Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz

Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz

Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz (born March 9, 1729 in Berlin , † October 30, 1806 in Buckau in the monastery of St. John the Baptist on the Mountain ) was abbot, educator and educational politician during the Enlightenment period . He is considered a representative of the Enlightenment and theological rationalism .

Life

Resewitz initially graduated from the Joachimsthal High School in Berlin from 1740 to 1747 . From 1747 to 1750 he studied Protestant theology in Halle (Saale) . Here he heard lectures by the theologian Sigmund Jakob Baumgarten and the philosopher Georg Friedrich Meier .

From 1750 he was employed as the travel preacher of Prince Friedrich August von Anhalt-Zerbst , with whom he stayed in Paris for a year until 1751 . From 1755 he lived as a private scholar in Berlin and became a member of the learned coffee house society . It was probably during this time that I made contact with the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and the publisher Friedrich Nicolai . In 1757 he became pastor in Quedlinburg at the St. Benedict Church . In Quedlinburg he met Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , with whom he was close friends. In 1759 he translated four essays by the Scottish philosopher David Hume into German. He began working as a reviewer , from 1764 to 1765 for the publication Letters, concerning the latest literature , then until 1780 for the General German Library edited by Nicolai , where he was in charge of theology.

In 1767 he was elected preacher of the German-speaking Sankt-Petri-Kirche in Copenhagen , where he set up a royal secondary school in 1771 in connection with Johann Friedrich Struensee's reform program . He was one of the friends of the Nordic circle of poets . In addition to Klopstock, he was also in regular contact with Johann Andreas Cramer , Gottfried Benedict Funk and Johann Heinrich Schlegel . Even after Struensee's fall, Resewitz was involved in social affairs in Copenhagen. In collaboration with Balthasar Münter , he reformed the urban school and poor system. Later he was appointed director of the Copenhagen poor affairs.

His reform pedagogical work: The education of the citizen to use common sense and to non-profit business (1773), with which he made an essential contribution to the development of secondary schools, caused a sensation. Resewitz was considered a representative of the Enlightenment and was committed to theological rationalism. The Prussian minister Karl Abraham Freiherr von Zedlitz appointed him abbot of the Berge monastery and general superintendent of the Duchy of Magdeburg in 1774 . In 1775 he took up his new office. In managing the monastery and running its famous school, however, Resewitz was not as happy as one had expected. After various disputes and a school visit, he had to resign at the end of 1796 from the management of the school and the associated teachers' college. Resewitz remained abbot, however.

Among other things, Resewitz also published the quarterly educational publication, suggestions, thoughts and wishes for improving public education (5 volumes, 1777–85; 2nd edition 1798), in which Peter Villaume also published contributions.

Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz was married to Charlotte Godeffroy (1735 (?) - 1806 (?)). From the marriage:

• Johanna Dorothea Charlotte (1763–1833) ∞ Johann Wilhelm von Ernest (1741–1817), Royal Prussian Major General
• Sophia (* 1764).

Works

• Translation by: David Hume, Vier Abhandlungen , Quedlinburg and Leipzig: Biesterfeld, 1759, reprint Bristol: Thoemmes, 2001 [The reception of British aesthetics in Germany, ed. by Heiner F. Klemme and Manfred Kuehn, vol. 3]
• Kant, I .: The only possible evidence for a demonstration of the existence of God. Königsberg: Kanter 1763. [Review], in: Letters, the latest literature regarding 18 (1764), pp. 69–86, pp. 87–102
• About the provision of the poor , 1769 [New ed. and commented by Ralf Koerrenz and Christian Walter. Jena 2011]
• Educating the Citizen to Use Common Sense and Community Service , 1773
• News of the current arrangement in teaching, teaching methods and education at the Pädagogio zu Berge monastery , 1776
• Thoughts, Suggestions and Desires for Improving Public Education as Educational Materials , 5 volumes, 1778 to 1786

Secondary literature

• Directory of part of the library of Mr. Friedrich Gabr. Resewitz , Abbot of Klosterberge, along with an appendix of many good books from all sciences, maps and copperplate engravings, which are to be auctioned off to the public on May 22nd, 1797 in the red college. Lüper Leipzig.

literature

• Uwe Förster: Resewitz, Friedrich Gabriel. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
• Ralf Koerrenz: Education - Religion - Subsidiarity. Orientation in Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz 'book "Ueber die poor". In: Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz: About the supply of the poor. Edited and commented by Ralf Koerrenz and Christian Walter. Jena 2011 (Pedagogical Reform in Quellen Vol. 11), pp. 9–32
• Martin Wiehle : Magdeburg personalities. Published by the Magistrate of the City of Magdeburg, Department of Culture. imPuls Verlag, Magdeburg 1993, ISBN 3-910146-06-6 .
• Hugo Holstein :  Resewitz, Friedrich Gabriel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 28, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 241–245.

Web links

Wikisource: Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Upbringing the Citizen to Use Common Sense and Charitable Activity, 1776 (PDF file; 165 kB)
• Waldemar Kawerau, Friedrich Gabriel Riesewitz, a contribution to the history of the German Enlightenment , history sheets for the city and state of Magdeburg, 20th year, 1885, published by the Magdeburg History Association (digitized)