Johannes Piscator

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Johannes Piscator, portrait engraving by Johann Azelt
Cover picture of the so-called Gastern Bible from 1696

Johannes Piscator (born March 27, 1546 in Strasbourg , † July 26, 1625 in Herborn ) was an Alsatian Reformed theologian and Bible translator.

Life

Piscator's father died in 1550, the dates of his mother's life are not known. He was married to Ottilie Sinzing (1552-1622), who originally came from Trier.

After attending high school in Strasbourg, Piscator studied at the university there and in Tübingen . Since he turned from Lutheranism to Calvinism , he had to leave his professorship in Strasbourg in 1573, and in Heidelberg in 1576 . From 1578 he was rector of the Grafenschule in Siegen , soon afterwards professor in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . From 1581 he was rector at the grammar school in Moers .

From 1584 until his death, Piscator was professor of theology at the Herborn High School , which owed its heyday and fame to him as its first rector and probably the most outstanding theologian. In addition to textbooks, aphorisms (1589) and Bible commentaries, he mainly created a Reformed Bible translation, the Piscator Bible (1602-04), the third complete translation after the Luther and Zurich Bibles . In the city ​​and republic of Bern , on the Lower Rhine and in other Reformed areas, this translation was in ecclesiastical use for a long time. In Bern the Piscator Bible was the "State Bible" from 1684 until the end of the 18th century. H. the translation issued and ordered by the state.

Because of Piscator's translation of Mark 8:12, “I tell you: When this generation is given a sign, God punish me”, the Lutherans of his time mockingly called this Bible “punish me God Bible” and fought against it violently. Piscator's teaching that only the suffering obedience of Christ, and not the active obedience, is counted among the believers, caused even more sensation. Some Reformed theologians tolerated it, but others, especially the French, attacked it violently and rejected it as heresy at the Synod in Gap .

Piscator was a very fruitful writer who not only worked on various theological disciplines, but also wrote several writings of philosophical content. In philosophy he was a staunch supporter of the French Petrus Ramus . In 1608 Johann Mühlmann and in 1614 Johann Bernhard Gottsleben disputed at Piscator .

His descendant was the German director and theater director Erwin Piscator .

literature

Web links

Commons : Johannes Piscator  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Urs Joerg / David Marc Hoffmann (Red.): The Bible in Switzerland. Origin and History , Basel 1997.
personal data
SURNAME Piscator, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian, university professor and Bible translator
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1546
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1625
Place of death Herborn