Johann Fischer (theologian)

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Portrait of Johann Fischer (1686) by Ernst Wilhelm Londicer , Museum of Riga City History and Shipping

Johann Fischer, pseudonym : Christianus Alethophilus, (baptized December 15, 1636 in Lübeck , † May 17, 1705 in Magdeburg ) was a German theologian.

Life

Fischer was the son of a cloth merchant and attended the Katharineum in Lübeck . From 1655 he first studied law at the universities of Rostock and Helmstedt , after Michaelis in 1657 theology at the University of Altdorf and finally in 1660 at the University of Leiden . He graduated with a master's degree and was initially with a country preacher. He was a candidate in Stade . With a work by Richard Baxter , translated in 1665 , he became known among experts; however, it also made him suspicious of the representatives of Lutheran Orthodoxy . Through the translation he won the lifelong friendship of Philipp Jacob Spener . The Count Palatine Christian August von Pfalz-Sulzbach also noticed him and brought him to Sulzbach as a deacon in 1666 , where he was first city preacher, then pastor and superintendent in 1667 .

At the beginning of 1673 he became superintendent in Livonia , which at that time included almost the whole of the Baltic States and as a province belonged to Sweden . His predecessor Georg Preuss remained in office in 1674 for the districts of Dorpat , which was also the seat of the senior consistory , and Pernau . With the support of the Swedish king in Stockholm, Fischer reformed the church system in Livonia, also against the continued influence of Pruss in the consistory. It was not until 1678 that Fischer became full general superintendent. He founded state-funded schools in all counties.

Fischer arranged for Bible translations into Revalestnian, Dörptestniche and Latvian, of which a Latvian Bible and a Dörptestnian New Testament were printed in the printing works he founded in Riga in 1675. Hymn books followed accordingly.

When the estates in Riga paid homage to King Charles XI. of Sweden in 1687 he advocated absolutism and was rewarded with lifelong income from the Lindenhof estate (today: Liepa, Priekuļi district ). In 1690 he was appointed professor of theology at the University of Dorpat . In 1693 he became an honorary doctor of the Theological Faculty of Uppsala University . With the introduction of the new Swedish church law of 1686 in Livonia, from 1690 the freedom of action of the Baltic Germans was considerably reduced. In 1699 Fischer left Livonia. In his hometown he fell through in 1699 as one of six candidates for the office of superintendent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lübeck . His friend Spener is said to have indirectly procured him the post of general superintendent of the Duchy of Magdeburg .

In Livonia he was named the New Apostle of Livonia for his services to education and culture.

Works (selection)

  • The Necessary Doctrine of Denial Our Self / Outside God's Word, taught by Richard Baxter. Which is described by the author in English: But now translated into German and published by JFL Franckfurt am Mäyn: Hertel; 1665
  • Christiani Conscientiosi send letter: In it he asks: Can he be saved in the Lutheran religion? / Answered by Christiano Alethophilo SS. Theol. Stud. Opened to various inquiries for the next time. [Sl] 1672
  • Mr. Johann Fischers / Dero Königl. Majesty in Sweden General Superintendent over Lieffland and the city of Riga / [et] c. Required Christian reflection on the published new religious Eyd of an E. Ministerii in Hamburg. [Sl] 1690
  • Kurtze Explanation of various exhibits: Which since then about the dispute of the so-called Pietismi and Chiliasmi by different Autoribus have been made / In correct interpretation Auffgesetzet by Christiano Alethophilo. [Sl] [1697]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the entry of Johann Fischer's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal , which took place in the summer semester of 1648.
  2. ↑ Church Law and Order, So the Great Mighty King and Lord, Mr. Carl the Eilffte, The Swedes, Goths and Wenden King In 1686. wrote and published in 1687. in print. With the associated regulations. Riga 1687 digitized

literature

Digitized version , Tartu University Library
  • Liivi Aarma, Alken Bruns: Johann Fischer. In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck. Volume 11, Karl Wachholtz, Neumünster 2000, ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pp. 109-112.
  • Jürgen Beyer: Strategies for raising piety in Estonia and Livonia (1621-1710). Confessionalization and Pietism. In: Fred van Lieburg (ed.): Confessionalism and Pietism. Religious reform in early modern Europe (= publications by the Institute for European History Mainz. Supplement 67). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2006, pp. 111–128.
  • Jürgen Beyer: Non-German Bibles for Germans? To use the first Latvian, Dorptestnian and Revalestnian Bible prints (1685–1715). In: William A. Kelly, Jürgen Beyer (Eds.): The German book in Wolfenbüttel and abroad. Studies presented to Ulrich Kopp in his retirement (= Studies in reading and book culture. Vol. 1). University of Tartu Press, Tartu 2014, ISBN 978-9949-32-494-1 , pp. 37-82.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Fischer, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alethophilus, Christianus (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian
DATE OF BIRTH baptized December 15, 1636
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1705
Place of death Magdeburg