Johannes Bünderlin

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Johannes Bünderlin (also Johannes Wunderle , Hans Wynnderl , Hans Fischer , Hans Vischer ; * probably around 1498/1499, † after 1539 ) was an Austrian theologian. He turned away from the Catholic faith and turned to the Reformation . He later joined the Anabaptist movement . Finally he separated from the Anabaptists and developed his own spiritualistic teaching.

Life

Bünderlin came from St. Peter near Linz . He was probably born around 1498/1499. He was named Fischer or Vischer after his father's profession. Nothing is known about his youth. Presumably he attended the Latin school in his hometown. On September 19, 1515 he was accepted as a student in the artist faculty at the University of Vienna . There he completed the study of the artes liberales with the acquisition of the degree of a baccalaureus , whereby in December 1518 he had to request a deferment of the examination fee; exemption from the fee was approved on January 3, 1519. Then Bünderlin worked as a Catholic priest in Upper Austria . In the following years, however, he converted to the Reformation. Around 1526 he was a clerk in the service of the Protestant nobleman Bartholomäus von Starhemberg and worked as a Lutheran preacher. During a stay in Augsburg he joined the radical Reformation Anabaptist movement and received the baptism of believers . For some time he led an Anabaptist congregation, probably in Linz. At the beginning of 1528 he left Upper Austria. He went to Nikolsburg in Moravia , where he took up a preaching activity with Leonhard von Liechtenstein, Lord of Nikolsburg. Leonhard was a supporter and protector of the Anabaptist movement.

Around the end of 1528 or beginning of 1529 Bünderlin went to Strasbourg . There he was in contact with other dissidents , including the Silesian reformer Kaspar Schwenckfeld , the spiritualist writer Sebastian Franck , the Baptist Wilhelm Reublin and the theologian Christian Entfelder . Bünderlin was arrested twice in Strasbourg. On March 16, 1529, he and other Anabaptists were interrogated.

In the years 1529 and 1530 Bünderlin published four papers in Strasbourg in which he formulated his ideas. Balthasar Beck, who was open to radical Reformation ideas and who later also published Franck's Chronica, Zeitbuch and Geschichtbibel, took care of the printing . Due to the explosive nature of the content, the name of the printer was omitted; Beck's printing company can only be identified from the types . The views that Bünderlin represented in his three writings printed in 1529 largely agree with the Anabaptist doctrine, at least they contain no open criticism of it. In the fourth book, published in 1530, dealing with baptism, however, he resolutely rejected water baptism and thus distanced himself from Anabaptism. In July 1531 one of his writings was severely condemned by the Strasbourg censors after he had already left the city.

Bünderlin spent some time in Constance in 1529/1530 , whose reformer Johannes Zwick initially welcomed him benevolently. However, Zwick consulted the reformer Johannes Oekolampad , who wrote a letter against Bünderlin on January 3, 1530. Then Bünderlin lost Zwick's trust and left the city.

In 1531 Bünderlin is said to have participated in the dispute between Lutheran and spiritualist reformers in the Duchy of Prussia , but his research stay there is doubted. In any case, on August 16, 1532, a ducal order was issued in Prussia that forbade him and other Anabaptists from entering the country.

Bünderlin is last documented by sources in 1539. At that time he was in Ulm , where he unsuccessfully supported Schwenckfeld in his conflict with Lutheran Martin Frecht . The statement in older reference works that he was executed in May 1533 is therefore incorrect. His further fate is unknown.

Teaching

Bünderlin's theology is strongly influenced by the teaching of the dissident Hans Denck . In its fully developed form, it largely corresponds to Sebastian Franck's spiritualistic concept. Bünderlin considers all rites and ceremonies , including baptism, to be unnecessary to achieve salvation . He believes that the divine commission to practice baptism and the Lord's Supper was only given to the apostles and became obsolete with their death. There is no divine mandate for a continuation of the rites. Bünderlin replaces the external cult with an internal religious practice that does not require any external signs. This also makes the church superfluous as an institution. Bünderlin relativizes the meaning of the biblical revelation , the wording of which is contradictory; some of the content cannot be taken literally, but can only be grasped through symbolic interpretation. The purpose of the Holy Scriptures is only to introduce the reader into himself , into the kingdom of God that is within himself. In himself man finds the “inner word” or the inner Christ. In this divine presence, Bünderlin sees the only authoritative religious authority. The historical Christ was only made aware of Bünderlins understanding the people that came before them. His act of redemption is not to be understood as the historical act of death on the cross, but to be understood purely spiritually: it is a process of deification of man, which he himself drives forward with free will. The historical Christ pointed out the divine fullness which, as in him, is inherent in every human being and can be realized. The miracles that he performed belong, like the rites, to the outward signs that are not essential to salvation. For Bünderlin, true faith is not based on knowledge of the Bible and participation in the sacraments , but on the fact that man surrenders to God's will, which he perceives directly in his heart. Based on this understanding of faith, Bünderlin advocates tolerance in matters of faith.

According to Bünderlin's teaching, God first brought forth angels and then men out of himself . God does not change and has no emotions. His will to redeem applies to all people, including the heathen who lived before Christ and the Catholics who are trapped in the papacy and take part in ceremonies such as mass , which from Bünderlin's point of view are blasphemous. Hence, people to whom the gospel has never been preached, as well as members of various Christian communities, can be saved.

reception

Sebastian Franck expressed his admiration for Bünderlin. In 1531 he sent his like-minded Johannes Campanus a letter from Bünderlin with a letter in which he praised the author: He was a dead man of the world, a sensible scholar and powerful interpreter of the Bible who had recognized the error of the “scribes”, especially Luther , who believed in letters .

With his demand to forego all ceremonies and church structures, Bünderlin separated from the Anabaptist movement. He met with strong opposition from the Anabaptists. Pilgram Marpeck , a spokesman for the Anabaptists, made a name for himself as an opponent of unorganized Christianity without ceremonies. He saw in Bünderlin a seducer and destroyer of Anabaptism.

Editions and translations

  • A common calculation about the holy scriptures is made in the same natural mind. Strasbourg 1529. Digitized
  • Except what causes God in the nyder is left and human in Christ. Strasbourg 1529
  • Claude R. Foster, Wilhelm Jerosch (translator): The Reason Why God Descended and Became Man in Christ, through Whom, and How, He Atoned for and Restored Man's Fall and Man Himself through the Messiah Whom He Sent. By Johannes Bünderlin of Linz. In: The Mennonite Quarterly Review 42, 1968, pp. 260–284 (English translation)
  • A common inlay in the Aygent understanding of Mosi and the prophets. Strasbourg 1529
  • Declaration by comparison of the biblical written that the water baptism sampt other uterine customs, practiced in the apostolic churches, on God's charm and testimony of the scriptures from some of this time is rejected. [Strasbourg] 1530. Digitized

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the name see Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin von Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355–370, here: 356.
  2. ↑ James MacLean: Jean Buenderlin, théoricien du christianisme non-institutionnel. In: Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses 57, 1977, pp. 149–166, here: 156.
  3. ↑ Ulrich Gäbler, however, expresses doubts about the stay in Augsburg, as evidenced by sources: Johannes Bünderlin von Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355–370, here: p. 360 and note 26.
  4. ^ Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin of Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355–370, here: 357–361; Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin . In: André Séguenny (Ed.): Bibliotheca dissidentium , Vol. 3, Baden-Baden 1982, pp. 9–42, here: 9, 13.
  5. ^ François Ritter: Alsatian printer in the service of the Strasbourg sect movements at the time of the Reformation. In: Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1963, pp. 97–108, here: 98.
  6. ^ François Ritter: Alsatian printer in the service of the Strasbourg sect movements at the time of the Reformation. In: Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1963, pp. 97-108, here: 98-100. On Bünderlin's separation from Anabaptism, see Paul Brand: Standing Still or Running On? In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 62, 2011, pp. 20–37, here: 24–26.
  7. ^ Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin of Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355–370, here: 365 f.
  8. ^ Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin of Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355-370, here: 367 f.
  9. ↑ James MacLean: Jean Buenderlin, théoricien du christianisme non-institutionnel. In: Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses 57, 1977, pp. 149–166, here: 161; Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin from Linz. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96, 1980, pp. 355–370, here: 368–370 and note 68.
  10. ↑ See also Claude R. Foster: Hans Denck and Johannes Bünderlin: A Comparative Study. In: The Mennonite Quarterly Review 39, 1965, pp. 115-124.
  11. ↑ See on this teaching by Siegfried Wollgast : Sebastian Franck's theological-philosophical conceptions. Aspects. In: Siegfried Wollgast (Ed.): Contributions to the 500th birthday of Sebastian Franck (1499–1542) , Berlin 1999, pp. 15–87, here: 28–30; Klaus Deppermann: Sebastian Franck's stay in Strasbourg. In: Jan-Dirk Müller (Ed.): Sebastian Franck (1499–1542) , Wiesbaden 1993, pp. 103–118, here: 109 f .; James MacLean: Jean Buenderlin, théoricien du christianisme non-institutionnel. In: Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses 57, 1977, pp. 149–166.
  12. ^ Ulrich Gäbler: Johannes Bünderlin . In: André Séguenny (Ed.): Bibliotheca dissidentium , Vol. 3, Baden-Baden 1982, pp. 9–42, here: 28 f., 31.
  13. ^ Sebastian Franck: Letter to Johannes Campanus. In: Manfred Krebs, Hans Georg Rott (ed.): Sources for the history of the Anabaptists. Vol. 7: Alsace , Part 1: City of Strasbourg 1522–1532 , Gütersloh 1959, pp. 301–325, here: 317–320 (German translation of the lost Latin text after the edition from 1563). Cf. Christoph Dejung: Truth and Heresy , Zurich 1980, p. 188.
  14. ↑ See on Marpeck's view Stephen B. Boyd: Pilgram Marpeck. His Life and Social Theology , Mainz 1992, pp. 59, 84-90.
personal data
SURNAME Bünderlin, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johannes Wunderle; Hans Wynnderl; Hans Fischer; Hans Vischer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Baptist and spiritualist
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: around 1498–1499
DATE OF DEATH after 1539