Nicolaus Nielsen

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Nicolaus Nielsen, lithograph after a portrait by Jacob Jensen Hörup (1840)

Nicolaus Johann Ernst Nielsen (born April 19, 1806 in Rendsburg , † January 26, 1883 in Oldenburg ) was a German Protestant theologian .

Life

Nicolaus Johann Ernst Nielsen was trained as a gentleman's hat at a grammar school in Rendsburg . Ever since he was a child he had wanted to take up a ministry; so he began in 1826 to study theology at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . He later moved to the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin , where he heard lectures by Friedrich Schleiermacher and Daniel Amadeus Neander . In 1830 he passed his official examination and was then employed by Schleiermacher as a private tutor for Claus Harm's youngest son. Nielsen received his first pastor in 1832 in Groß Sarau . After eight years there, he moved to the Trinity Church (Schleswig) in Schleswig ; at the same time he was also provost of the Hüttener Harde , clerical member of the government of Schleswig-Holstein and the senior consistory . On June 10, 1841 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Dannebrog Order (later revoked).

Another five years later, in 1847, he was also senior consistorial councilor . In 1848 the Provisional Government appointed him general superintendent of the German-speaking population in the Duchy of Schleswig , while they appointed Johannes Andreas Rehhoff to the parallel office for Danish-speaking pastoral care. The University of Kiel awarded Nielsen an honorary theological doctorate a year later . During this time he was also a member of the state assembly of Schleswig-Holstein . A paper by Nielsen published in 1849 was followed by a dispute with Ludwig Nikolaus Scheele , but when the dispute died down, Nielsen lost his offices on April 8, 1850, as he had been involved in the German side during the Schleswig-Holstein uprising .

Immediately afterwards he moved to Kiel , where he held devotions at the monastery church . In 1851 he became pastor of Eutin and also superintendent of the Principality of Lübeck, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . The problem with this, however, was that the area was surrounded by Holstein, and if Nielsen entered it, this should have been punished with capture by the Danish government ( he was expressly excluded from the amnesty of 1851 ). It was just right for him that in 1853 he was sent to Oldenburg as an upper court preacher and councilor . After 1867 there to the secret Oberkirchenrat had been promoted, he entered in 1879 into the retirement . He continued to spend this time in Oldenburg, where he died on January 26, 1883 at the age of 76.

Rating

Like the greater part of the Oldenburg pastors, Nielsen took a tolerant theological mediation position. He succeeded in mediating between the opposing confessional-Lutheran and Protestant-liberal positions within the Protestant Church of Oldenburg and promoted the equalization of the internal Protestant denominational differences. He supported the Gustav-Adolf-Verein , which was active in this sense, as its member in the provincial and central board. Under his leadership, other pastors and parishioners from the Oldenburg region interested in Christian missions joined the North German Mission in Bremen . His interest in religious education was evident as a member of the Evangelical High School College, in which he participated in all decisions relating to the school system and teacher training, as well as in various published publications. Here, too, his equal nature came into its own.

family

On May 29, 1833, Nielsen married Johanna Katharina Juliana Drewes. Their daughter Magdalene (1834–1864) was the mother of the Goethe researcher Hans Gerhard Gräf .

Awards

Works

  • The Lord's Beatitudes in Nine Sermons (1838)
  • The seven letters of Revelation John in eight sermons (1840)
  • Liturgical Studies and Voices on a Church Agenda (1842)
  • Materials on the appeal for Schleswig-Holstein and its clergy, with the communication of acts, to all, in Denmark no less than in Germany, who fear God and do justice (1849)
  • Lectures in relation to the Schleswig-Holstein state affair (1851)
  • Literal sense and structure of the little Lutheran catechism. Eutin (1852-1853)
  • Confirmation preparation (Oldenburg 1860)
  • History of the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. Oldenburg (1880)
  • To the statistics of the Oldenburg Evangelical Lutheran Church. Oldenburg (1881)

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Christian Friedrich Callisen General superintendent for Schleswig
(for pastoral care in German)
1848 - 1850 		Christoph Carl Julius Asschenfeldt


personal data
SURNAME Nielsen, Nicolaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nielsen, Nicolaus Johann Ernst (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Rendsburg
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1883
Place of death Oldenburg