Johann Mercker

Johann Mercker , also Johannes Märker , (* December 1659 in Essen , † 1728 in Hattingen ) was a German Protestant clergyman. As a pietist , he sparked a dispute in Essen that attracted attention all over Germany.

Live and act

Johann Mercker was the son of Johann Anton Mercker († February 5, 1691), the first Protestant pastor in Essen who could officially officiate. He matriculated on April 22, 1682 at the University of Giessen . His grandfather Hermann Mercker was also a pastor. Two years later, at the age of 25, he became principal of the Lutheran Latin School and third preacher in Essen. On October 31, 1687, Mercker was introduced as a pastor in Mülheim am Rhein . After the death of his father on the Sunday after Trinity , on July 1, 1691, he became his successor as pastor in Essen.

Mercker represented the program of radical pietism . He rejected the authority of theologians and advocated that according to the priesthood of all believers, every Christian could preach, forgive sins, and administer the sacraments. His attempt to enforce this program, combined with strict church discipline , against the Essen magistrate led to Merker's dispute in 1700 , which caused a sensation throughout the empire within church circles. Despite various reports, u. a. by Philipp Jakob Spener and the University of Halle , Mercker did not give in, but excommunicated the magistrate in July 1702. He refused to give the funeral sermon to the long-time mayor of Essen, Heinrich Leimgardt. On January 18, 1703, Mercker was suspended, initially for four weeks. However, a ban on the conventicles in March 1703 led to enormous unrest in Essen because Mercker's supporters stood up for him. In May 1703 the Magistrate deposed Mercker. King Friedrich I got involved in the dispute and commissioned the Duchy of Cleves' Secret Council to pursue the case. Only after further legal opinions from several universities was the discharge finally confirmed in May 1705. Mercker was resigned to a settlement.

In 1706 Mercker had the files of the dispute printed in a voluminous volume. In August 1713 he was introduced as vicar in Hattingen.

literature

• Mercker (Johann). In: Continuations and additions to Christian Gottlieb Jöchers Allgemeine Gelehrten-Lexicon . 4. Volume, Bremen 1813, Sp. 1419. ( limited preview in the Google book search)
• Wilhelm Rotscheidt: Pastor Johannes Mercker in Essen 1659–1728. A chapter from the history of Rhenish Pietism . In: Monthly Issues for Rhenish Church History 17 . 1923, p. 65-78 .
• Volkmar Wittmütz: Church dispute in Essen. Pastor Johannes Mercker and the Essen City Council 1691–1705. In: Church in the field of tension between state and society (Festschrift for Günther van Norden). Cologne 1993, pp. 29-45.
• Christian Peters: Pietism in Essen and Dortmund . In: Bernd Hey, Volkmar Wittmütz (ed.): Evangelical Church on the Ruhr and Saar . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-89534-696-5 , p. 11-44 .
• Michael Basse, Traugott Jähnichen , Harald Schroeter-Wittke (eds.): Protestant profiles in the Ruhr area: five hundred life images from five centuries . Hartmut Spenner, Kamen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89991-092-6 , p. 94 f .
• Erwin Dickhoff: Essen heads . Ed .: City of Essen, Historical Association for the City and Abbey of Essen. Klartext, Essen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8375-1231-1 , p. 242 f .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Acta Essendiensia: What contains: I. The cause of the church dispute that arose in the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the city of Essen in 1701 and continued until 1705. II. The doctrinal statements in dispute presented by H. Johanne Mercker, pastor there. Proper, Mülheim am Rhein 1706.
2. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Bauks : The Protestant pastors in Westphalia from the Reformation period to 1945 (= contributions to the Westphalian church history, volume 4). Bielefeld 1980, No. 4116 ( full text ).