Johannes Saliger

Johannes Saliger (also: Johann Beatus or Seliger , * in the first half of the 16th century in Lübeck ; † after 1577) was a radical Lutheran theologian and main figure in the Saliger dispute named after him .

Life

Saliger, possibly a son or relative of the Lübeck councilor Johann Salige , who died in 1530, can be grasped for the first time as a preacher in Woerden in Holland, then from 1566 in Antwerp . Because of a dispute about original sin , the radical Gnesiolutheran returned to Lübeck in 1568 and became a preacher at St. Mary's . Another theological dispute arose when Saliger and the preacher of the Jakobikirche Hinrich Fredeland began to preach in an intensification of the Lutheran doctrine of the real presence that in the Lord's Supper the elements of bread and wine immediately after the consecration by speaking the words of institution and even before the distribution ( ante usum ) are the body and blood of Christ, and that non-consecrated wine, which is refilled into the chalice to supplement the distribution, requires a new consecration by reciting the words of institution. He accused all believers of other faiths of sacramentation (i.e. Calvinism ) and accused the Lübeck clergy of profaning Holy Communion. Since Martin Chemnitz , who was called on to mediate, was also unable to resolve the dispute that had arisen over this, Saliger and Fredeland were released on July 4, 1568.

Saliger was appointed preacher at the Marienkirche in Rostock , where he committed himself to peaceful behavior, but the dispute broke out again. In 1569 the Lübeck Spiritual Ministry , represented by Senior Peter Christian von Friemersheim , senior pastor of the Jakobikirche, issued a detailed statement that affirmed the real presence on the basis of the words of institution, but one about the use , i.e. H. denied the distribution of the real presence in the elements as papistically . Neither Johannes Wigand nor David Chyträus , who were called on as mediators, were able to bring about peace. After a ducal word of power in the form of a farewell on October 5, 1569, which Saliger refused to accept, he was also dismissed here. However, until the end of the 16th century there was a group of his followers in Rostock called the Beatiners . Saliger went from Rostock to Wismar , where he lived in 1571, then to Hamburg and in 1577 to Holland, where he is missing.

effect

In 1574 the dispute broke out again in Lübeck. However, Saliger was no longer involved himself, but his friend, the city ​​physician Lambert Fredeland , a brother of the Jakobi preacher. In this case, Lucas Bacmeister and Martin Chemnitz , who had been invited by the council, which underlines the importance of the case, negotiated a settlement in the Katharinenkirche at the end of June , in which the Lübeck clergy committed to the practice of post-consecration.

The Saliger controversy can be classified into a whole series of theological disputes, mainly between Gnesiolutherans and Philippists , in the time between Martin Luther's death in 1546 and the conclusion of the Book of Concord in 1580, such as the Adiaphoristic dispute and the Osiandrian dispute , the results of which lead to the confessionalization of Lutheranism contributed.

Traces of the dispute can still be found in the concord formula of 1577 in the chapter on the consecration of the elements, and the most important points of the Rostock farewell of 1569 are laid down as a generally valid Lutheran position.

literature

• Ludwig Fromm:  Beatus, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 191.
• Jürgen Diestelmann : Actio Sacramentalis. The administration of Holy Communion according to the principles of Martin Luther in the period up to the formula of the Concord. With a source appendix and several registers, Verlag der Luth. Bookstore Harms, Groß Oesingen 1995, ISBN 3-86147-003-9
• Wolf-Dieter Hauschild : Church history of Lübeck. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1981, pp. 256-259
• Jobst Schöne : For Christ's sacramental presence. The Saliger Last Supper Controversy 1568/1569. Berlin 1966
• Julius Wiggers : The Saliger's Last Supper Controversy. In: Journal for Historical Theology. Volume 18 (= New Volume 12) 1848, pp. 613-666