Johann Joachim Röling

Johann Joachim Röling (also JJ Röling , born May 3, 1705 in Dornum , † 1778 in Nesse ) was an Evangelical Lutheran pastor who later turned to Unitarianism .

Live and act

Röling was born in 1705 in Dornum, East Frisia, as the son of a Lutheran pastor and later studied theology at the University of Jena . After graduating, Röling returned to East Friesland and in 1732 initially took over a pastor's position in Pogum in the Rhineland . In 1733 he moved to Bingum . Here he approached anti-Trinitarian positions and finally represented openly Unitarian positions. Thereupon he was temporarily suspended in January 1739 by the princely consistory . However, his congregation supported him and asked the consistory in June 1739 to lift the suspension. At the same time, his case was submitted to the theological and legal faculties of the University of Jena for examination. There it was decided not to dismiss Röling from office as a heretic before a detailed theological questioning . The theologians Andreas Arnold Gossel, Johann Ludwig Lindhammer and the court preacher Johann Friedrich Bertram carried out the survey . However, Röling stuck to his positions during the interviews. Another report by the University of Rostock on January 17, 1740 finally recommended Röling's removal from the rectory and his expulsion from the country . Röling was then completely suspended, but he was refrained from being expelled from the country if he no longer publicly committed to Unitarianism. Röling then settled first in Dornum and later in Nesse, where he worked as a bookbinder and shopkeeper .

With the takeover of East Frisia by Prussia , Röling hoped to find religious tolerance under Frederick the Great and in 1748 asked formally in a petition for permission to found a Unitarian community. Among other things, he stated that he was able to settle Unitarian religious refugees persecuted by the Counter Reformation . Instead, the referral came into force and Röling was forced to leave East Frisia. He first moved to Jever and then to Altona . From there he turned directly to the Prussian king and received permission to return to East Frisia. In 1755 he applied again for a vacant pastor's position in Bingum , but was rejected. In 1767 he again sought permission in Berlin to found a Unitarian community, which has now been permitted. Röling then developed new activities and, among other things, had Unitarian scriptures printed, but this again brought him into conflict with the local authorities. He also did not succeed in persuading Unitarian religious refugees to plant a church in East Friesland, so that he ultimately had to give up his plans. The possibility of establishing the Unitarian denomination in East Frisia on a permanent basis had therefore failed. He spent his last years in Nesse, where he died in 1778. He left five children.

literature

• Fridrich Arends: Earth description of the Principality of East Friesland and Harlingerland , Emden 1824, p. 438

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tileman Dothias Wiarda : Ostfriesische Geschichte , 8th volume (1734-1758), Aurich 1798, pp. 101-103
2. ↑ Stanisław Lubieniecki undertook similar efforts in the 1660s , who was able to secure a temporary settlement of persecuted Polish brothers in Friedrichstadt in Schleswig .
3. ^ Tileman Dothias Wiarda: Ostfriesische Geschichte , 9th volume (1758-1786), Aurich 1798, pp. 216-217