Johann Jacob Pfitzer

Johann Jacob Pfitzer (born October 21, 1684 in Nuremberg ; † March 10, 1759 ) was a German Lutheran theologian and university professor.

Life

Johann Jacob Pfitzer was the son of a canvas merchant and received his first lessons from Rector Brendel in the Holy Spirit School in his hometown. After entering high school, he attended Myhldorf, Wülfers, Eschenbach and Seyfried lectures. He combined private lessons with Hackspan, Faber and Zeltner . The former two taught him rhetoric and history , the latter in Hebrew and literary history . In 1702 he went to Altdorf , where he was accepted among the local alumni. Mörl and Sonntag, the inspectors at the school at the time, were responsible for his scientific training. His main teachers in the field of philosophy and theology were Rötenbeck , Omeis , Moller , Sturm, Wagenseil and others. The latter professor gave him a thorough knowledge of Hebrew antiquities. Under Rötenbeck's chairmanship in 1705 he defended the philosophical treatise De sensuum moderamine in inquirenda veritate and under Lange in 1706 the academic pamphlet De antichristianismo antidiluviano . At the same time he acquired his master's degree by defending his inaugural dissertation De Malachia, propheta pontificio (Altdorf 1706).

In 1706 Pfitzer went to Leipzig , but soon left this university because of the war unrest at the time, after he had heard some lectures from Ittig , Rechenberg and Olearius . He turned to Jena and received theological lessons there from Förtsch , Buddeus and Struve. At the same time they expanded and corrected his knowledge of history and literature. An educational trip to Jena, Leipzig, Wittenberg , Berlin , Stettin , Greifswald , Rostock , Lübeck , Kiel , Hamburg , Wolfenbüttel , Helmstedt and Halle was of great advantage for his further scientific instruction . He also touched Arnstadt and Gotha on the return trip to Nuremberg, where he arrived again in September 1709. In the cities mentioned he had visited the most important libraries and met several outstanding scholars.

In his hometown of Nuremberg, Pfitzer was appointed inspector of the old village alumni in 1711. Two years later, his talent as a pulpit speaker gave him the position of a deacon at St. Egidienkirche . His marriage to Ursula Katharina Burger, entered into in 1715, remained childless. He had earned the respect and affection of his community, so that its members found it painful when he separated from them in 1717 and accepted a call to Altdorf. There he received a professorship in theology and also became a deacon. He opened his academic teaching post in December 1717 with the program De divina providentia in testibus veritatis excitandis . In 1718 he obtained his theological doctorate. On this occasion he defended his dissertation De Apolline, Doctore apostolico, ex. Act. 18, 24-28 , which was printed in Nuremberg in 1718. In 1724, when he was in charge of the academic rectorate, he received the post of pastor at the Egidienkirche in Nuremberg, which had become vacant when Marperger left for Dresden . He was also inspector of the local grammar school and, in 1749, a preacher at the St. Lorenz Church and inspector of the candidates for the ministry. The next year he was given the office of Antistes Ministerii and pastor at the St. Sebald Church . He was also given the post of city librarian after Gustav Philipp Mörl's death in 1750 .

The last years of Pfitzer's life were marred by the death of his wife and physical suffering. He died on March 10, 1759 at the age of 74. He had witnessed several celebrations: in 1717 he celebrated the second anniversary of the Reformation and in 1723 the first of the University of Altdorf; 1730 the anniversary of the Augsburg denomination , 1733 the fourth jubilee of the St.-Aegidien-Gymnasium, of which he was inspector at the time, and 1748 the centenary of the Peace of Westphalia .

Pfitzer showed his thorough theological knowledge in several treatises of exegetical-critical content, including:

• Dissertatio continens ideam prudentiae litterariae generalem , Altdorf 1711
• Dissertatio de Apotheosi Pauli et Barnabae a Lystrensibus frustra tentata, ad Act. 15, 11 sq. , Altdorf 1713
• Dissertatio de congregatione non deferenda, ex. Ebr. 10, 25 , Altdorf 1718
• Dissertatio de beneficiis typicis , Altdorf 1723

In addition to his pulpit lectures, which were mostly printed individually, he also provided religious edification through some ascetic writings, among which his Ten Reflections on the Lord's Prayer (Altdorf 1718) were reprinted in 1743.

literature

• Heinrich Döring : Pfitzer (Johann Jacob) , in: Johann Samuelansch , Johann Gottfried Gruber : (Ed.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts , 3rd section, 20th part (1845), p. 471 f.