• Kaspar Sibel, P. Bockmühl: What Kaspar Sibel tells about his hometown Elberfeld, his parents and his grandfather Petrus Lo: from Sibel's handwritten manuscript: De curriculo totius vitae et peregrinationis suae. I. Historica narratio, pp. 16-26 , 1910.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Cuno:  Sibelius, Caspar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, pp. 122-125.
• Johann Victor Bredt : History of the Siebel family. Marburg 1937, pp. 126-138.

Web links

Commons : Caspar Sibelius  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files