Jakob Kautz

Jakob Kautz also Cucius and Kautio (* around 1500 in Großbockenheim ; † after 1536 probably in Moravia ) was a Lutheran , later Anabaptist preacher in Worms .

Life

Little is known about his early career. He enrolled at the University of Wittenberg on May 24, 1524 as Jacobus Bachenhemius . In the same year he is said to have worked as a preacher in Worms. Associated with the Strasbourg reformers around Wolfgang Capito , he soon turned to the spiritualistic- Anabaptist ideas of Hans Denck and Ludwig Hätzer , who were also in Worms around 1527. Together they developed lively journalistic activities. Kautz was also significantly involved in the 1529 Worms Bible by the printer Peter Schöffer the Younger . At the request of the Catholic bishop, Kautz and his fellow preacher Hilarius were summoned to the council. In response, Kautz challenged his opponents to a disputation . To this end, at Pentecost in 1527 he posted his "seven articles" at the Predigerkirche in Worms. These theses immediately triggered various replies. This was not only the response of the Lutheran preachers from Worms, but also the Catholic Johannes Cochläus and Ulrich Zwingli from Zurich . The Strasbourg reformers also warned against the seven theses in a pamphlet. On July 2, 1527, Kautz and Hilarius were banished from Worms. As a result, he worked as an Anabaptist itinerant preacher and met Wilhelm Reublin .

After participating in the Augsburg Synod of Martyrs in August 1527 , he moved to Strasbourg , where Schöffer also wanted to move his printing press, but came into conflict with the influential reformer Martin Bucer . In October 1528, Kautz was arrested with other Strasbourg Anabaptists such as Wilhelm Reublin and Pilgram Marpeck for rebellious sermons. A public disputation between Kautz, Reublin and the Strasbourg preachers was rejected. On January 15, 1529, Kautz and Reublin sent the city council a joint confession about baptism. Due to illness, Kautz was transferred from the prison tower to the hospital in 1529, where Kaspar Schwenckfeld visited him in July 1529 , who saw him as a dear brother in Christ . On November 29, 1529, Kautz was finally expelled from Strasbourg. He then worked as a tutor in the Strasbourg area. His request to be allowed to return to Strasbourg in 1532 was rejected. But still in 1534 there was an Anabaptist congregation in the city who appealed to Kautz. After 1532 he probably moved to Moravia and became a teacher in Jihlava . From then on he no longer appeared in the Anabaptist movement. In 1536 he wrote another confession in which he summarized his Anabaptist-spiritualistic positions. In this he also rejected the dogma of the Trinity, as Hans Denck and Ludwig Hätzer had done before. As a spiritualist, however, he did not go so far as to completely reject the outward signs of baptism and the sacrament.

Seven articles

1. The external word that we speak, hear or write cannot be the living and eternal word of God
2. The external (word, sacrament, promise) does not have the power to comfort or reassure the internal man
3. The infant baptism is not of God and contrary to the teachings of Jesus
4. At the sacrament neither the body nor the blood of Jesus is present
5. Everything that died with the old Adam will rise again with the new Adam (Christ)
6. Jesus suffered only for those who follow him. Anyone who talks about Jesus differently makes him an idol
7. It is not the outward suffering of Christ, but the inner obedience of Jesus that brings redemption and reconciliation with God

Works

• Syben Artickel zu Wormbs posted and preached by Jacob Kautzen , Mainz 1527.

literature

• Martin Bucer: Faithful warning of the preachers of the Gospel in Strasbourg. Jacob Kautz said about the article . Strasbourg 1527.
• Johannes Cochlaeus: Articuli Aliquot, A Iacobo Kautio Oecolampadiano, ad populum nuper Wormaciae aediti , Cologne 1527.
• Timotheus Wilhelm Röhrich: On the history of the Strasbourg Anabaptists . In: Journal for Historical Theology . 30 (1860).
• Adolf Brecher:  Kautz, Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 510 f.
• Georg Baring: The Worms prophets. A pre-Lutheran Evangelical translation of the prophets from 1527 . In: Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte , 31 (1934), pp. 23–41.
• Martin Rothkegel: Anabaptist, spiritualist, anti-Trinitarian and Nicodemite: Jakob Kautz as schoolmaster in Moravia , in: Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter 57 (2000), pages 51-88.
• Theo Schaller:  Kautz, Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 376 ( digitized version ).
• Irmgard Wilhelm-Schaffer:  Kautz, Jakob. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 1264-1265.

Web links

• Christian Hege, Kautz, Jakob (1500-1532?) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online .
• The history of Bockenheim: Jakob Kautz (Lutheran pastor 1522)