Johannes Lening

Johannes Lening (born February 14, 1491 in Butzbach ; † May 3, 1566 in Melsungen ) was a Protestant theologian and reformer .

Life

Origin and youth are unknown. It is known that Lening entered Eppenberg as a Carthusian in 1514 and remained there until 1527. When he decided in favor of the Reformation, he was given the parish office in Melsungen , which he held until shortly before his death. Since he dealt with the Baptist , Landgrave Philipp von Hessen sent him to Münster together with Theodor Fabricius in 1533 . There they wrote a new church order in 39 articles. When this was ready on November 18, 1533, Lening wrote to the Landgrave that it had cost him a lot of sweat.

Since Lening was unable to speak Low German, he was unable to influence the citizens of Münster as a preacher. So he soon left town. He was later to use his experience in the fight with the Anabaptists in Hesse . In 1536 he was elected to the Anabaptist Committee in Hesse, but it did not achieve as much as Martin Bucer , who negotiated directly with the Anabaptists.

The situation became difficult for the Hessian preachers when the landgrave entered into a double marriage on June 23, 1540. Since they were forced to stand up for him, they published their expostulatio, which bears the signatures of the superintendents, including Lening's. They swore the Wittenberg reformers not to abandon their sovereigns and them. At the Eisenach conference because of the landgrave's double marriage, L. did not negotiate alone, but together with the other Hessian superintendents.

The writing "Dialogus ... whether it is against divine, natural, keyer-like and geystic rights or is contrary to having more then one woman at the same time" (spring 1541) was attributed to Lening, which went out under the pseudonym Huldricus Neobulus. He also found himself ready to take the side of the interimists after the Schmalkaldic War and to attend the Mainz Synod announced by EB Sebastian von Hausenstein.

Since the Landgrave wanted the acceptance of the Augsburg interim in order to be released from captivity, Lening was to promote the acceptance of the interim in the country. On behalf of the landgrave councilors he traveled around the Lower County, but was rejected by the population. A song of mockery was composed for him. Therefore, he declined further use in the promotion. The last experiences had broken him, so that he resigned from his office and died shortly afterwards.

literature

• F. Braune: Position of the Hessian clergy ... Dissertation Marburg 1932.
• G. Franz (Hrsg.): Sources on the Hessian Reformation History, Vol. 2-4 . Marburg 1954.
• F. Herrmann: The interim in Hessen . Friedberg 1904.
• O. Hütteroth. Old Hessen pastors of the Reformation period . 1-3. Marburg 1966, 203.
• A. Küch, W. Heinemeyer (Ed.): The political archive of Landgrave Philip of Hesse . Volume 2-4. Marburg 1910-1959.
• Georg Landau : The death of the pastor Johann Lening . In: Journal for Hessian History and Regional Studies 2 (1840), pp. 293–294.
• Robert Stupperich:  Lening, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 211 ( digitized version ).
• Alfred Uckeley : The autobiography of the Melsung priest Johann Lening from Butzbach (1564) . (Contributions to Hessian Church History 12, 1941, pp. 93–114)

Web link

• Mocking song on Lening