Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette

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Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette (born January 12, 1780 in Ulla near Weimar , † June 16, 1849 in Basel ) was a German - Swiss theologian .

Life

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette was born in Ulla near Weimar as the son of pastor Johann August de Wette (1744–1812) and his wife Margarethe Dorothea Christiane. Schneider (1751–1819) born. He attended grammar school in Weimar, where he was influenced by Johann Gottfried von Herder , who often took exams at the school. In 1799 he began studying theology at the University of Jena . His main teachers were Johann Jakob Griesbach , Johann Philipp Gabler and Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus ; from the latter he was stimulated to free critical research. In terms of both methods and results, he held a largely special position among German theologians. He earned his living in Jena, among other things, by translating and working on Schiller's Journal . He was strongly influenced by the early romantics and developed an aesthetic theology during his Jena years. His dissertation on the Pentateuch and Old Testament history had a lasting influence on Old Testament research. In 1805 he married Eberhardine Boie, who died in childbed the following year. When the French army passed through Jena, de Wette lost his belongings.

After receiving his doctorate, he became a private lecturer in Jena and, in 1807, professor of theology at the University of Heidelberg , where he became friends with Jakob Friedrich Fries , whose system of knowledge, belief and punishment is the basis of his dogmatics ( textbook of Christian dogmatics presented in its historical development ) should. In 1810 he held a similar chair at the newly founded Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin , where he made friends with Friedrich Schleiermacher in 1817 through the mediation of Friedrich Lücke .

He was released from Berlin in 1819 because he had sent a letter of consolation to the mother of Karl Ludwig Sands , the murderer of Kotzebue . A petition in his favor by the university senate was unsuccessful. A decree was issued that not only revoked his teaching license, but also banned him from Prussia. During these weeks he found diverse financial support from scholars, including his opponent Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel .

Memorial plaque for de Wette in Ulla
Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette, 1780–1849, Wolfgottesacker Cemetery, Basel. Gravestone medallion by Heinrich Rudolf Meili (1827–1882)
De Wettes gravestone in the Wolfgottesacker cemetery in Basel, gravestone medallion of Heinrich Rudolf Meili

He moved back to Weimar. Here he used the time to prepare a Luther edition and wrote the two-volume novel Theodor or the consecration of the doubter (1822). This educational novel by a country pastor was very popular among the fraternity members . During his time in Weimar, de Wette began to preach with great public success. In 1822 he was elected as a preacher at St. Katharinen (Braunschweig) . But the sovereign, King George IV of England , did not allow its introduction out of consideration for Prussia.

Thereupon de Wette accepted an appointment to the faculty of the University of Basel in March 1822 . It had been set up four years earlier. Here he worked closely with Karl Follen for a short time . Despite being weighed down by arguments between pietism and speculation, de Wette soon gained great influence at university and among the public. In 1829 he acquired Swiss citizenship and was then rector five times of the university, which owed him a large part of its renewed reputation, especially in the theological faculty. Despite difficult family circumstances, he was very productive. In addition, he showed poetic talent (he wrote the drama Die Abstagung , Berlin 1823, and the novel Heinrich Melchthal ), as well as ambitions for art, church music and architecture. De Wette lived in Basel in the Hinteren Württemberger Hof and later sold the property to Wilhelm Wackernagel .

De Wette was buried in the St. Elisabethen church in Basel. In 1872 this cemetery was closed and the city built a road in 1898 which leads directly over his former grave. This street and the adjoining school building from 1903 bear his name in his honor. His grave is now on the Wolfgottesacker in Basel. In 1860 friends of de Wette commissioned Ferdinand Schlöth to create a monument bust, which is now in the auditorium of the museum on Augustinergasse .

His stepson, Charles Beck, was a philologist and theologian, a Harvard professor, and Massachusetts governor.

Fonts (selection)

Dr. Martin Luther's letters, missions, and concerns
  • Contributions to the introduction to the Old Testament (1806–1807)
  • Commentary on the Psalms (1811), published several times
  • Textbook of Hebrew-Jewish Archeology (1814)
  • About religion and theology (1815)
  • Textbook of Christian dogmatics (1813-1816)
  • Textbook of the historical-critical introduction to the Bible (1817), later editions edited by Hermann Meßner and Gottlieb Lünemann
  • Christian ethics (1819–1821)
  • Introduction to the New Testament (1826)
  • The German Theological College in North America, Pieces of Acts, Explanations and Requests (1826)
  • Religion, its nature, its appearance, and its influence on life (1827)
  • The essence of the Christian faith (1846)
  • Concise Exegetical Handbook on the New Testament (1836–1848)

De Wette also edited letters from Martin Luther (5 vols., 1825–1828).

literature

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dissertatio critico-exegetica qua Deuteronomium a prioribus Pentateuchi libris diversum, alius cuiusdam recentioris auctoris opus esse monstratur. Revised and published under the title Contributions to the Introduction to the Old Testament. Hall 1806/1807.
  2. ^ Basler Buildings, Hinterer Württemberger Hof: Hintere Württemberger Hof. Retrieved October 12, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Hans-Peter Mathys, Klaus Seybold (Ed.): Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette. A universal theologian of the 19th century (= studies on the history of science in Basel. New series, volume 1). Schwabe, Basel 2001.
  4. ↑ Stefan Hess , Tomas Lochman (ed.): Classical beauty and patriotic heroism. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891). Exhibition, Sculpture Hall Basel, December 10, 2004 - March 12, 2005. Sculpture Hall, Basel 2004, p. 166 f.
personal data
SURNAME Bet, Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Swiss theologian
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulla
DATE OF DEATH June 16, 1849
Place of death Basel