Martin Chemnitz (theologian)

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Martin Chemnitz, engraving by Robert Boissard
Martin Chemnitz
Martin Chemnitz in the middle of an emergency bill , Treuenbrietzen 1921

Martin Chemnitz (born November 9, 1522 in Treuenbrietzen , † April 8, 1586 in Braunschweig ) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer .

Live and act

Martin was the son of the cloth maker Paul Chemnitz († 1533) and his wife Euphemia Kaltenborn. He initially attended school in Treuenbrietzen, 1536 in Wittenberg and 1539 in Magdeburg . In 1542 he became a teacher at the school in Calbe . In 1543 he began studying at the University of Frankfurt (Oder) , after having been a teacher in Wriezen, he switched to the University of Wittenberg in 1545 , where he studied mathematics and astrology on the advice of Philipp Melanchthon .

At the same time he listened to Martin Luther's lectures on an autodidactic basis at the theological faculty . In 1547 Melanchthon suggested to him to follow the example of his cousin Georg Sabinus and go to Königsberg in Prussia . Chemnitz was initially the head of the school in Kneiphof and was one of the first to acquire the master's degree in artistic arts at the newly founded University of Königsberg in 1548 .

At first he worked as a horoscope writer and calendar maker before he got a position as librarian at the court with Albrecht I of Brandenburg-Ansbach on April 5, 1550. This enabled him to focus more on theological studies. As a scion promoted by Melanchthon, however, he got into problems with Andreas Osiander and was drawn into the Osiandrian dispute . That is why he went back to Wittenberg in April 1553, where he soon belonged to Melanchthon's closest student group and on January 15 became a member of the philosophical faculty. As such, he gave lectures on the Loci communes of Melanchthon.

At the invitation of the Braunschweig superintendent Joachim Mörlin , who was a friend from the Königsberg time, he visited Braunschweig from August 6 to 12, 1554, where Mörlin made him the proposal to accept the office of coadjutor as his deputy. Johannes Bugenhagen ordained him on November 25th, he was introduced to the office on December 12th and took office on December 15th. In Braunschweig, influenced by Mörlin, Chemnitz increasingly took a detached attitude towards Melanchthon.

When the Lower Saxon cities tried in January 1557 to persuade Melanchthon to support the Thuringian Gnesiolutherans , and Chemnitz advocated it to settle the adiaphoristic disputes in Wittenberg, he was disappointed by Melanchthon's rejection, so that the relationship with Melanchthon suffered a break.

After Chemnitz took part in the Worms Union Colloquium with the Catholics in 1557, its reputation grew. He also got involved in the controversy over the doctrine of the Lord's Supper when Albert Hardenberg was dismissed for his alleged Calvinist attitude. In 1561 he wrote his repetitio, in which his tripartite division of idiom communication was published for the first time. In 1565 Chemnitz wrote the Examen decretorum Concilii Tridentini, in which he critically analyzed the Tridentine Council resolutions .

1564 he came to the Maulbronner colloquium with John Brenz , with whom he tried to reconcile the different teaching styles of the Wittenberg theologians with the Tübingen theologians. He also participated with Mörlin in the settlement of the Osiandrian dispute in 1567. When Mörlin went to Samland, Chemnitz took over his vacant position as Superintendent of Braunschweig on October 15, 1567. In order to meet the conditions of the Braunschweig church order, he received his doctorate in theology from the University of Rostock in 1568 .

On July 28, 1568, Duke Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel called Chemnitz to introduce the Reformation in his duchy. To this end, he carried out visitations in the duchy in 1568 and drafted the church regulations in 1569. In the beginning he was able to win Jacob Andreae and in 1570 Nikolaus Selnecker for his endeavors . In 1576 he wrote the Corpus doctrinae Julium, was involved in founding the University of Helmstedt and worked on the drafting of the concord formula .

In 1578 there was a break with Duke Julius when he had his two younger sons ordained with tonsure according to the Catholic rite and had his eldest son Julius consecrated and introduced as Bishop of Halberstadt with Roman ceremonies . Julius resigned from the work of concord and gave free space to the mild Lutheranism in his duchy, which was now slightly oriented towards Filipino features. Chemnitz protested against this disagreement and was nevertheless able to persuade his father to sign the Book of Concord on February 6, 1580 . Chemnitz resigned his office on August 9, 1584 and was ailing until his death in 1586. He was buried in the Martinikirche in Braunschweig.

family

Chemnitz married Anna Jeger in 1555 (* September 1533 in Köthen; † November 30, 1603 in Braunschweig), the daughter of the lawyer in Köthen, Wittenberg, Helmstedt and Braunschweig Lic. Jur. Hermann Jeger (* Arnstein) and his wife Eva Hane, daughter of the Princely Anhalt Council and Mayor Peter Hane. From this marriage there were three sons and seven daughters:

  • Martin Chemnitz (May 28, 1556 - May 9, 1557)
  • Anna Chemnitz I (November 4, 1557 - November 14, 1563)
  • Magdalena Chemnitz (born July 27, 1559), married to the mayor of Braunschweig Jordan Straube
  • Martin Chemnitz (born October 15, 1561 in Braunschweig, † August 26, 1627 in Schleswig), councilor and chancellor of Duke Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein
  • Anna Chemnitz (born January 14, 1564), married to the pastor of St. Marien in Braunschweig Jacob Gottfried
  • Paul Chemnitz (* March 8, 1566; † 1614), canon in the collegiate church of St. Blasius in Braunschweig, married. with Barbara Lücke, the daughter of the Mayor of Braunschweig Hermann Lücke and his wife Ilse Grünhagen (Grönhagen)
  • Eva Chemnitz (born May 18, 1568), married. with Franz Haußmann (Princely Brunswick Council)
  • Margaretha Chemnitz (August 4, 1570 - June 5, 1579)
  • Julia Chemnitz (born February 7, 1573), married. with the lawyer Dr. jur. Bernhard Bungensted
  • Hedwig Chemnitz (April 16, 1575 - October 15, 1577)

Works

  • Repetitio sanae doctrinae de vera praesentia corporis et sanguinis Domini in coena. Leipzig 1561, German translation 1561 Johann Zanger .
  • Examen decretorum Concilii Tridentini. Frankfurt / Main 1566–73, German and French translation Herg. Eduard Preuss 1861, Darmstadt 1972, German by R. Bendixen and Ch. E. Luthardt, 1884.
  • De duabus naturis in Christ, de hypostatica earum unione, de communicatione idiomatium… Jena 1570.
  • Theologiae Jesuitarium praecipura capita. Cologne and Leipzig 1562.
  • Loci Theologici. published by Polycarp Leyser the Elder , Frankfurt / Main 1591.
  • Polycarp Leyser the Elder (Ed.): Harmonia evangelica. (Unfinished edition) Frankfurt / Main 1593 and Johann Gerhard Geneva 1641.
  • Postilla or exposition of the Gospels. Frankfurt / Main 1593.

Memorial days

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Chemnitz in the ecumenical dictionary of saints

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chemnitz, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran theologian
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1522
PLACE OF BIRTH Treuenbrietzen , Mark Brandenburg
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1586
Place of death Braunschweig