Johann Wilhelm Jahn

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Johann Wilhelm Jahn

Johann Wilhelm Jahn, also: Jan, Jano, Janus (born November 9, 1681 in Raben ; † August 27, 1725 in Wittenberg ) was a German Lutheran theologian and historian.

Life

He was born as the son of Magister Johann Jahn (Janus) and his wife Salome, the sister of the Wittenberg theologian Johann Georg Neumann . After his father had taught him the first pedagogical principles of the time and had also taught him Latin, he attended the school in Schneeberg , where he found an affectionate sponsor primarily from Johann Gottfried Sieber , who later became professor of theology in Leipzig. Under his leadership, he learned about basic skills and linguistics, so that in 1699 he was able to matriculate at the University of Wittenberg .

First he completed a philosophical degree, as was customary at the time, and taught Georg Friedrich Schröer , Christian Vater , Heinrich Heuchner , Johann Baptist Roeschel , Michael Strauch , Christian Röhrensee and Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen as teachers. But he was particularly influenced by Konrad Samuel Schurzfleisch , who also suggested that he attend the public lectures of the theologians Johann Deutschmann , Philipp Ludwig Hanneken , Caspar Löschers and Gottlieb Wernsdorf the Elder , and who found his cousin to be a supporter.

On October 31, 1701, he obtained the degree of an academic master’s degree after having argued under Johann Wilhelm von Berger with “de lemmatibus poëticis”. In 1702 he wrote the funeral sermon for his aunt Sabina Dorothea, b. Leyser , the widow of Franz Heinrich Höltich and Christian Donati . When he with the thesis "de ἀνθρωποθυσίας origine" (dt .: "On the origin of human sacrifice") habilitation , he made his order in 1706 a way to adjuncts of Arts, he worked at three times the present tense. However, he was more drawn to the theological faculty, and after he had defended the treatise "de Trinitate Platonismi vere & falso suspecta" in 1708, he found acceptance among the candidates of the theological faculty.

His lectures on historical and philosophical subjects and those on the Hebrew language, which he held from now on, were not only valued by the student body because of his clean style, but also earned him an extraordinary professorship in moral sciences in 1712. However, as soon as he took up this position, he was appointed as a full professor of ethics and eloquence at the " Elisabethanum " high school in Breslau , which he started in 1713. After Schurzfleisch had moved to Weimar , he returned to Wittenberg in 1714 and took over the full professorship in historical sciences.

Nevertheless, he wanted to travel to other countries and get to know the libraries outside of Wittenberg. With the permission of the royal court, he embarked on this journey in 1715, which was to take him to some German university locations, to Holland , England , France and Italy , where he undertook intensive library studies and came into contact with the scholars of his time.

After returning to Wittenberg, the knowledge acquired at various universities turned out to be extremely useful. His reputation grew in the university and through his published writings. After Löscher passed away and the theological faculty was being re-appointed, the university proposed him for the chair of professor of theology, although the advisors at the Saxon court did not particularly approve of this. Rather, one wanted Jahn to hold a higher office at the Saxon court and therefore claimed that he was unsuitable for the professorship.

Nevertheless, the university prevailed with its wish, and so he took office in 1719 with the speech “de optima ratione interpretandi sacras literas”. In the same year, on July 31, he disputed with “de jure decidendi controver sias Theologicas” and thus acquired the academic degree of licentiate in theology. Shortly afterwards, he received his doctorate in theology and also took over the ephoria of the electoral scholarship holders , which was intended for the fourth theological professorship . As a representative of Lutheran Orthodox positions, especially against the Halle Pietists appeared.

Jahn is portrayed by his contemporaries as a sociable and sincere man who has always been correct and diligent in his office. Nevertheless, he had a weak physical constitution and died of a high fever at 4 o'clock in the morning after paralysis had robbed him of speech and speech two days earlier.

On June 15, 1721, he married Magdalena Elisabeth Wichmannshausen, the daughter of the professor for oriental languages ​​and head of the Wittenberg university library. From this marriage the son Johann Christoph (* February 6, 1722; † July 25, 1725 in Wittenberg) and the daughter Wilhelmina Elisabeth (* October 8, 1723 in Wittenberg; † July 3, 1749 in Wittenberg) emerged. After his death, his widow married Franz Woken , professor of oriental languages, on September 9, 1727 , and after his death on February 18, 1734, she was widowed again.

Works

  • Theosophia orthodoxa
  • Specimen errorum Langiannorum
  • aerae christianae; liber Dionysij Exigui de ratione festi paschalis, cum commentario et historia cycli Diosiani; verum Dei verbum ecclesiae evangelicae assertum; antiquae et perulgatae de quatuor monarchiis sententiae
  • Theologia aphoristica
He wrote several doctoral theses, see Rracht and Jöcher.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Jahn, Johann Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jan, Johann Wilhelm; Jano, Johann Wilhelm; Janus, Johann Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian, rhetorician and historian
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1681
PLACE OF BIRTH Ravens
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1725
Place of death Wittenberg