Johannes Gezelius the Younger

Johannes Gezelius the Younger (Portrait of Johan Erik Lindh , 1793–1865)

Johannes Gezelius the Younger (born September 6, 1647 in Dorpat , Estonia , † April 10, 1718 in Viggbyholm near Täby , Uppland ) was a Swedish - Finnish Lutheran theologian.

Life

Gezelius, a son of the then professor of Greek at the Swedish University of Dorpat and later Bishop Johannes Gezelius the Elder , grew up mainly in Dalarna , Sweden and studied from 1661 in Uppsala and Turku (Åbo) . He then went on a study trip to Germany from 1670 to 1674 to perfect his biblical and oriental philology (studied with Matthias Wasmuth in Kiel and Esdras Edzardus in Hamburg ; stay with Philipp Jacob Spener in Frankfurt am Main , with whom he corresponded for a long time), Holland, England (1671 studies at Oxford and Cambridge , inter alia with Edward Pococke and John Lightfoot ), France (inter alia with Richard Simon in Paris ) and Switzerland. In 1675 he received his doctorate in Turku as a licentiate in theology and immediately appointed associate professor. In 1676 he obtained a doctorate in theology and was appointed full professor and pastor of the St. Mary's community. In 1681 he moved to Narva as superintendent for Ingermanland . Here he tried unsuccessfully to convert the Russian Orthodox Ingrians to Lutheranism. In 1689 he returned to Finland to assist his aged father, with the prospect of becoming his successor as bishop of the Archdiocese of Åbo . After his death in 1690 Gezelius became bishop and kept this title until his death. In 1713, however, he had to leave his diocese when Finland was occupied by the Russians in the Great Northern War . He died on his estate north of Stockholm.

Work and meaning

Gezelius was an important preacher and organizer. His greatest achievements, however, are in the fields of hymnology and biblical philology. He promoted Finnish as a church language compared to Swedish, which is almost exclusively spoken by the upper class. So he published the (so-called old ) Finnish hymnbook from 1701 ( Uusi Suomenkielinen Wirsi-Kirja Niiden Cappalden canssa, jotca siihen tulevat ), which was based on the official Swedish hymnbook from 1695. This hymn book already contained several songs by Gezelius, one of which, the Swedish adaptation of Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns , is still in the current Swedish hymn book from 1986. Furthermore, he continued his father's work on an annotated edition of the Bible , the so-called Biblical Work, which dragged on for a long time. In 1711 and 1713 the New Testament could appear in two parts. The edition of the Old Testament was not completed until after Gezelius' death by his son Johannes Gezelius the Youngest (1686–1733).

After meeting Philipp Jacob Spener and Johann Jakob Schütz , Gezelius was initially close to Pietism . He even translated Schütz's Christian Commemorative Book for the Promotion of the Beginning of New Life into Swedish, but later turned away from pietism when its radical tendencies became apparent. As a bishop he was a staunch advocate of Lutheran Orthodoxy and fought against early Finnish pietists like Lars Ulstadius . As Pro Chancellor of the Academy, he also defended Orthodox doctrine against all innovations. With his insistence on a philologically precise understanding of the Bible, which must also lead to the correction of the official translations, he himself repeatedly came into conflict with orthodoxy.

literature

• Pentti Laasonen : Johannes Gezelius the Younger and the reception of German Pietism in Finland . In: Wolfenbütteler Contributions 8 (1988), pp. 121-231.
• Ralph Tuchtenhagen :  Gezelius, Johannes [Johan] d. J .. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 15, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-077-8 , Sp. 655-658.
• Pentti Laasonen: Vanhan yes uuden rajamaastossa. Johannes Gezelius nuorempi kulttuurivaikuttajana (Summary: ON THE EVE OF THE NEW. THE CULTURAL LEADER ROLE PLAYED BY JOHANNES GEZELIUS THE YOUNGER). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2009. ISBN 978-952-222-122-3 .