Gabriel Christoph Benjamin Mosche

Gabriel Christoph Benjamin Mosche, copper engraving, around 1780

Gabriel Christoph Benjamin Mosche (born March 23, 1723 in Großenehrich ; † February 8, 1791 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian .

Life

Mosche was the son of a Protestant pastor and from 1736 attended high school in Gotha . From 1741 he studied at the University of Jena , initially concentrating on Hebrew , mathematics and physics before devoting himself entirely to theology at the insistence of his father . In 1748 he became pastor at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt , where he also held theological lectures at the university from 1754 .

In 1759 he became consistorial advisor and superintendent in Arnstadt . Valued as a preacher, he was very active in caring for the poor by founding an orphanage . He gained supraregional reputation with the publication of the Biblical Friend , a theological weekly newspaper for lay people, which began in 1770 . In 1773 he received his doctorate in theology in Göttingen . In the same year the City Council of Frankfurt am Main appointed him senior , head of the Lutheran Ministry of Preachers .

Mosche introduced a series of reforms in the conservative Frankfurt Church , which adhered to the strict Lutheran orthodoxy , including a simplified order of worship and a new hymn book (1783). He set up a support fund for the widows and orphans of the evangelical pastors in Frankfurt and wrote numerous edification writings. He is considered to be a representative of a rationalist supranaturalism that was open to cautious adjustments of the church to the age of the Enlightenment . The Ministry of Preachers vehemently rejected the construction of the first Frankfurt theater in 1782, on the grounds that "not virtue, but the passion of love is portrayed on the stage and a school of prostitution is formed". However, actors were no longer denied the Lord's Supper , as they were in the middle of the 18th century.

Moshe was tolerant of the other Christian denominations. In 1787, after almost 200 years, the Frankfurt City Council allowed the Reformed to build two churches of their own, the German Reformed Church and the French Reformed Church . The Lutheran clergy had recently been open to the project, while resistance came from the conservative patriciate , which did not want to share its privileges with the wealthy Reformed families.

Almost blind after an illness from 1787, he died surprisingly on February 8, 1791. His successor as senior was Wilhelm Friedrich Hufnagel .

Moshe was married twice. His second marriage, closed in 1766, was his son Christian Julius Wilhelm Mosche .

Works

• Commentatio de anno sexagesimo Judaeis sacro. Jenae 1744.4 °.
• Commentatio de summa summi Numinis sapientia in dilectu legatorum suorum quam maxime conspicua, ad Matth. 11, 25 . Required 1750. 4 °.
• Memorial of the jubilation which took place on the 18th Sunday after Trinit because of the religious peace that was concluded in Augsburg on September 25, 1555 . 1755 in Erfurt and in particular in the evangelical council and preacher church. Erfurt 1755. 8 °.
• Commentatio de contemplatione mortis atque resurrectionis Jesu Christi ad cognoscendum patrem ejusque erga hominis amorem esse efficacissima ad Joh. 14, 7 . ibid. 1758. 4 °.
• The hopes in God as the strength of the weak; a sermon in mourning and remembrance held about Isaiah 40, 31 at the funeral of Dr. TA Lozzen, the evangel. Ministerii Senioris and Pastoris primarii of the Raths- und Predigerkirche in Erfurt. Ibid 1758. 4 °.
• The most blessed confirmation of the teachers and listeners before their separation, in a farewell sermon on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphan. about Rom. 12, 7-10 in Erfurt. Ibid 1759. 4 °.
• Commentatio de reditu Christi in vitam, futuro ipsius ad judicium extremum exercendum reditui fidem et fundamentum, adjungente, ad Actor. 17, 31 . Arnstadi 1759. 4 °.
• The worthy conduct of those to whom the Prince of Peace calls out: Peace be with you! - A sermon on the Feast of Peace and Thanksgiving on Sunday Quasimodogeniti 1763 on Ps. 102, 18-21 held in Arnstadt. Ibid, 1763. 4 °.
• The purposes of God in the conjugal relations of those who were only strangers and unknown to one another; a wedding speech. Arnstadt 1765. 4 °.
• Catechetical instructions for the knowledge of salvation in Christ, ibid 1767. 2nd edition. Ibid 1771.
• Triplex, quo S. Paulus Rome. 8, 19–25 immensam atque incomparabilem gloriae coelestis magnitudinem confirmat, argumentum illustrat . Ibid. 1768. 4 °.
• The Bible Friend, a weekly publication. Arnstadt u. Frankfurt a. M. 1770-1779. 6 parts. 8 °.
• The duty of Christians to praise God while they live; a sermon on the 14th Sunday. after Trin. Held at Arnstadt in 1770. Arnstadt 1770. 8 °.
• The destiny of man for eternity, from the imperfection of all earthly happiness; a funeral speech. Ibid. 1770. Folio.
• Three sermons on the glory of God in the kingdom of nature, ibid. 1771., 8 °.
• The consolation of the pious in the theuration; a sermon. Ibid.
• Silence and hope as two reliable means of conveying the true strength of the spirit; a funeral speech. Ibid. 1771. 8 °.
• The equally great and undeniable influence of Christianity in the happiness of marriage; a wedding speech. Even. 1772. 4 °.
• Collection of some prayers which the orphanage children in Arnstadt send to God in the morning, at noon and in the evening, as well as on other occasions. Even. 1772. 8 °.
• God's purposes in separating those who love one another; a farewell sermon about the gospel. Luc. 7, 11-17, the 16th trinite. Held in Arnstadt in 1773. Even. 1773. 8 °.
• Specimen inaugurale theologicum de theologia populari . Gottingae 1773. 4 °.
• Two reasons why servants of Christ can confidently and joyfully preach his gospel in large churches; Inaugural sermon in Frankfurt a. M. the 20th Trin. Maintained in 1773 on Ps. 40, 10-12. Frankf. 1773. 8 °.
• Collection of some sermons on the glory of God in nature. Even. 1774. 8 °. 2nd edition. Even. 1783. 8 °.
• Explanation of the Sunday and holiday epistles. Frankfurt u. Leipzig 1774 8 °. 2nd edition. Ibid 1780, 3rd Ibid 1788-1790, 2 parts, 8 °.
• The intentions of God in the glorification of his grace, of which he honors the teachers of the Gospel of Jesus, from 2 Corinth. 4, 7; a sermon of joy and s. w. Ibid 1775, 8 °.
• Excerpts from his sermons from 1775 to 1789. Frankfurt a. M. 1775 to 1789 (15 volumes), 8 °.
• Notes on the Sunday and holiday epistles. Ibid. 1776 to 1777, 2 parts, 8 °
• Sermons on all Sundays and feast days throughout the year, about instructive and important testimonies of the Holy Scriptures. Arnstadt 1776. 8 °.
• First news from the, for the good of the Evangelical Lutheran preachers in Frankfurt a. M. bequeathed widows and orphans bequeathed legates and sent gifts, as well as the arrangement and the current state of the widow's fund. Frankfurt 1777. 8 °.
• Contributions to the defense of the resurrection story of Jesus against the latest objections. Ibid, 1779. 8 °.
• Sermon at the inauguration of the new church in Bornheim . Ibid, 1779. 8 °.
• Sermon at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Frankfurt poor and orphanage. Ibid, 1779. 8 °.
• Collection of some casual sermons and speeches. Ibid. 1780. 8 °.
• Continued contributions to the defense of the resurrection story of Jesus etc. s. w. Frankfurt 1780. 8 °.
• Talk at the baptism of two Jewish students: Jesus as the price of the people of Israel, about Luc. 2, 32. Ibid. 1781. 8 °.
• Explanation of all Sunday and feast day gospels. Frankfurt u. Leipzig 1781–1783. 3 parts. 8 °.
• Explanation of the passion of Jesus Christ. Ibid 1785–1786. 2 parts, 8 °.
• Collection of those Psalms and other chapters taken from the Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, which are read during the daily prayer hours. Frankfurt 1789. 8 °.
• Commemorative sermon for Emperor Joseph II , delivered on Judica Sundays on Genesis 50, 24. Ibid. 1790. 8 °.
• Sermons at the election and coronation of Leopold II.

literature

• Christian Julius Wilhelm Mosche: Gabriel Christoph Benjamin Mosches… Character and writings. With a preface by Wilhelm Friedrich Hufnagel. Frankfurt 1792 ( digitized version ).
• Heinrich Döring : The German pulpit speakers of the 18th century. Depicted according to their life and work . Johann Karl Gottfried Wagner, Neustadt ad Orla 1830, p. 233–238 ( digitized in the Google book search).
• lu:  Mosche, Gabriel Christoph Benjamin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 344 f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Dechent , The early days of the Enlightenment in Frankfurt am Main , in: Festgabe für Friedrich Clemens Ebrard , Frankfurt am Main 1920, p. 91ff. Printed in Jürgen Telschow (Ed.), I still saw them, the old days. Contributions to the history of the church in Frankfurt , series of publications of the Evangelical Regional Association Frankfurt am Main No. 11 (1985), ISBN 3-922179-10-X .

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Jakob Plitt	Senior of the Ministry of Preachers in Frankfurt am Main 1773–1791	Wilhelm Friedrich Hufnagel