Esdras Heinrich Mutzenbecher

Esdras Heinrich Mutzenbecher, copper engraving by Reinier Vinkeles (1784)

Esdras Heinrich Mutzenbecher (born March 23, 1744 in Hamburg , † December 21, 1801 in Oldenburg ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and general superintendent in Oldenburg.

Life

Mutzenbecher came from the Hamburg merchant family Mutzenbecher . His father Johann Heinrich Mutzenbecher († 1759) was a merchant in Hamburg, his mother Angelica the eldest daughter of Sebastian Edzardus . He received the first name Esdras after his grandfather Esdras Edzardus . He attended the learned school of the Johanneum and made his first literary attempts with the weekly Der Primaner together with Johann Joachim Eschenburg as a primary student . From Easter 1762 he attended the Hamburg Academic Gymnasium . As a high school student, he was one of the founders of a literary society that later continued at the University of Göttingen , which he moved to in 1765, and which gave rise to the Hamburg entertainment (1766), which was popular at the time .

After completing his theological studies and after becoming a member of the German Society of Göttingen , in 1768 he took over the position of court master of a young Herr von Steinberg , with whom he met first in Celle , then from 1770 to 1772 at the Knight's Academy in Braunschweig and since Michaelis stayed in Göttingen again in 1772. In Braunschweig he came into close contact with the teachers and court masters at the Collegium Carolinum through Eschenburg . He began a friendship with Abbot Jerusalem , who impressed him deeply and with whom he later remained in correspondence until his death.

From Braunschweig, Mutzenbecher took the theological exam before the consistory in Hanover. In Göttingen he lived in a learned and friendly manner with his former teachers and dealt with literary works that later gave rise to extensive correspondence, in particular with Johann David Michaelis and Christian Wilhelm Franz Walch . For the latter and for Christian Gottlob Heyne , he edited their philological library from 1773 to 1776 .

In 1773 he was appointed second university preacher in Göttingen. With the intention of devoting himself to an academic career, he passed the exam at the theological faculty in Göttingen in 1774 and began to prepare for an inaugural dissertation. In 1775, however, he was appointed preacher at the German Lutheran Church in The Hague . At the beginning of 1780 he moved to Amsterdam as pastor of the German Lutheran congregation . Here he got into a theological dispute with the Orthodox wing of his community. Since Mutzenbecher, due to his previous education, also took positions shaped by ideas of the Enlightenment , he was accused of heresy and he and other younger preachers were accused of not treating the main dogmas of Christianity or treating them incorrectly and merely delivering moral sermons. Because of these disputes, Mutzenbecher was forced to look for another position.

In 1789 he accepted the appointment to general superintendent and consistorial councilor in Oldenburg, where he found a more favorable environment for his views, since Duke Peter I also strived for an enlightenment state ideal and provided Mutzenbecher with extensive competencies. In the twelve years of his work, which was shaped by rationalism and Enlightenment theology, he put together a new hymn book, gave lessons in Christian doctrine with reference to Luther's little catechism , as well as a collection of prayers and forms for worship services . His works were received positively, as the older chorales in particular were adapted to more modern thinking in terms of language and content and contemporary poets, including members of the Oldenburg parish, contributed songs. Mutzenbecher's reforms were rejected by pietistic circles.

He also reformed the school system, particularly by founding a school for the poor (1790), converting the Oldenburg Latin School into a grammar school (1792) and founding the Evangelical Teachers' College in Oldenburg (1793). During his term of office, the radical renovation of the Lambertikirche (Oldenburg) also falls, and he gave the sermon when it was re-consecrated on May 3, 1795.

Mutzenbecher was a member of the Literary Society in Oldenburg , where he also took up educational positions. His reforms are accordingly shaped by a strongly neological position, which resulted from his theology and from his enlightened philosophical-socio-political worldview and aimed at reasoned, independent thinking and acting within an individual and social ethic.

family

He was married to Anna Constantia (1758–1830), born on February 16, 1777. Sunday, the daughter of a banker in The Hague. Of the couple's children, Johann Friedrich (1781–1855) became the Oldenburg State Councilor and Regional President .

Fonts

• Sermon on the new year day 1775 on Ps. 67 in the Univers.K. held. Goettingen 1775
• (Ed.) Jo. Christiani Biel , Past. Quond. Ad. D. Ulric. Et Joan. Brunsvic. Novus Thesaurus Philologicus; Sive Lexicon In LXX Et Alios Interpretes Et Scriptores Apocryphos Veteris Testamenti. 3 volumes, Haag 1779–80
• Hymnal for public and domestic devotion for the Duchy of Oldenburg: Along with an appendix of prayers. Oldenburg: Stalling 1792
• First sermon in the renewed Lambertus Church in Oldenburg on May 3rd, 1795. Oldenburg: Stalling 1795
• Collection of prayers and forms for worship services: with special consideration for the Duchy of Oldenburg. Oldenburg: Stalling 1795; second increased and improved edition, Bremen: Wilmanns 1801
• Classes in Christian teaching with reference to Luther's little catechism: for use in the churches and schools of the Duchy of Oldenburg. 1802
• The church visits a hundred years ago. From the estate of General Superintendent Mutzenbecher (who died in 1801). In: Yearbook for the history of the Duchy of Oldenburg, vol. 5 (1896), Oldenburger Verein für Altertumskunde und Landesgeschichte (Hrsg.), Oldenburg 1896, p. 125 ff.Digital library , accessed on March 11, 2019.

literature

• Directory of the books left by the general superintendent Mutzenbecher zu Oldenburg. Oldenburg 1802
• Lexicon of the Hamburg writers. Volume 5, 1870, No. 2765 ( digitized version ), with a list of publications
• August Mutzenbecher: In memory of the general superintendent Esdras Heinrich Mutzenbecher. Oldenburg 1897
• August Mutzenbecher :  Mutzenbecher, Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 119 f.
• Johanna-Luise Brockmann: Esdras Heinrich Mutzenbecher (1744-1801); a contribution to the history of education in the Age of Enlightenment. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg 1959.
• Klaus Klattenhoff, Rolf Schäfer : Mutzenbecher, Esdras Heinrich. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 504-507 ( online ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ August Mutzenbecher:  Mutzenbecher, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 120 f.