Gottfried Schlueter the Elder

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Gottfried Schlueter the Elder (born January 8, 1567 in Wesel , † February 15, 1637 in Oldenburg ) was a German Lutheran theologian and superintendent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the county of Oldenburg .

Life

Schlüter came from a long-established, influential and strict Lutheran family in Wesel. After her mother's death, he came in 1578 to Helmstedt , where he his uncle Tilemann Heshusius (1527-1588), a well-known, for keeping clean the teachings of Luther incoming professor of theology at the local university was given to be a good philosophical and theological formation. In 1588 - at the age of only 21 - Schlüter received a master's degree in theology. He then worked for a short time as vice-principal of the Markus School in Braunschweig , continued his theological training in Helmstedt from 1591 and then went to the philosophical faculty in Königsberg as an assistant for two years . He then became a lecturer in theology in Helmstedt.

In 1597, Duke Julius von Braunschweig , whose father had founded the University of Helmstedt, appointed him superintendent and preacher of the Katharinenkirche in Göttingen. From there he received his doctorate in theology a year later.

In 1607 Count Anton Günther succeeded in persuading Schlueter to move to Oldenburg. On January 5, 1609, he took over his new position as church leader, superintendent, consistorial and church council.

After Hermann Hamelmann and Daniel Stangen (1554–1603), Schlüter was appointed as the third superintendent of the County of Oldenburg after the introduction of the Reformation . He was the first to be appointed by Count Anton Günther.

According to the service instructions, which Anton Günther exercised like all rulers of the time and which was countersigned by Schlüter when he took office, Schlüter had to ensure compliance with the Oldenburg church order of 1573 in churches and schools. Furthermore, he should not publish changes or disputes with theological opponents without the Count's prior knowledge. In the event of grievances, he had to call in the count's bailiffs and drosten, who then had to enforce the Lutheran-Christian way of life with state funds.

Schlueter met all of these requirements. In the county, largely spared by the Thirty Years' War, and a certain prosperity resulting from it, he was also able to act as a patron and ensured that Ludwig Münstermann decorated many churches with baptismal fonts , pulpits and altars and organs could be purchased. On the other hand, the prosperity of the population also led to a lifestyle that was difficult to reconcile with the Lutheran creed. In 1636, Count Anton Günther and Schlüter jointly published an “order of weddings, christenings, funerals, engagements and the like”, in which they called for moderation in “clothes and meals at inns” and warned the population to regularly God for protection to thank before the war.

In accordance with his mandate, Schlüter continued to set up elementary schools where they were missing in the rural communities , and in 1614 with Hermann Velstein issued new regulations for the Latin school in Oldenburg.

Schlueter died in 1637. As a result of the war, his duties were initially carried out by Anton Buscher and Gerhard Langhorst. In 1640, Nikolaus Vismar, a new superintendent was appointed.

family

In 1602 Schlüter married the patrician daughter of Göttingen, Anna von Dranßfeldt. The couple had five children, including their son Gottfried Schlüter (the younger one), who later became a theologian and university professor himself.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Schlueter, Gottfried the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schlueter, Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German logician and Lutheran theologian
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1567
PLACE OF BIRTH Wesel
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1637
Place of death Oldenburg