Heinrich Corrodi

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Johann Heinrich Corrodi (born July 31, 1752 in Zurich ; † September 14, 1793 there ) was a Swiss Protestant theologian , philosopher and educator . He was considered an important representative of Swiss Enlightenment theology .

Life

Heinrich Corrodi was the son of the Reformed theologian Hans Jakob Corrodi (March 17, 1719 in Zurich; † December 16, 1784 ibid) and his wife Susanne (born November 6, 1721 in Zurich; † April 24, 1772 ibid), daughter of Hans Heinrich Kambli (1685–1754), carpenter, born. He was the second oldest child of his parents, his five siblings all died before him.

He received his first lessons from his father and from 1768 attended Johann Jakob Steinbrüchel's private high school in Zurich. There he went through the lower philosophical class and was transferred to the philosophical class in the following year 1769.

Because he felt under-challenged, he started working through the Leibnitz-Wolff system on his own . This had a decisive influence on his philosophical outlook and significantly shook his position on ecclesiastical teachings such as the Trinity and the sacrificial death of Christ . As a result, he had fierce internal struggles since he was transferred to the theological class in 1771, so that, after an unsuccessful examination sermon, he temporarily sank into deep melancholy.

Rector Steinbrüchel, who had recognized his talent, was able to obtain admission to another examination sermon at the church council ; After passing this sermon Heinrich Corrodi received church ordination as a candidate for theology in 1775 . He was now to complete his theology studies with Johann Salomo Semler in Halle , who gave lectures in the spirit of Heinrich Corrodi. His father initially refused permission to do so because he feared that his son would lose sight of his father's theology, which was characterized by mysticism and pietism . Rector Steinbrüchel then asked the idyllic poet Salomon Gessner for help; he asked his father ... where else should your son keep all the blinds better than in Halle, in the city where the famous orphanage is, where Spener and Francke are in unforgettable memories? . Then the father gave in, so that Heinrich Corrodi could start the journey. Steinbrüchel was able to win the bookstore Orell, Geßner, Füßli & Co. to cover the costs of studying in some German universities. In return, Corrodi should deal with bookselling and literary matters, e.g. B. Proofreading, support.

On the way to Halle he temporarily studied philosophy at the University of Leipzig with Ernst Platner , with whom he also met privately. There he tried to improve his stylistic representation by studying the German language. Then he went to the University of Halle and heard lectures from Johann August Eberhard and Johann Salomo Semler, who took him in at home.

After his return to Zurich, his first writing was a defense of Gotthelf Samuel Steinbart's doctrine of happiness against Johann Caspar Lavater , which appeared in 1780 with a preface by Johann Salomo Semler.

In Zurich he initially gave private lessons until he was offered the chair of morality and natural law at the Collegium Humanitas secondary school in 1786 , after Rector Steinbrüchel had drawn the attention of mayor Johann Heinrich Ott (1719–1796) to him. Because of his polyhistory - for he dealt with all parts of philosophy , biblical criticism and exegesis , Palestinian antiquities , Jewish literature, geography and travelogues, natural history and physical studies, astronomy and church history - he was very popular with his students.

In addition to his literary works, he also published Contributions to the Advancement of Reasonable Thought in Religion in the journal he edited , which appeared from 1780 to 1798, and in which his articles contain thorough exegetical and dogmatic investigations. He published numerous other individual papers in various academic journals. However, he did not care about his name, so that many of his writings remained anonymous. His philosophical essays dealt with subjects about the immortality of the soul, about freedom and virtue, as the effect of refined self-esteem, about suspicions and about sentient beings of a lesser species than man and about the best world.

He was also in correspondence with the main representative of the Berlin Enlightenment , Friedrich Nicolai , who was initially on friendly terms with Johann Caspar Lavater, but in the meantime was in dispute with him. Corrodi reported regularly to Nicolai on the religious climate in Zurich and Switzerland as well as on Lavater's response in the city.

He died unmarried of typhus at the age of 41.

Fonts (selection)

Literature (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Lüder: History and Dogmatics: a contribution to the genesis and development of Johann Salomo Semler's understanding of the Old Testament . P. 242. Walter de Gruyter, 1995, ISBN 978-3-11-014627-1 ( google.de [accessed on April 9, 2019]).
  2. ^ Esther Berner: In the sign of reason and Christianity: the Zurich rural school reform in the late 18th century . P. 392. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20388-7 ( google.de [accessed on April 9, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Corrodi, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Corrodi; Korrodi; Korrodi, J. Heinrich; Corodi, Heinrich; Corrodi, Hans Heinrich; Korrodi, Heinrich; Korrodi, Johann Heinrich; Corrodi, Johann Heinrich; Korrodi, Hans Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss reformed theologian and educator
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1793
Place of death Zurich