Johann Kaspar Schade

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Johann Kaspar Schade
Johann Caspar Schade, engraving by Johann Wilhelm Michaelis

Johann Kaspar Schade (born January 13, 1666 in Kühndorf ; † July 25, 1698 in Berlin ) was a German Lutheran preacher , author and poet . The " Berlin confessional dispute " is particularly associated with him .

Life

Johann Kaspar Schade studied philosophy and Hebrew , later Protestant theology, at the University of Leipzig from 1685 . After earning a master's degree in philosophy, he entered the Collegium philobiblicum, newly founded by August Hermann Francke , and devoted himself to Old Testament exegesis . His lectures in Leipzig based on this finally became the subject of investigations from 1686: Both the theological faculty as well as the clergy and government had taken offense at Schades's pietistic approaches. In contrast to Francke's lectures, the Schades were not banned. Nevertheless, a commission investigated Schade on suspicion of heresy . In 1691, at the instigation of Philipp Jakob Spener , Schade was appointed deacon of the Nikolaikirche in Berlin . There he held domestic edification meetings in the tradition of Spener's Collegia pietatis and drew attention to himself with sermons (which were often published and partly reprinted until the 19th century). His zeal for reform brought him into conflict with the authorities there too.

Schade refused the private confession . In his eyes it had degenerated into mere formality, among other things, “since absolution had to be granted to every civilly innocent person according to legal regulations”. In a questionnaire written in 1696, he turned to befriended theologians to get a vote against this form of confessional practice, and referred to the confessional as “Satan's chair, fire pit”. The writing was published anonymously by third parties without his will and without the permission of the censorship authorities, but it was still attributed to Schade, since he had published the same wording in his sermons. In practice, he first made a “general confession”. After he was forbidden to do so, he completely refrained from offering confessional opportunities and no longer offered the sacrament. When this formal violation of the duties of a clergyman was again investigated by the authorities, Schade found support from opponents of private confession. They suggested exempting Lutheran clergy from the duty to make private confessions. A commission was set up to resolve the dispute, which only escalated the dispute. Elector Friedrich III. finally decided in June 1698 that the private confession should be given up in favor of the general confession, but at the same time ordered the transfer of Schades. But it never came back because Schade fell ill with consumption and died after a five-week illness. “The excited mob did not even grant him the peace of death; after his funeral a large crowd gathered in the churchyard, trying to pull the corpse out of the grave and doing the greatest mischief with blasphemous remarks ”.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Witte : Schade, Johann Caspar . In: The religion in past and present , 1st edition, Vol. 5: Raw cypresses . Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 1913, Sp. 270.
  2. ^ A b c Siegfried Lommatzsch:  Schade, Johann Kaspar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 319-325.
  3. ^ Johannes Wallmann : Schade, Johann Caspar . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition, Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 856.
personal data
SURNAME What a shame, Johann Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran preacher
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1666
PLACE OF BIRTH Kuehndorf
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1698
Place of death Berlin