Jakob Fabricius (theologian)

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Jacob Fabricius

Jakob Fabricius (born July 19, 1593 in Köslin ; † August 11, 1654 in Stettin ) was a Lutheran theologian and hymn poet who served as court preacher to Duke Bogislaw XIV of Pomerania , field preacher to the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf , general superintendent of Western Pomerania and as the lyricist of the chorale Verage nicht, du hunt klein ( Evangelical hymn book No. 249) was of great importance beyond his Pomeranian homeland.

Life

Jakob Fabricius was the son of the shoemaker Joachim Schmidt (or: blacksmith, Latinized: Fabricius) and his wife Elisabeth, b. Witte. He attended high school in Köslin and the Stettin pedagogy . He studied philosophy and theology in Rostock .

In 1616 he became a teacher at the Köslin City School. Three years later he married the daughter Esther (1600–1665) of the archdeacon Joachim Micraelius († 1619) and after his death he became his successor as a deacon in Köslin. Johann Micraelius was his brother-in-law.

In 1621, Duke Bogislaw XIV of Pomerania appointed him his court preacher in Rügenwalde and - after the relocation of the residence - at the castle church in Stettin . Four years later, the preacher, respected not only by the Duke, was awarded the title of Licentiate in Theology , and in 1626 he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Greifswald .

When the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf got to know the Szczecin court preacher, he let him go with him as a field preacher and personal confessor. Fabricius came through all of Germany in this way, and he used the opportunity to evangelical preaching on all possible occasions, especially in regions into which Reformation theology had not yet penetrated. In 1632 Gustav Adolf was killed in the battle of Lützen . Fabricius gave the funeral sermon at the funeral service in the castle church in Wolgast before the king was transferred to Sweden.

Immediately afterwards Fabricius was again appointed court preacher in Stettin by the duke. Two years later he appointed him general superintendent of Western Pomerania. When Duke Bogislaw XIV died in 1637 and Pomerania came to Sweden, Fabricius was recognized and confirmed in his office by the Swedish authorities.

In 1642 Fabricius also became pastor at St. Mary's Church in Stettin and thus professor of theology at the Stettin Pedagogy . During a funeral sermon he suffered a stroke on the pulpit of St. Mary's Church, of which he died a few days later.

Even in early youth, Johann Fabricius' musical and poetic abilities became evident. In addition to his brilliant knowledge of the Hebrew language , he benefited from these gifts in his sermons and in his scientific work.

The song Don't Despair, You Little Heap , was created under the impression of the Battle of Lützen. On the morning of the decisive battle, Fabricius distributed a song sheet of this text for the field service. This song was later called the " Swan Song of Gustav Adolf".

In the 1640s he exchanged several pamphlets with the Lübeck theologian Jacob Stolterfoht on visions and revelations.

Works

  • Crucigerorum Felix Conditio, That is: The blissful woolly state of Christian Creutzträger . Stettin 1648. ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
  • Disputatio Theologica De Resurrectione Mortuorum ... Stettin 1651. ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
  • Funeral sermons for Gustav Adolf and Bogislaw XIV.
  • Exegetical and homiletic treatises
  • Polemics against the Lübeck preacher Jacob Stolterfoht

Individual evidence

  1. Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal , WS 1614/15, No. 2
  2. Jonathan Strom: Jacob Fabricius, Friedrich Breckling and the debate about visions and new revelations. In: Wolfgang Breul, Marcus Meier, Lothar Vogel (eds.): The radical Pietism. Perspectives of research (= work on the history of Pietism. Vol. 55). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010, pp. 249–269; Jürgen Beyer: Lay prophets in Lutheran Europe (c. 1550-1700) (= Brill's series in church history and religious culture. Vol. 74). Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2017, pp. 196-200.

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
David Reutzius General Superintendent of Pomerania-Stettin
1634–1641
Christian Groß