Johannes Knipstro

Johannes Kniepstrow

Johannes Knipstro (born May 1, 1497 in Sandau (Elbe) , † October 4, 1556 in Wolgast ) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer .

Life

Nothing is known about his parents' home and his youth. Already in his early youth he entered the Franciscan order and joined a Silesian convent. His superiors sent him to Frankfurt (Oder) to study. Apparently he pursued his studies there within the order, since he was not enrolled at the university. When Martin Luther emerged with his 95 theses and the indulgence dispute in Frankfurt found its aftermath with Johann Tetzel's promotion , Knipstro fearlessly took the side of the Augustinian from Wittenberg. His appearance against Tetzel is of course legendary. The contemporaries do not report anything about it.

By taking sides with Luther, he was transferred to the Pyritz Monastery . But even there he represented the Reformation line and preached the gospel incessantly. When the Bishop of Cammin tried to arrest him, he escaped to Stettin under the protection of Duke Bogislaw X , with whom Paul von Rode was already a preacher .

From 1523 or 1524 he was married to the former nun from Pyritz Anna von Steinwehr , he was soon in Stargard , then again in Stralsund as a Protestant preacher. His proclamation had the consequence that the Evangelicals got the majority in the city government. Stralsund became a Protestant city. Johannes Aepinus drew up the church order, which was carried out immediately. He was close friends with Aepinus and Hermann Bonnus and called them his "sincerely known and faithful friends".

While he was initially a deacon at St. Marien , he was soon to become the first pastor at St. Nikolai . From here he made numerous trips to work for the Reformation in the Pomeranian Church. He preached in Greifswald in 1531 , participated in the decisive state parliament in Treptow in 1534 and took part in the theological convention in Hamburg when it was a matter of fending off Anabaptists and Zwinglians. He came first among the Pomeranian preachers.

Therefore, Duke Philip I appointed him court preacher in Wolgast in 1535 and soon afterwards gave him the post of general superintendent of Pommern-Wolgast, to which he was introduced by Johannes Bugenhagen . From now on he campaigned for the expansion of church life and, above all, ensured that Christian life was cultivated, synods were called and questions of faith were discussed.

When the University of Greifswald was reorganized in 1539 , he made himself available for the theological professorship. Until 1543 he administered this office on the side, from 1543 to 1552 full-time. In 1544 and 1547/48 he was rector of the university. We are only vaguely informed about his theological activities. In the days of the Augsburg interim he had manly confessed to the confession and with a concern about the interim of the Pomeranian preach. bravely opposed it. If the dukes nominally accepted the interim, he was silent, especially since the church system remained unchanged. When the Osiandrian dispute played its part in Pomerania , he wrote the answer of the theologians and pastors in Pomerania to the Osiandri Confession , which was printed in Wittenberg in 1552 .

In the 1950s he was embroiled in a fruitless dispute with the superintendent Johannes Freder on Rügen , who was subordinate to the Danish Crown . This so-called ordination dispute was decided in Wittenberg, but still continued. Knipstro was in full agreement with the Wittenberg teachers. The Greifswald Synod of 1556 also took his side entirely. He experienced this satisfaction before death reached him. The building of the Pomeranian Church through synods, visitations and consistories was his work.

See also

• List of rectors at the University of Greifswald

literature

• Hermann Franck:  Knipstro, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 298 f.
• Günther Ott:  Knipstro, Johann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 188 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Real Encyclopedia for Protestant Theology and Church , Volume 10, page 594
• Johannes Madey :  Johannes Knipstro. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 138-139.
• F. Bahlow: Johannes Knipstro, the first general superintendent of Pomerania-Wolgast. In: Writings of the Association for Reformation History. Vol. 62, Halle 1898 (page 58 list of his works).
• M. Reu: Sources on the history of church teaching. 1.1 Gütersloh 1904, p. 423f.
• Martin Wehrmann : Establishment of the Protestant school system in Pomerania. Szczecin 1905.
• R. Plantiko: Pomeranian Reformation History. Greifswald 1922.
• Hellmuth Heyden : Church history of Pomerania. Vol. 1, Cologne 1957, pp. 203ff.
• Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's correspondence people. Vol. 12, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2005, ISBN 3-7728-2258-4

Web links

• Literature about Johannes Knipstro in the state bibliography MV

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Superintendent of Pommern-Wolgast 1535–1556	Jacob Runge