Justinian von Welz

Memorial plaque for Justinian von Welz

Justinian Ernst Baron von Welz (* December 12, 1621 probably in Styria , † probably 1668 in Suriname ) was a lawyer and Lutheran theologian who campaigned for world missions. He published twelve writings. After being expelled from his Austrian homeland in the course of the Counter Reformation , he lived in Germany and then mainly in the Netherlands. Eventually he went to South America as a missionary, where he perished.

Origin and childhood

The Freiherrn von Welz (also spelled Weltz or Wels) owned several castles in Carinthia and Styria. Justinian's parents were Lutherans: Gotthard Freiherr von Weltz (1588–1630), Herr zu Eberstein and Spiegelfeld (in Sankt Lorenzen in Mürz Valley ), married Rosine von Eybisswald in 1617 . Justinian was the third of seven children. Emperor Ferdinand II expelled all Protestant nobles in 1628. Justinian's family also emigrated and moved to Chemnitz, and then - after the father's death - to an uncle in Ulm, where Justinian went to school.

Studies

Around 1640 Justinian went to Leiden in the Netherlands to study history and law . In 1641 he published his first work, a treatise against dictatorship: Tractatus de Tyrannide . Little is known about the period from 1643 to 1663. His family were so wealthy that he could devote his time to reading. His later writings show a good knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics, the historians, the Bible, the church fathers and Martin Luther . Since he was not formally a pastor, he can be described as a layman, despite his good theological knowledge that he may have acquired autodidactically.

Apparently he was living in seclusion and he chose to be celibate. He reports on his lifestyle decisions at the time in his books published in 1663 and 1664.

Publication years 1663 and 1664

The book De Vita Solitaria (Vom Einsiedlerleben) , printed in 1663, is Justinian's largest with more than 200 pages. What followed was a brief report on how a new society should be set up . In it he finally explains that he did not add the title due to his “baron class” because he “will renounce all the vanity of the world in the future”. This expresses an attitude that is unusual for a nobleman, which probably goes back to a changed attitude to life.

His twelve writings appeared in Ulm, Nuremberg, Schaffhausen and Amsterdam; most of them in 1664, including his last writing, which is about self-denial (denial of oneself) . In it he reports on his inner development and his personal belief.

Concept of a mission society

Justinian's importance lies primarily in the conception of a "Jesus-loving society" with two branches, firstly for the reform of the church in Germany and secondly for the conversion of paganism. He presented his concept for founding a missionary society in three program documents. At that time, many “societies” or “law firms” were founded, primarily for scientific and cultural purposes: These were networks that promoted the exchange of ideas.

He found a few supporters, such as Johann Georg Gichtel and Friedrich Breckling . In general, however, the reactions on the part of Lutheran princes and theologians were distant or even negative; theological and practical objections were raised. This controversy shows how remote the Lutheran theologians at that time (still) were from the idea of ​​world missions.

In his concept for world missions, Justinian assumed that missionary work cannot simply be the initiative of committed individuals willing to leave, but requires a broad base in their home country. In every major city in Germany, a merchant (as a member of the mission society to be founded) should be responsible for incoming and outgoing funds, with annual accounts. This mission society should therefore have many supporting members and be well organized and spread over many places. The focus of international work should be Amsterdam. At first, Justinian was thinking more of single short-term missionaries who should explore culture and language.

Disputes over Justinian's concept

One of Justinian's opponents was the superintendent Johann Heinrich Ursinus, an influential exponent of Lutheran orthodoxy . He said that the mission command was specifically for the apostles, and that this command had already been carried out - there were Christians on every continent. So if you were interested in the gospel, you could get to know it anyway.

Justinian presented his concept at the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1664, but was not approved by the Protestant imperial estates . So he went back to the Netherlands.

Other denominations used to be involved in world missions, for which there were probably also political reasons. For some countries promoted colonial ventures: Catholic Portugal and Spain, the Reformed Netherlands and Anglican England. With the consent of the respective colonial rulers, it was easier to set up a missionary activity in the Third World.

Missionary in South America

Justinian left the Netherlands in 1665 and came to Suriname, on the north coast of South America. He wanted to proselytize there. Since around 1668 he was lost on the Serena River, allegedly killed by wild animals.

Aftermath

Justinian was judged as follows: “His importance lies essentially in his passionate call to Protestant Christianity to take part in world mission.” In his edition of Justinian's writings (last 2010) Laubach named him in the subtitle: “Thought leader and pioneer of world mission ". To what extent Justinian's concept was actually taken up is controversial. Laubach says that was founded in 1701 British Society for Propagation of the Gospel (SPG abbreviated, German: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ) took up many points of his concept and subsequently Nikolaus von Zinzendorf and the Moravians coined. Gensichen , on the other hand, believes that “at best, his thoughts continued to have an effect” and sees no resemblance to the later SPG concept. In the end there is “the personal tragedy of this loner”. The one who was not supported by his church had finally tried it alone and was unsuccessful.

Research into his work

Wolfgang Großel published on Justinianus and also brought extensive excerpts from sources. Fritz Laubach received his doctorate in 1955 with a dissertation on Justinian. Justinian's surviving writings he put together in a volume. The twelve writings together comprise almost 300 pages. Most of these are smaller texts in the size of brochures.

literature

• Wolfgang Grössel: Justinianus von Weltz, the pioneer of the Lutheran mission . Academic bookstore Faber, Leipzig 1891.
• Viktor Hantzsch :  Welz, Justinian Ernst von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 744-746.
• Fritz Laubach (Ed.): Justinian von Welz. An Austrian as a thought leader and pioneer of world missions. All writings (= studies on the history of Christian movements of the Reformation tradition in Austria; 4). VKW, Bonn 2010 (list of publications with further editions and current locations, pp. 310–315); originally R.Brockhaus, Wuppertal 1989.
• Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, pp. 7–32 (about life and work ).
• Werner Raupp (ed.): Mission in source texts. History of the German Evangelical Mission from the Reformation to the World Mission Conference Edinburgh 1910, Erlangen / Bad Liebenzell 1990, pp. 82–92 (introduction, source extracts, lit.).
• Werner Raupp :  Welz, Justinian Ernst Baron von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 737-742. (detailed bibliography).
• Werner Raupp, Art. Welz, Justinian Ernst Baron v., In: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (4th edition), Vol. 8, Col. 1453-1454.
• Werner Wilhelm Schnabel: Justinian or How to become an enthusiast. Genesis, program and failure of the Welz mission project . In: Hartmut Laufhütte / Michael Titzmann (ed.): Heterodoxy in the early modern period . Tübingen 2006 (early modern times, 117), pp. 337–411.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Weltz, Justinian Ernst . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 54th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1886, p. 256 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 7.
2. ↑ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 8.
3. ^ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 9.
4. ↑ Andrew F. Walls: in the article Mission in TRE 23, 1994, p. 46, names him an ecumenical, ascetic lay person .
5. ^ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 12.
6. ↑ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 12 f.
7. ↑ Hans-Werner Gensichen in the article Missionsgesellschaft / Missionswerke in TRE 23, 1994, p. 83.
8. ↑ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 19 f.
9. ↑ Hans-Werner Gensichen in the article Missionsgesellschaft / Missionswerke in TRE 23, 1994, p. 83.
10. ↑ Ruth A. Tucker: To the ends of the earth. Mission history in biographies , ed. and supplemented by Karl Rennstich . Metzingen 1996, p. 64.
11. ↑ Laubach: Justinian von Welz , 2010, p. 32. - This assessment is also followed by Ruth A. Tucker's presentation: Up to the ends of the earth. Mission history in biographies , ed. and supplemented by Karl Rennstich . Metzingen 1996, p. 64 f.
12. ↑ Hans-Werner Gensichen in the article Missionsgesellschaft / Missionswerke in TRE 23, 1994, p. 83.
13. ↑ U. a. Biggest: Justinianus von Welz , 1891.
14. ^ Fritz Laubach: Justinian von Welz and his plan for a mission society within the German and English society and missionary efforts of the 17th century. Unprinted dissertation at the University of Tübingen, 1955.