Luzi Michel

Luzi Michel (born January 9, 1841 in Igis ; † January 17, 1876 in Soglio GR ) was a Swiss Reformed clergyman .

Life

Luzi Michel was born as the son of the bailiff Christian Michel. At the age of 16 he attended the Bündner canton school in Chur , but left it prematurely to become a farmer in Thurgau . After completing his Matura in 1862 , he attended the University of Jena to study theology , and later moved to the University of Zurich . In 1865 he accepted a position as a parish representative in Peist and was only accepted into the Evangelical-Rhaetian Synod the following year . Then the representative office was also formally recognized. In 1869 he became pastor of the parishes Mutten GR and Soglio. He held this position for seven years until he died on January 17, 1876 in Soglio at the age of 35.

Michel was a liberal theologian . He planned to remove prayers from worship services altogether, and he also denied the miracles of Jesus Christ and his birth and death. He saw Christianity represented more through life and love than through faith and dogma . He brought his ideas to the public in the magazine Der Volksmann , which he founded in 1873 . He mocked the faith and was reported by the citizens of Chur to the canton's church council . He only wrote a warning letter, but Michel protested and criticized the approach of the Council of Churches. The synod negotiated the case and also condemned the actions of the church council. Since 1873, Michel has campaigned in politics for pastors to be allowed into the cantonal parliament . In May 1875 he was accepted into parliament himself. He was of the opinion that Switzerland's cantonal structure should be abolished and that the country should be divided into five major regions. Michel's ecclesiastical and political activity was ended by his early death, but his ideas had not been forgotten at the beginning of the 20th century.

Works

• To the Swiss Federal Audit. A bomb in the cantonal small states (Chur 1873)
• To the disregarded by the people. On the social question (Chur 1874)
• Some postulates on the new school law I. The relationship between state and church and these two powers to school (Chur 1874)

literature

• Jan Uebelhart: Michel, Luzi. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Erich Wenneker :  Michel, Luzi. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 977-979.