Friedrich Wilhelm Mascho

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Friedrich Wilhelm Mascho († October 31, 1784 ) was a German theologian and teacher. He wrote reformatory writings relating to school lessons and between 1778 and 1779 took part in the debate about the Reimarus fragments published by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing between 1774 and 1778 ( fragments dispute ).

Life

Friedrich Wilhelm Mascho came from Liebno (Neumark). His date of birth is unknown. Mascho's father and stepfather were preachers in his hometown. After studying theology in Halle, Mascho moved to Hamburg. There he ran for the ministry on November 22, 1755. In 1756 Mascho was appointed school rector in Bergedorf. After he was appointed to Ruppin in 1775, he gave up the position of Rector there in 1778 for health reasons and returned to Hamburg. Mascho became a teacher at the Passmann school for the poor in 1781 , but gave up this position after three years. Mascho committed suicide on October 31, 1784 .

Mascho wrote Reformation writings on school and religious instruction. Particularly noteworthy, however, is his interference in the dispute over the Reimarus fragments critical of the Revelation , which Gotthold Ephraim Lessing published from 1774 (fragments dispute ).

Classification in the fragments dispute

With regard to the fragments dispute, Friedrich Wilhelm Mascho published in 1778 the “Defense of the revealed Christian religion against some fragments from the Wolfenbüttel library”. In 1779 he dealt again with the Reimarus fragments in the second part of the "Defense of the revealed Christian religion (...)". Lessing became aware of Mascho's writing through a positive review published on March 9, 1778 in the Altona "Beytrag zum Reichs-Postreuther" and on March 17, 1778 in the 71st piece of the Hamburg "Voluntary Additions to the Hamburg News from the Realm of Scholarship “Appeared. Lessing incorrectly attributed the review to Johann Melchior Goeze . This is probably the reason why Lessing listed Mascho's views in his 1st Anti-Goeze (1777) as “false doctrines”. In his reply Lessing was directed more to Goeze than to Mascho. The latter finally shares some of Lessing's views. Lessing did not go into Mascho again in the further course of the fragmentation dispute.

Defense of the revealed Christian religion

content

Mascho's writing is not only aimed at theologians, but above all at educated lay people. He formulates his arguments in a way that is easy to understand and avoids harsh polemics. Instead of treating or refuting the individual theses and arguments of the Reimarus fragments individually, Mascho refers more to something more general. In his opinion, the views explained in the fragments are out of date, which for him indicates that the fragments cannot have come from the contemporary critics of Christianity. Mascho is referring here above all to the view that every word in the Bible comes from God himself and was given to the authors through divine inspiration and the consequent infallibility of the Holy Scriptures. For Mascho, the rejection of revelation is a consequence of rash clinging to the outdated system of divine inspiration. Mascho formulates extremely modern Christian views in his writing: He does not doubt the revelation, but speaks out against the literal interpretation of the Bible.

The preliminary report

In the “preliminary report”, Mascho explains to the reader how he got the fragments. Allegedly, a friend had become very insecure after reading the fragments and asked him to write “some additions to refute the fragments”. Then Mascho names the "main mistake" Reimarus'. This is about the "abuse of that system of divine inspiration in the Bible." In order to expose this main error, Mascho calls the Bible passage Matt. 5.18 / Luc. 16/17: "It was said that Jesus Christ, mouth of truth, had taught it himself". According to Mascho, Jesus could speak “tropical”, i.e. in metaphors and images, just as well as any other person.

Next, Mascho deals with the requirement that the Hebrew Bibles should remain unadulterated. The followers of this system, to whom Mascho does not count, refer to Matthew 5:18: “Amen, I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass, not even the smallest letter of the law will pass before everything has happened. "And Luc 16:17:" But heaven and earth will sooner pass away than even the smallest letter in the law will be omitted. " smallest letter of the law ”is replaced. Mascho refers to Siegmund Jacob Baumgärtner , who in his "Investigation of Theological Disputes" published 1762–1764 declared that "Tuttles of the Law" did not mean the Hebrew vowel points , but only the smallest, the "smallest pieces of (...) Biblical teaching" .

Mascho then mentions a broad thesis by Baumgärtner: “It would actually harm neither the divinity nor the inefficiency of the holy scriptures if one were to be compelled to admit errors in chronological, geographical and historical details, since the authors wrote such things from memory . It would only follow from this that divine revelation does not extend to these pieces, and that God has left the historical knowledge of the biblical authors as he has found them. ”Furthermore, it is possible“ that by the mistake of the copyists and through the length of time, individual sections of the Bible can become faulty, illegible and unusable. "

Ultimately, Mascho recognizes in Reimarus' views the “need to correct and improve religious instruction”: “In the world of our God everything is good; but not everything is recognized correctly, and therefore not everything is considered good, properly used and valued. "

Works

  • "A short draft of the Christian religion for teaching the pensive youth, made for a society in Berlin and handed over to print for further charitable use." (Hamburg 1770) also published under the title “Instructions for the knowledge of the Christian religion, for teaching the pensive youth , previously set up for a Berlin society. "(Hamburg, 1777)
  • “A short answer to the question: how is the youth in schools most reliably prepared for university? set up for a company in Saxony. "(Hall 1771)
  • "Proposals on how to organize religious instruction for young people were made for a Berlin society." (Hall 1771)
  • "Extensive instruction that there is a god." (Hall 1772)
  • "Lessons from the biblical tropes and characters communicated to the students through the print." (In Dutch 1773; Utrecht 1780)
  • "Thoughts about the improvement of German schools, especially in the country, are handed over to human friends for examination." (Hall 1774)
  • “Defense of the revealed Christian religion against some fragments from the Wolfenbüttel library. 1st piece. "(Hamburg 1778; 2nd piece Hamburg 1779)
  • "Illumination of the latest attacks on the religion of Jesus, especially the scriptures: of the purpose of Jesus and his disciples." (Hamburg 1778)
  • "Suggestions for a school improvement." (Hamburg 1780)
  • "Writing concerning the lessons for teachers in German schools." (Hamburg 1780)
  • "Sermons from religion and from holy scriptures." (2nd edition Hamburg 1780)

Links and sources

personal data
SURNAME Mascho, Friedrich Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and teacher
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century or 18th century
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1784