Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack

Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack, engraving by Johann Heinrich Lips

Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack (born September 4, 1738 in Magdeburg , † October 2, 1817 in Berlin ) was a Reformed theologian.

Life

Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack was the eldest son from the second marriage of August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack , his sister was Antoinette Bamberger . In 1740 the family moved to Berlin, where he later attended the Joachimsthal Gymnasium . In addition, he attended Karl Wilhelm Ramler's lectures on Batteux, the mineralogical lectures of the preacher Woltersdorf and learned the old and newer languages.

At his father's request, he studied theology at the Reformed State University in Frankfurt (Oder) . Here he was fascinated by the lectures by Paul Ernst Jablonski (1693–1757) on church history and dogmatics and by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten by the mathematical and philosophical lectures. He was critical of church dogmatics. The Wolffian David Samuel Daniel Wyttenbach rather repelled him.

In autumn 1757 he passed his theological exam in Berlin. After a trip through Holland and England he was commissioned to teach Wilhelmine (the sister of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and later wife of the Prince of Orange) - against which, however, Frederick the Great raised an objection.

In 1769 he became a preacher of the German Reformed congregation in Magdeburg , and in 1777 5th court and cathedral preacher in Berlin. After the death of his father in 1786 he became the first court preacher and took over his position as senior consistorial advisor. In this position he promoted Friedrich Schleiermacher . Through numerous promemoria and an influential publication in 1812, he advocated the unification of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, which came about shortly after his death through the call for union . 1816 appointed King Friedrich Wilhelm III. him honorary bishop.

Memorial stone on the Berlin Cathedral Cemetery II

Sack was married to Johanna born in 1770. Spalding (1753–1832; daughter of the Berlin provost Johann Joachim Spalding , 1714–1804). The marriage had eight children. Of the sons, Friedrich Ferdinand Adolf (1788–1842) was also court and cathedral preacher in Berlin, and Karl Heinrich professor of theology in Bonn. The eldest son Wilhelm Friedrich (1772-1854) was Chief President of the Upper Tribunal in Berlin. The daughter Friederike Henriette (1781–1852) married a senior government councilor; the theologian Wilhelm Heinrich Erbkam comes from the marriage . The daughter Eleonore Philippine Amalie (1783–1862) was the wife of the later Minister of Education, Johann Albrecht Friedrich von Eichhorn, and mother of the district president of Minden in the Prussian province of Westphalia, Hermann von Eichhorn .

Works (selection)

• Letters about the war . Berlin 1778 (anonymous)
• Official speeches on various important occasions . Berlin 1804
• Autobiography . In: Portraits of Berlin scholars now living with their autobiographies, Collection 2 No. 3. (1806), pp. 3–47.
• About the unification of the two Protestant church parties in the Prussian monarchy . 1812.

literature

• Thomas K. Kuhn : August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack (1703–1786) and Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack (1738–1817). Religious enlightenment in association with the generations. In: Albrecht Beutel (Ed.): Protestantism in Prussia. Life pictures from his history. Vol. 1: From the 17th century to the call for union in 1817. Hansisches Druck- und Verlagshaus, Leipzig 2009, pp. 261–285.
• Siegfried Lommatzsch:  Sack, Friedrich Samuel Gottfried . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 307-315.
• Mark Pockrandt: Biblical Enlightenment. Biography and theology of the Berlin court preachers August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack (1703–1786) and Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack (1738–1817) (= works on church history. Vol. 86). De Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-017836-2 (also: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diss., 2002).
• J. Jürgen Seidel :  Sack, Friedrich Samuel Gottfried. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1161-1162.
• Christopher Spehr: The Magdeburg Neologentreffen in 1770. In: Albrecht Beutel, Volker Leppin , Udo Sträter (ed.): Christianity in transition. New studies on church and religion in the Enlightenment period (= work on church and theological history. Vol. 19). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2006, pp. 87-102.
• The Silver Book of the Sack family (= German Family Archives . Vol. 73). 4th edition. Degener, Neustadt ad Aisch 1980, ISBN 3-7686-5046-4 , pp. 282-288.