Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer

Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer

Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer (born January 16, 1706 in Owen (Teck), † February 11, 1761 in Weinsberg ) was a theologian and Pietist from Württemberg .

education

Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer was born as the son of Ludwig Christoph Steinhofer, parish priest in Owen (Teck). He attended the Latin school in Kirchheim (Teck) from around 1713 , then the monastery school in Blaubeuren from 1720 and the one in Bebenhausen from 1722 . At the University of Tübingen he studied as a donor from 1725 until he obtained his master's degree in 1728, the liberal arts and from 1728 to 1730 theology.

job

As a theology student in 1729, Steinhofer became vicar for six months in the Free Imperial City of Biberach an der Riss with his sister Sophia Margaretha Gutermann's father-in-law.

In 1731 he went on a scientific trip to Franconia and Saxony. In Herrnhut he met Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf , whom he accompanied on his trip to Württemberg in 1733. Already devoted to pietism, he felt drawn to the Moravian Brethren . Zinzendorf ensured that Steinhofer in 1734 took care of the part of the court community, which had been influenced by Herrnhut since 1730, in competition with it since 1704, and was mainly characterized by pietism in Halle as court chaplain of his brother-in-law, Count Heinrich XXIX. von Reuss-Plauen zu Ebersdorf . In 1735 Steinhofer was overseer (until 1742) and teacher of the community of Ebersdorf in the Thuringian Vogtland . After his ordination in 1738 (together with his second cousin by marriage, Friedrich Christoph Oetinger in the Wuerttemberg Protestant Hirsau monastery ), Steinhofer was court preacher in Ebersdorf until June 1745. From 1739 to autumn 1747 he was also director of the orphanage in Ebersdorf, which was founded in 1732 based on the Halle model 1743 also "co-elder" of the community of Ebersdorf, from January to June 1745 also interim pastor of the regional church-Russian branch "Dorf Ebersdorf" of the parish of Friesau.

In 1746 Steinhofer entered the service of the Brethren and was ordained co-bishop (Coëpiscopus) for the Lutheran trope, ie the Lutheran "education of God", of the Brethren. In 1747 he left Ebersdorf and worked in various Herrnhut communities in Wetterau and Upper Lusatia . For example, in January 1747 he was appointed head of the theological seminar of the Brothers Unity in the imperial knighthood town of Lindheim (Upper Hesse) in the Wetterau, and in autumn 1747 as "Inspector doctrinae" preacher in Herrnhut.

The Ebersdorf orphanage teacher Dorothea Wilhelmine von Molsberg, born in Oppenheim am Rhein on August 26, 1708, later died in the Free Aristocratic Abbey of Oberstenfeld on June 9, 1791, was buried on June 11, 1791 in the cloister of the abbey "at her own request , was given to him by lot in 1747 ", destined to be a wife. The marriage took place on February 3, 1747 in Herrnhut.

As early as 1748 Steinhofer turned away from the Brethren and returned to Württemberg, where he came back in contact with supporters of the Zinzendorf critic Johann Albrecht Bengel . On February 11, 1749, he expressly resigned his Herrnhut offices and left Zinzendorf the following day. On November 12, 1749 (taking office February 2, 1750) he became pastor in Dettingen an der Erms , in 1753 city pastor in Zavelstein with a branch in Teinach and in 1756 pastor in Eningen under Achalm . In 1759 he finally took over the post of Weinsberg pastor and dean (special superintendent) of the Weinsberg church district as the successor to his friend Friedrich Christoph Oetinger .

Fonts

In addition to his official work, Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer worked primarily through his writings with the scripture interpretation according to the Bengels manner , but with an element of Herrnhut piety. This made him one of the fathers of Swabian Pietism. His works were read well into the 20th century and reprinted several times. His writings were also well known in Sweden.

Steinhofer became literarily significant through his impact on the religious environment of the young Goethe and on Goethe himself. It was precisely through Steinhofer's writings that Herrnhut's influence on Goethe's mother Catharina Elisabeth Goethe and her friend Susanne Catharina Reichsfreiin von Klettenberg became effective. An echo of the Ebersdorf hymnbook published by Steinhofer, known to Goethe and mentioned several times by him, in its second edition from 1745 can be found in Goethe's famous opening line of Wanderer's night song ("Der du von dem Himmel ist"). In this edition, Steinhofer had included Zinzendorf's 1743 Our Father's Song, first published in 1743: "You are in the sky [...]".

Some of his most important writings are presented here. Many of his writings and works were only published after his death.

Catalog raisonné: Gottfried Mälzer: The works of the Württemberg Pietists of the 17th and 18th centuries. List of literature published up to 1968. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1972 ( Bibliography on the History of Pietism , Vol. 1), pp. 349–358, No. 2683–2764: "Steinhofer, Friedrich Christoph".

• Daily nourishment of faith, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews. 1743 books.google , 1783 (Swedish)
• Daily food of faith, according to the epistle to the Colossians. 1744, 1804 (Swedish)
• Evangelical reason for faith in the salutary knowledge of Jesus Christ. 1753, 1897 (Swedish)
• Evangelical Reason for Faith, 23 sermons from the Passion story , 1754
• The first letter of Johannis explained edifyingly. 1762, 1898 (Swedish)
• Blessed and holy communion of the believers with the Triune God. 1762.
• Daily nourishment of faith, according to the most important scriptures from the life of Jesus in 83 speeches. 1764.

The Ebersdorf hymn book published by Steinhofer:

1st edition

• Evangelisches Gesang-Buch, In a sufficient excerpt of the old, new and newest songs, Dedicated to the community in Ebersdorf For public and special [ie private] use. [Ed. by Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer.] Ebersdorf, to be found in the Waysen house. 1742. books.google ([ Colophon  :] Hieselbst printed with Fiedlerische Schriften [printed by Johann Carl Fiedler].) MDZ reader

2nd Edition

• Evangelisches Gesangbuch [etc.] The second and enlarged edition. Ebersdorf, to be found in the Waysen house. 1745 . ([Colophon:] Hieselbst printed with Reinheckelischen writings [printed by Christian Lebrecht Reinheckel].)

literature

• Reinhard Breymayer : Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer - a pietistic theologian between Oetinger, Zinzendorf and Goethe. With the solution of a source-critical problem with Karl Barth . In: Reimund B. Sdzuj, Robert Seidel , Bernd Zegowitz (Hrsg.): Poetry - Gelehrsamkeit - Disputation culture . Festschrift for Hanspeter Marti on his 65th birthday. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2012, pp. 196–230, ISBN 978-3-412-20876-9 .
• Reinhard Breymayer: Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer. A pietistic theologian between Oetinger, Zinzendorf and Goethe. With the solution of a source-critical problem with Karl Barth and an excursus on the importance of virtue doctrine and Biblical summaries for the teaching table in Steinhofer's official town of Teinach . Noûs-Verlag Thomas Leon Heck, Dußlingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-924249-53-3 . - Cf. especially p. 24–30: "Steinhofer and Goethes Umwelt", here p. 25–27 on Zinzendorf's Our Father Song and its resonance mediated by Steinhofer in Goethe's poem Wanderer's Night Song .
• Hermann Ehmer:  Steinhofer, Friedrich Christoph. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 1303-1305.
• Eberhard Fritz: Pietism in Dettingen in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In: Fritz Kalmbach (Ed.): Dettingen / Erms. Dettingen / Erms 1992, pp. 236-256.
• Gerhard glasses: Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer (1706–1761). In Fritz Kalmbach (ed.): Dettingen / Ermst. Dettingen / Erms 1992, pp. 257-272.
• Dietrich Meyer: Steinhofer, Friedrich Christoph. In: Religion Past and Present . 4th ed., Vol. 7 (2004), Col. 1703 f.
• Paul Tschackert :  Maximilian Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 726 f. - The first name "Maximilian" is to be deleted; the attribution was made by mistaking the handwritten abbreviation "Mag.", which stood for Steinhofer's academic degree "Magister", as the abbreviation "Max." read.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ (This date of death can be found in the church book of the Oberstenfeld Abbey. This is the basis for the information provided by Hermann Ehmer: Oberstenfeld Abbey . Jan Thorbecke Verlag der Schwabenverlag AG, Ostfildern 2016, p. 177 with note 324 on p. 239)
2. ↑ See Goethe's letter from Frankfurt am Main of September 8, 1768 to his Leipzig friend Ernst Theodor Langer, in which Goethe reports on the Herrnhut influenced but independent small religious society that Goethe's mother joined: "Das Ebersd [dorfer] . Ges [ang] .B [uch]. Is in great esteem by this community, my mother. Even knows that they are Herrenhuterlieder. Regardless, they think they differ very widely from this community. " Letters Volume 1I, texts, edited by Elke Richter & Georg Kurscheidt, Akademie Verlag Berlin 2008, p. 131, line 24 books.google . - In the story " Confessions of a beautiful soul ", book 6 of his novel Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship , Goethe put an appreciation of the Ebersdorf hymn book into the mouth of Fraulein von Klettenberg that was appropriate to Fraulein von Klettenberg. See Goethe's Neue Schriften. Fifth volume. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1795 . = Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship years. A novel. Edited by Goethe. Third volume . P. 309 books.google .
3. ^ [Nikolaus Ludwig Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf:] "The Lord's Prayer". In: Evangelisches Gesang-Buch [...]. [Ed. by Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer.] The second and enlarged edition. Ebersdorf 1745 , p. 742. - For the first reference to this appeal, see Reinhard Breymayer: Friedrich Christoph Steinhofer (2012), pp. 25–27