Gottfried Gesius

Engraving by Joachim Wichmann

Gottfried Gesius (also Gese ; born August 4 or 9, 1608 in Müncheberg ; † September 2, 1679 in Hamburg ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and pastor .

Live and act

Gottfried Gesius studied theology and oriental languages ​​from 1627 to 1632 at the University of Wittenberg and the University of Rostock . From 1634 or 1637 he worked as court preacher at the seat of the Danish Crown Prince in Copenhagen . In 1647 he followed a call as chief pastor at the main church St. Nikolai in Hamburg. Around this time, political conflicts arose in the Hanseatic city over Jews living in Hamburg, led by Johannes Müller . Gesius positioned himself extremely radical and anti-Semitic in sermons. He thus became one of the most important supporters of Müller. In his speeches, he described Jews as "vermin" that should be expelled from Hamburg. He also opposed the council's policy, whose requests to restrain him no more than threatened punitive measures. Even during his lifetime, observers noted that the inflammatory sermons promoted the popular hostility towards Jews. This culminated in 1649 when the Ashkenazi Jews were expelled from Hamburg.

In 1672 Gesius took over the office of senior of the Hamburg clergy in addition to his pastoral office , which he held until his death. In November 1672 he got into a dispute with the Hamburg council. The subject of the conflict was a synagogue built by Sephardic Jews on the Old Wall . Gesius called the synagogue a "school of Satan". However, the council and the Sephardic Jews viewed it as a residence. Gesius, who spoke out strongly against the establishment, referred to numerous anti-Jewish writings of his predecessor Johannes Müller. Internal divisions between the council and the citizenry benefited him. In the course of the conflict, Gesius brought the latently anti-Jewish citizens of Hamburg to his side, also through his sermons. In January 1673, the council bowed to pressure and anti-Jewish sentiment and ordered the synagogue to be demolished.

Although Gesius was considered a good speaker when he was elected pastor, he did not meet the expectations placed in him. The reasons for this are not known. Well-known publications are funeral sermons for King Gustav Adolf from 1640 and for the Danish Crown Prince in 1647. In 1652 Gesius wrote an eulogy for the senior pastor Jacob Grosse (1592-1652). He also spoke on October 21, 1657 at the inauguration of the new tower of St. Nikolaikirche.

family

Bartholomäus Gesius (1562–1613), cantor and composer, was an uncle of Gottfried Gesius. Gottfried Gesius had a daughter named Engel. On February 18, 1661, she became the wife of Hieronymus Müller, who was a son of Johannes Müller and preached at St. Nikolaikirche.

literature

• Jutta Braden: Gesius, Gottfried . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 2 . Christians, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 , pp. 144-145 .