Johann Jacob Schütz

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Johann Jacob Schütz (born September 7, 1640 in Frankfurt am Main ; † probably May 22, 1690 there ) was a German jurist , pietist and Protestant hymn poet .

life and work

Schütz was a son of the Swabian legal scholar Jacob Schütz (1587-1654), who gained reputation as the city counsel in Frankfurt am Main and rose to the patriciate of the city. Johann Jacob Schütz graduated from high school in Frankfurt and studied law in Tübingen with Wolfgang Adam Lauterbach from 1659 to 1665 . He received his doctorate in 1665 with a dissertation on the subject of De falso procuratore , then he settled in his hometown as a licentiate in both rights and a lawyer. After Lauterbach's death in 1679, he published a collection of lecture notes as the Compendium Juris . The work was reprinted many times until the middle of the 18th century and was considered a standard work in legal training and practice.

By since 1666 as Senior of the Lutheran preacher Ministry amtierendenden Philipp Jakob Spener contactor had a close friendship. Spener helped Schütz, who suffered from strong religious doubts, to gain a mystical piety based on Johann Tauler and Johann Arndt . Schütz supported Spener's program to reform the Lutheran Church, which was frozen in orthodoxy, and in 1670 became one of the founders of the Collegia Pietatis , the Pietist house groups.

In 1675 Schütz wrote the edification book Christian Memorial Booklet for the promotion of a beginning new life, in which the first suggestion is made to put away sin, enlighten the inner man and unite with God as briefly and simply as possible . In the appendix to this work he published five songs, two of which were soon included in church hymn books . The song Be Praise and Honor to the Supreme Good, the Father of All Goodness, was very popular over the centuries, became the basis of a cantata of the same name by Johann Sebastian Bach and is still represented in the current Evangelical Hymnbook (No. 326). Another book of edification, the Christian Rules of Life from 1677, put together New Testament commandments and virtues as the basis of a pietistic ethic.

From 1676 on, separatist circles formed within the Frankfurt community, for whom the Spener reforms did not go far enough. Schütz joined one of these groups, which was under the influence of Johanna Eleonora von Merlau and gathered in the Saalhof , which at the time belonged to a noble inheritance . He abstained from his legal practice more and more because he had come to the opinion that a lawyer could hardly keep himself away from sin. His inherited fortune allowed him to renounce professional activity.

Since 1676 Schütz refused to take part in the Lord's Supper , which he did not want to enjoy with unworthy people . The City Council of Frankfurt reacted increasingly repressively to the formation of the sect because it saw it as an attack on its sovereign church regime. Eleonore von Merlau left the city. After a sermon by the Quaker William Penn , who had attended a meeting of the Saalhof Pietists in 1677, the remaining separatists considered emigrating to America. They founded the Frankfurter Land-Compagnie in 1681 and acquired 25,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania . Schütz thus had leverage against the Frankfurt council, with which he could protect himself against further repression, since the council absolutely wanted to avoid the emigration of such a wealthy citizen. There was therefore never any emigration; Instead, the Saalhof Pietists made their capital available to Franz Daniel Pastorius , who had emigrated to America, who founded the first German colony in America, Germantown , in 1683 with 13 families of Quakers and Mennonites from Krefeld .

In 1682/83 there was a break between Schütz and Spener over the question of the Last Supper. Schütz defended the right to separation in an anonymous pamphlet from 1684 ( reprint of a discourse on the question: whether those who are not chosen are obliged / necessary to adhere to a large community and religion in particular ). He now turned more and more to the chiliastic teachings of Johann Wilhelm Petersen and, through extensive correspondence, maintained contacts with followers of mystical spiritualism such as Christian Knorr von Rosenroth , Pierre Poiret , Anna Maria von Schürmann and Maria Sibylla Merian . He refused an attempt at reconciliation by Spener's successor Johann Daniel Arcularius . While still on his deathbed, he refused the Lord's Supper, which is why he was buried on the night of May 24th without any spiritual ceremony after his death on the night of May 21st to May 22nd, 1690.

Schütz was the head of the poor, orphanage and workhouse founded in 1679 . He was married and had four daughters, the youngest of whom, Maria Katharina, continued his work and founded a monastery for the afflicted members of Christ in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe . Schütz's estate is in the Bad Homburg city archive.

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personal data
SURNAME Schütz, Johann Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and pietist
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1640
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1690
Place of death Frankfurt am Main