Christian Hoburg

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Christian Hoburg (born July 23, 1607 in Lüneburg ; † October 29, 1675 in Altona , Duchy of Holstein , today Hamburg-Altona) was a Protestant controversial theologian and mystical spiritualist . In the course of his life he used various pseudonyms: Elias Praetorius ; Bernhard Baumann ; Christianus Montaltus ; Andreas Seuberlich .

Life

Christian Hoburg lost his father and mother at an early age. A pastor made it possible for him to attend the Lüneburg monastery school . He had to stop studying theology in Königsberg due to financial difficulties. Nevertheless he got a job as assistant preacher in Lauenburg no later than 1632 . There he got to know the writings of Johann Arndt and Kaspar von Schwenkfeld . These impressed him deeply and he remained true to the theological ideas of the mystics . This resulted in frequent quarrels with the church authorities.

When he had lost his pastorate in 1642, not for the first time, the von Stern'sche print shop in his hometown employed him as a proofreader. The printer Johann Stern published, among other things, Johann Arndt's writings. In the following years Hoburg published several writings, on the one hand the pacifist Today's, protracted, confused Teutscher Krieg , on the other hand, partly under pseudonyms (e.g. as Elias Praetorius ), theological books in which the Orthodox Lutheran Church was massively criticized. As he came under pressure, friends arranged for him to be a pastor in Bornum am Elm through Duke August the Younger of Braunschweig . At the beginning of 1645 he took up this position, but soon came into conflict with the community. On the occasion of his behavior when Swedish troops were billeted in the village, the landlord and the community demanded his removal. The pastor's self-righteousness and theological radicalism were otherwise incompatible with village parish life. When, in addition, action was taken against him from church circles because it became known that Hoburg was the true author of the sharply critical book Mirror of Abuses in the Preaching Office , he lost the duke's backing and was expelled from the country in 1648. He found temporary accommodation with a friend in Quedlinburg and then became chaplain at the castle of a "noble gentleman" in Cappel near Geldern . After five years, however, Christian Hoburg was excommunicated after a difference of opinion and then dismissed.

On the run again, he found accommodation with his like-minded comrade Joachim Betke in Linum near Fehrbellin , where he worked as a pastor for 15 years. There the book The Unknown Christ (1661) was written, which was widely distributed in Pietist circles. In it, he accused the Lutherans ago, Christ not to know - at a time when the Lutheran orthodoxy claimed for himself to proclaim the "one true faith" which he regarded as monstrous provocation. Christian Hoburg got into a conflict with the consistory in Linum and was supposed to revoke the content of his books. He refused with the biblical argument that "one should obey God more than men". Christian Hoburg then lived with his son Philipp for some time and fled with him in 1673 to Altona, which was then ruled by the Danish king and which was famous for its religious tolerance. There he lived and preached during the last two years of his life with a Mennonite special group, the Dompelaars .

Meaning and effect

Hoburg's theological significance can be seen above all in the fact that a large part of the Pietists' ideas are already laid out in his writings . The publication of Pia desideria by Philipp Jacob Spener in 1675 is considered to be the hour of birth of Pietism . Spener was in the tradition of the mystical spiritualists, and experts today are sometimes of the opinion that he had the basic concept of his Pia Desideria from Hoburg's Mirror of Abuses accepted.

During the 18th century, Hoburg's works were repeatedly reprinted and read mainly in (radical) pietist circles. The idea that none of the constituted Christian churches should be regarded as legitimate proclaimers of the Gospel was legitimized by the book The Unknown Christ (“Lutherans do not know Christ”). That is why the radical pietists saw Hoburg's theses as confirmation of their position critical of the church.

Works (selection)

  • Today's, protracted, confused German war. o. O. 1644
  • Praxis Arndiana, that is, Hertzens-sigh. o. O. 1642
  • Mirror of the abuses at the Pregig-Ampt. o. O. 1644
  • Teutsch-Evangelisches Judenthum. o. O. 1644
  • Christ-Princely Youth Mirror. o. O. 1645
  • Theologia Mystica, that is Secret Krafft Theologia of the ancients. Amsterdam 1655
  • The unknown Christ. Amsterdam 1669

List of works and references

  • Gerhard Dünnhaupt : Christian Hoburg (1607–1675) , in: Personal bibliographies on the prints of the Baroque period , Vol. 3. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1991, pp. 2092–2111. ISBN 3-7772-9105-6

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article Dompelaars . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
personal data
SURNAME Hoburg, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Praetorius, Elias (pseudonym); Baumann, Bernhard (pseudonym); Montaltus, Christianus (pseudonym); Seuberlich, Andreas (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and mystic
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1607
PLACE OF BIRTH Luneburg
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1675
Place of death Altona