Jonas Schlichting

Jonas Schlichting

Jonas Schlichting (also: Jonas Schlichting von Bukowiec , Polish: Jonasz Szlichtyng ; * 1592 in Bukowiec ; † November 1, 1661 in Selchow ) was a Polish theologian and leading exponent of Unitarianism in the 17th century.

life and work

Schlichting was born in Bukowiec ( Bauchwitz ) in Posen / Greater Poland in 1592 . His parents were also members of the Unitarian Church ( Polish Brothers ). Schlichting studied from 1616 at the University of Altdorf in Nürnberg theology and, after completing his studies, pastor of the Unitarian congregation in Raków ( Rakau ) and later in Luclawice. He also went on several mission trips . In 1638 he went to Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania , where he tried to settle the dispute between the Nonadoranten , who refused to worship Jesus, and the other Unitarians within the Transylvanian Unitarian Church . In 1642 Schlichting wrote a Unitarian confession ( Confessio fidei Christianæ ), which was recognized as a binding teaching confession of the Unitarians. Schlichting then experienced the beginning of the Counter Reformation and the associated persecution of the Unitarians. At the Reichstag in 1647, his Confessio was thrown into the flames by the hand of an executioner and the author was publicly ostracized. A year later, his confession formed the basis of the Polish parliament's outlawing of Unitarianism . Schlichting had to go underground in 1647 and was only able to perform publicly in Krakow in 1651 under the protection of Swedish troops . In 1658 he moved to the Pomeranian Stettin , where he lived until 1660 and met with the Unitarian theologian and historian Stanislaus Lubienietzki , among others . In June 1661 Schlichting and his two sons Johann and Jonas took part again in a Unitarian synod in the Silesian Kreuzburg , which was the center of the Silesian Unitarians. Half a year later Schlichting died in Żelechów ( Selchow ) in Neumark in Brandenburg , in what is now the Lebus Voivodeship .

In literary terms, arbitration appeared primarily as a biblical exegete and wrote several commentaries on New Testament writings.

literature

• Adolf Link:  Schlichting von Bukowiec, Jonas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 489.
• Martin Schmeisser: Socinian Confessions: The Rakow Catechism of Valentin Schmalz (1608) and the so-called Soner Catechism. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-05-005200-7 .
• Olaf Reese: Lutheran metaphysics in dispute. Reports of Calov's anti-Socinian campaigns. Dissertation, Göttingen 2008, p. 149.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Polish Baroque, European Contexts, Proceedings of an International Seminar held at The Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, June 27-28, 2011. (PDF) University of Warsaw, accessed October 12, 2014 .