Johann Friedrich Bahrdt (theologian)

Johann Friedrich Bahrdt
copperplate engraving by Johann Christian Püschel (1755)

Johann Friedrich Bahrdt (born June 11, 1713 in Lübben ; † November 6, 1775 in Leipzig ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian. He worked as a professor and superintendent in Leipzig.

Live and act

Johann Friedrich Bahrdt was born as the son of Johann Ludwig Bahrdt and Christiane Sophie Bahrdt, b. Georg, born in Lübben. His father was feudal secretary and later became protonotary at the local consistory . After the boy was first taught by private tutors, he attended school in Sorau for three years , where Johann Gottfried Zeiske taught him. After his return to Lübben, he attended the Lyceum under Vice-Rector Johann Gottfried Pilarik . While studying theology from 1730 to 1733 at the University of Leipzig , he heard lectures by Johann Gottlob Pfeiffer, Heinrich Klausing , Karl Gottlob Hofmann , Salomo Deyling and Karl Gottlob Sperbach .

In 1733 he moved to the University of Wittenberg and disputed there with Christoph Heinrich Zeibich de usu sacrae coenae frequentiori . As a Master of Philosophy he returned to Lübben in order to take the exam in Dresden the following year as a candidate for the office of preacher . He then held various positions at Hofmeister . He got to know the Count von Hohendorf, then President of the Dresden Consistory, who became his constant sponsor. Through his intercession he became a deacon in Bischofswerda in 1739 , pastor in Schönfeld near Dresden in 1741 and superintendent and preacher in Doberlug in 1745 . In 1747 he changed as a catechist and preacher at the Peterskirche in Leipzig, where he received the degree of baccalaureus from the theological faculty . The following year he became an associate professor of theology and the theological faculty awarded him a license - and a doctorate .

From 1750 he also worked as an assessor for the Leipzig Consistory. In 1755 he became a full professor of theology and a year later early preacher at the University Church in Leipzig . From 1757 he was canon and from 1767 subsenior and scholarch in Zeitz . In 1760 and 1766 he was rector of the University of Leipzig . In 1773 he became pastor primarius of the Thomaskirche and superintendent in Leipzig, where he died two years later.

family

He married Christiana Elisabeth Ehrenhaus , the daughter of the deacon Johann Gottlieb Ehrhaus from Pulsnitz. The couple had a son, Karl Friedrich Bahrdt , who became a Protestant theologian and radical enlightenment writer. His eldest daughter Magarethe Friderike Sophie († 1805) married the lawyer August Friedrich Schott (1744–1792).

Works

In addition to theological treatises and edification pamphlets, Bahrdt, known as a gifted speaker, published many collections of sermons.

• Brief treatise of the pure teaching of our Evangelical Lutheran Church on mortality and bodily death of the human race . Richter, Bautzen 1738
• Divine Heyls order . 2 volumes, Marche, Görlitz and Leipzig 1743 and 1748
• Christ's beautiful testimony of the sad fate of men . Marche, Leipzig and Görlitz 1747
• Glorious testimonies of the wonderful ways of God . Breitkopf, Leipzig 1748
• Edifying contemplations of death . Weidmann, Leipzig 1748
• De Ministerio Novi Testamenti non literae sed spiritus . Breitkopf, Leipzig 1749 (two parts: Inaugural disputation for licentiate degree and Inaugural disputation for doctorate degree)
• De sapientissimo legis et evangelii nexu . Breitkopf, Leipzig 1749 (invitation to the inaugural address on February 4, 1749)
• Evangelical reflections on important truths of the doctrine of faith and morals of our Savior . Weidmann, Leipzig 1750
• Scripture and Reasonable Evidence That Sin Is the Real Cause of Death . Jacobi, Leipzig 1751
• De Applicatione Homiletica . Langenheim, Leipzig 1752, dissertation
• Praecepta oratoriae sacrae or instruction on eloquence . Schönemarck, Leipzig 1752
• Complete collection of sacred speeches on selected truths from the doctrine of the faith and morals of Jesus . Leipzig 1752ff., 4 pieces
• The usual Sunday and feast day epistles and evangelia in the evangelical church . Schönermarck, Sondershausen and Leipzig 1753
• as editor: The privileged, newly produced Evangelical Chant Book. In addition to a completely new prayer and communion book . Leipzig 1753 (contains 19 own songs, including How dear is, Lord, Your Goodness and Be Faithful to the End, Be Faithful to Death ); 2nd increased and improved edition, Schönermarck, Leipzig 1764; later as a privileged evangelical Leipzig hymn book ... together with a prayer and communion book . Pilz, Löbau 1799
• The firm foundation of Evangelical truth was demonstrated in sermons on the ordinary Sunday and feast days of Evangelia . Schönermark, Leipzig 1757
• Healing revivals to repentance . Weidmann, Leipzig 1758
• Thorough defense of the Evangelical Lutheran Church against an unnamed pium desiderium . Weidmann, Leipzig 1759
• Words of comfort in days of fear and horror . Langenheim, Leipzig 1760
• Death and life in the hand of the living Jesus . Heinsius, Leipzig 1761
• Brief and edifying explanation of the whole story of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ . Heinsius, Leipzig 1761
• Collection of some consolation sermons . Heinsius, Leipzig 1762
• Kurtze instruction on prayer and correct use of the prayer books . Heinsius, Leipzig 1762
• Paraphrased explanation of the book of Job . 2 volumes, Heinsius, Leipzig 1764 and 1765
• The evangelical moral teaching of Jesus . 2 volumes, Büschel, Leipzig 1766 and 1769
• Collection of some edifying speeches on selected truths from the religion of Jesus . Büschel, Leipzig 1767
• Treatise on the individual duties of Christianity . Leipzig 1768
• Three preparatory sermons for the hereditary homage to Sr. Elector of Saxony, which was happily performed on May 2nd, 1769 in Leipzig . Büschel, Leipzig 1769
• The whole life story of our Lord Jesus Christ . Breitkopf, Leipzig 1772
• Sermons to dispute harmful prejudices in religion . Hinz, Mitau and Leipzig 1773
• The latest revelations of God in letters and stories : Part 1–8, Riga 1773–1774
• Christian Samuel Weiß (Ed.): Selected sermons of the last two years of apprenticeship and life of D. Johann Friedrich Bahrdts, professors and superintendents in Leipzig . Kummer, Leipzig 1776

literature

• Elias Friedrich Schmersahl: Elias Friedrich Schmersahls history of now-living scholars of God . Martini, Langensalza 1751-1755, pp. 71-74
• Johann Christoph Adelung : General scholarly lexicon. Continuation and additions to Christian Gottlieb Jöcher's general scholarly lexicon . Gleditsch [ua], Leipzig [ua] 1784, volume 1, columns 1345-1347; Reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1960
• Friedrich Carl Gottlob Hirsching (Ed.): Historical-literary manual of famous and memorable people who died in the 18th century . Volume 1, Leipzig 1794; Reprint: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1972, ISBN 3-201-00091-4
• Johann Georg Meusel : Lexicon of the German writers who died from 1750 to 1800 . Volume 1, Fleischer, Leipzig 1802, pp. 139-143; Reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1967
• Gottfried Lebrecht Richter: General biographical lexicon of old and new sacred song poets . Martini, Leipzig 1804, p. 15; Reprint: Zentralantiquariat der DDR, Leipzig 1971, ISBN 3-7940-5014-2
• Heinrich Johann Michael Döring : The learned theologians of Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . Volume 1, Wagner, Neustadt (Orla) 1831.
• Erdmann Hannibal Albrecht: Saxon Evangelical-Lutheran church and preaching history, from its origin to the present time. Leipzig, 1799, p. 101 ( online )
• Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (eds.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 1, Saur, Munich [et al.] 1995, p. 270

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bruno Sauer:  Bahrdt, Johann Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 541 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Johann Friedrich Bahrdt (1713–1775)  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Johann Friedrich Bahrdt in the professorial catalog of the University of Leipzig
• Tripota - Trier portrait database
• undownloadable digital copies from the Berlin State Library