Johannes Bugenhagen the Younger

Johannes Bugenhagen the Elder J.

Johannes Bugenhagen the Younger (born December 31, 1527 in Wittenberg ; † February 12, 1594 ibid) was a German Lutheran theologian.

Life

Johannes Bugenhagen was born at a time when the plague had broken out again in Wittenberg. At that time, his father Johannes Bugenhagen and his young family had moved into Martin Luther's house , where they supported each other and coped with everyday problems during the difficult times. In the same year, the death of his father's sister, Hanna (on November 2, 1527 in Wittenberg in the puerperium of the plague), caused a sad bereavement in the family. This was since December 6th, 1525 with Georg Rörerhad been married, and the young father and widower, was also accepted into Luther's house. His mother Walpurga, the daughter of the Torgau citizen Peter Triller (also: Trittler), was heavily pregnant during this time. Luther's wife, Katharina von Bora , also gave birth to their daughter Elisabeth on December 10, 1527.

On December 31 of the same year, Walpurga Bugenhagen gave birth to the younger Johannes Bugenhagen. This in turn was the reason for Luther to inform Jacob Probst of the event in Bremen. Although the fetters of the plague seemed to have been removed, the children in the Bugenhagen house became ill again. The elder Bugenhagen found himself in a hopeless situation that he was not up to. Therefore, as a devout Christian, he placed the fate of his two sons in the hands of God and prayed for their recovery. While little Johannes survived the situation, his older brother Michael and the son of the deacon of the Wittenberg town church, Johann Mantel, died of an illness on April 26, 1528.

At that time, his father was given tasks in Braunschweig. Since he had already lost a son in Wittenberg and did not want to endanger the life of his young family, he took them with him on his trip to Braunschweig . In his earliest youth, the young Bugenhagen experienced different locations and was able to acquire insights and experiences at an early age that formed and lastingly shaped his character and way of life. He must have had his first upbringing from his father, both at the Wittenberg city school and among the reformers. Already on April 17, 1552 he was able to acquire his first academic title as Baccalaureus of the Seven Liberal Arts , astonishingly one year before he officially enrolled at the University of Wittenberg on July 7, 1553.

Shortly afterwards, on August 3, 1553, he obtained his master's degree in the basic philosophical sciences and was soon able to give lectures at the university. After he had married (Anna-) Maria, the daughter of the Torgau citizen Andreas Stolp, on June 1, 1556, a chair for Hebrew was set up at the philosophical faculty. This was the first to be taken over by the younger Bugenhagen on January 22, 1557 and received a payment of 40 guilders for teaching repetition courses in Hebrew. He gave elementary lessons in this language, explaining the grammars of Sebastian Munster and Johann Isaak to his students and interpreting books from the Old Testament. After he had been dean of the philosophical faculty in the winter semester 1565/66 , he held the office of second preacher at the Wittenberg Castle Church on March 3, 1560 .

On March 5, 1565, the Faculty of Philosophy set up a special lesson on Melanchthon's “Examen ordinandorum” intended for theology students and assigned it to its dean Johannes Bugenhagen. The "exam" was first published in German in the Mecklenburg church order of 1552. Even at the time of Luther and Melanchthon, a master's degree was employed as the "catecheta ordinandorum", that is, the candidate who was to be assigned the preaching office. The catechist and compendium should be there mainly for the “poor ordinary ordinands who have not studied much Latin and been called to be village preachers”. In 1577, the Wittenberg University recommended Melanchthon's “Examen ordinandorum” to all learned preachers and theologians for thorough study. This is probably one of the reasons why at that time teaching and testing were entirely in the hands of the theological faculty. Introduced in this way to theology, Bugenhagen was admitted to the theological faculty on March 18, 1570, completed his licentiate on May 5 and acquired on May 11, 1570, together with Caspar Cruciger the Younger , Christoph Pezel , Heinrich Moller , Friedrich Widebram and Nikolaus Selnecker the theological doctorate .

What is striking about Bugenhagen is that he remained unscathed in spite of all denominational disputes. Although all the theologians of the Philippists had been expelled as crypto-calvinists in 1574 , he was the only theologian to remain in his chair because he had signed the Torgau Articles (1574). After Georg Major died, Bugenhagen took over his vacant chair in 1580 and, after he had already held the position of dean of the theological faculty in 1577, was reinstated in this position. He was also rector of the university in the winter semester of 1568 and 1575 . After the death of Matthäus Blöchinger on March 7, 1585, he became provost and superintendent in Kemberg and took over the sub-rectorate of the university in the winter semester of 1584. Since he was largely blind and had not been able to give sermons since 1590, he resigned in 1592 for reasons of age of the provost and returned to private life in Wittenberg, where he died in 1594.

family

Bugenhagen was married twice. His first marriage was on June 1, 1556 in Wittenberg with Anna Stolp, the daughter of the Torgau citizen Andreas Stolp († -1556). Children are known from the first marriage.

• Katharina Bugenhagen married Hieronymus Hippolyt from Hildesheim on May 29, 1581.
• Johannes Bugenhagen III. (* April 29, 1560 in Wittenberg; † November 14, 1594 in Bleddin)
• Maria Bugenhagen I (born August 1, 1561 in Wittenberg; † -1567)
• Martha Bugenhagen (born August 1, 1561 in Wittenberg)
• Maria Bugenhagen (* 1567; † August 28, 1580 in Wittenberg)
• Elisabeth Bugenhagen I (* July 1, 1563 in Wittenberg; † July 12, 1564 in Wittenberg) and
• Elisabeth Bugenhagen II (born June 8, 1568 in Wittenberg)

After his first wife died on October 7, 1580, he married the daughter of the notary Friedrich Drachstedt (* 1529 in Eisleben; † May 8, 1600 in Wittenberg) from Wittenberg and his first wife Magarethe on July 8, 1582 in Wittenberg Magarethe, the daughter of Georg Major and Magarethe von Mochau († October 10, 1577). Margaretha Bugenhagen (* Kemberg, godmother in Wittenberg) and Friedrich Bugenhagen (matriculated September 30, 1593 UWB) apparently come from the marriage. Perhaps these are also children of Johannes Bugenhagen III. After Bugenhagen's death, his second wife married again on October 19, 1596 in Wittenberg with Magister Johannes Knorr from Hanau.

Works

• Consilia theologia

literature

• Heinz Kathe : The Wittenberg Philosophical Faculty 1502–1817 (= Central German Research. Volume 117). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-412-04402-4 .
• Walter Friedensburg : History of the University of Wittenberg. Max Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1917
• Irene Dingel and Günther Wartenberg : The Theological Faculty Wittenberg 1502 to 1602. Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3374020194
• Gustav Kawerau: Johannes Bugenhagen Pomeranus. In: Real Encyclopedia for Protestant Theology and Church (RE). Volume 3, Leipzig 1897, page 532
• Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : General scholars - Lexicon. 1st part, A – C, column 1472, Leipzig 1750
• Wolfgang Klose and Wolfgang Harms: The Wittenberger Scholar Studbook. The studbook of Abraham Ulrich (1549–1577) and David Ulrich (1580–1623). Halle 1999, ISBN 3932776763
• Otto Vogt: Dr. Johannes Bugenhagen's correspondence. Hildesheim 1966, with a foreword and addenda by Eike Wolgast, reprint of the Stettin 1888–99 and Gotha 1910 editions, further supplemented
• Theodor Wotschke: From Wittenberg church registers. In: Archive for Reformation History (ARG). 1932
• Parish register of the church province of Saxony . Volume 1, page 98, Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-374-02083-6
• Johann Heinrich Feustking : The life of the first married preacher, Bartholomai Bernhardi von Feldkirchen . Wittenberg 1705, pp. 65-68
• Veramando: Eighth conversation in the realm of the dead Between Bartholomai Bernhardi von Feldkirch, Probsten zu Kemberg ..., Frankfurt and Leipzig 1729, pp. 19-22
• Karl Pallas: The registries of the church visits in the former Saxon spa district . First part, Halle 1906, pp. 199–204
• Helmar Junghans: Directory of the rectors, vice-rectors, deans, professors and castle church preachers of Leucorea from the summer semester 1536 to the winter semester 1574/75. In: Irene Dingel and Günther Wartenberg: Georg Major (1502–1574). A theologian of the Wittenberg Reformation. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3374023320

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weimar Luther Letters Edition
2. ^ Church book Wittenberg
3. ↑ Buchwald Wittenberger Ordiniertenbuch