Georg Spenlein

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georg Spenlein (* around 1486; † 1563 in Wüllersleben ) was a German Augustinian hermit and Lutheran pastor.

education

As a member of the Wittenberg Augustinian Convention, Spenlein studied at the university there (matriculation 1512: "Frater Georgius Spelen Augustinianus"). After moving to the Augustinian monastery in Memmingen , he received a pastoral letter from his Wittenberg confrere Martin Luther . (This letter, written on April 8, 1516, is often used as testimony to Luther's self-image as a monk.)

In 1520 Spenlein resigned from the Memmingen monastery and studied at the University of Erfurt .

Parish activity

Georg Spenlein received a letter of recommendation from Philipp Melanchthon to Friedrich Myconius in May 1529 to take up a pastor's position in Creuzburg on the Werra. There, through polemical attacks in his sermons, he repeatedly raised sections of the population, especially from the craftsmen, against himself and lived in constant conflict with the city council. Finally he was expelled from Creuzburg by the bailiff Georg von Harstall and came to Graefenhainichen ; In a letter from Melanchthon to Myconius on January 29, 1543, we learn that Luther and Melanchthon had agreed on this question and recommended Spenlein to return to his pastorate. Luther himself had initially approved a change of pastor's position because he had received the information that Spenlein had "gone wrong". After the two visitators sent to the congregation gave Spenlein a good testimony, Luther agreed with their assessment that anger about sermons was no reason to drive Spenlein away.

Instead, Spenlein became a pastor in Arnstadt in 1544 and is attested as pastor in Wüllersleben from 1553, where he also died. After Arnstadt, Luther wrote him another letter on June 17, 1544, about a conflict between Spenlein's deacon and a certain Simon.

literature

  • Thuringian Pastors' Book. Volume 2. Degener, Neustadt an der Aisch 1997, p. 370 (not evaluated).
  • Hans-Eberhard Dietrich: Against church robbery and yackers. Luther's rejection of a forced transfer of pastors. In: Deutsches Pfarrerblatt . 2008, H. 10, pp. 141-159 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Eduard Förstemann (ed.): Album Academiae Vitebergensis . tape 1 . Tauchnitz, Leipzig 1841, p. 41 ( digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Melanchthon's Correspondence - Regesten online (No. 779). Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
  3. ^ A b Hans-Eberhard Dietrich: Against church robbery and yapper. Retrieved February 1, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Melanchthon's Correspondence - Regesten online (No. 3155). Retrieved February 2, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Spenlein, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Augustinian hermit and Lutheran pastor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1486
DATE OF DEATH 1563
Place of death Wüllersleben