Nicolaus Sander

Nicolaus Sander ; and Nicholas Sander (* 22. December 1750 in Köndringen ; † 21st January 1824 in Karlsruhe ) was a German Protestant clergyman.

Life

family

Nicolaus Sander was the son of Nicolaus Christian Sander (1722–1794), special superintendent and church councilor and his wife Auguste Bernhardine, born. from Boskin. His brother was the writer Heinrich Sander .

education

After his father's lessons at home, he attended the pedagogy in Emmendingen and the secondary school in Lörrach . From there he came to the Karlsruhe high school . After graduating from high school, he began to study theology at the University of Halle and heard, among other things, lectures from Johann Salomo Semler , with whom he also lived, and from Johann August Nösselt , who taught exegesis , dogmatics and church history . After three years he finished his studies and passed the theological exam in Karlsruhe in 1770, whereupon he was accepted as a parish candidate. Back at his place of birth, he first practiced preaching and continued his theological and philological studies, but also occupied himself with history, especially natural history interested him as did his brother.

Mundingen, Pforzheim and Unterwössingen

In 1772 he came to Mundingen near Müllheim as a parish adjunct , but also continued his classical studies here and in 1775 was appointed prorector at the pedagogy in Pforzheim by Margrave Karl Friedrich von Baden . He taught according to the methods of Johann Bernhard Basedow , which were only just becoming known at the time, but only took over those parts that made sense to him and thus developed an independent educational approach. As a friend of music, who could also play the piano with skill and expression, he was at the head of various musical associations in Pforzheim. At the same time he also used various opportunities to preach in Pforzheim. In 1789 he was promoted to pastor in Unterwössingen by the government .

Karlsruhe

He received the title of professor on October 12, 1791 and became a teacher of the first and second grades at the Gymnasii illustris , later the Lyceum , in Karlsruhe; There he made friends with his colleague Johann Peter Hebel , who later became the author of Alemannic dialect literature . In addition, he received the invitation to preach once a month in the court church. In 1798 he became principal teacher and full professor of history and eloquence and in the following period he was appointed director of the lyceum; in the same year he received the rank of council of churches, which was followed in 1803 by the appointment to the real council of churches, with a seat and vote in the college, which the later state and cabinet councilor Dr. Johann Nicolaus Friedrich Brauer was the director.

Due to the unification of a large part of the Rhine Palatinate , which has now been elevated to the Electorate of Baden , the dissolution of the previous Lutheran consistory in Heidelberg and the takeover of its business by the college in Karlsruhe, it became necessary to redistribute the tasks within the college . Nicholas Sander understood it after a short time to give the Lutheran Church of the lowlands conformity to the Church of the old country, here he found the support of Karl Friedrich von Baden , the destitute Church of the lowlands with a fund of 12,000 guilders for the construction and Improvement of parishes and schools, in addition to the establishment of a parish aid fund to support needy Lutheran pastors and school teachers, which was largely due to Nicolaus Sander.

After Johann Nicolaus Friedrich Brauer in 1803 with his writing Thoughts about a church association both protest. Religious parties had developed the idea of ​​uniting the Evangelical Lutheran and the Evangelical Reformed Church in the country, Nicolaus Sander put this idea into practice for the most part. In 1807 the Reformed Council of Churches in Heidelberg was merged with the Lutheran Council of Churches to form the Protestant Upper Church Council in Karlsruhe . The professor of theology Johann Ludwig Ewald , who was appointed from Bremen to Heidelberg in 1805, joined this senior church councilor .

During this time, Count Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau founded the General Study Commission, to which he appointed Nicolaus Sander, Johann Nicolaus Friedrich Brauer and Johann Ludwig Ewald. This commission had the task of reforming the lower and higher education system as well as the institutions for the arts and sciences and making them equal throughout the country. General plans should be drawn up for the schools of the three denominations, and the best should then be discussed. The commission was dissolved again when Count von Bentzel Sternau resigned from Baden, but the plans were pursued in other ways. The three men continued to work successfully on the unification of the two Catholic and Reformed high schools in Heidelberg and Mannheim, which was changed to a lyceum, an institution common to all three denominations.

In 1809 the college was abolished and transformed into an evangelical church section of the Ministry of the Interior; Nicolaus Sander also joined the special church and examination committee.

After the death of the previous director of the pastor widow and school teacher widow fund, Pastor Hofmann from Blankenloch, the management of the two funds was transferred to him and he was able to improve the support of the widows considerably through various measures.

Nicolaus Sander remained unmarried throughout his life.

Church union

Lutheran pastors and school teachers received Reformed overseers or special superintendents and the Reformed pastors and teachers received Lutheran overseers and special superintendents; to this end, a standardization of public holidays and festive days was introduced. As a result, Lutheran vicariates and parishes were filled with Reformed candidates due to a lack of Lutheran candidates. From 1817 onwards, the congregations suggested that both churches should be united. This request was taken into account and on July 2, 1821 the first session of the general synod began in the city church in Karlsruhe , which Nicolaus Sander opened with a speech, which was then held on July 26, 1821 to unite the two regional churches to form the United Evangelical-Protestant Church in the Grand Duchy Baden led. She was so after the Evangelical Church in Prussia in 1817 and the United Protestant Evangelical Christian Church of the Palatinate (Palatinate state church) one of the first United regional churches in Germany ( Uniate Church ) and to the Palatinate probably the second church in which a confession Union conducted has been. Nicolaus Sander was the driving force behind this association, who took on most of the preparatory work, drawing up drafts that were put to the vote and summarizing the wishes and proposals of the individual dioceses , which were then submitted to the general synod.

In 1823 the Catholic parishes of Mühlhausen an der Würm , Lehningen and Steinegg near Pforzheim, headed by the landlord Julius von Gemmingen-Steinegg and the previous pastor Aloys Henhöfer , separated from the Catholic Church and asked to join the Protestant community. Nicolaus Sander also played a key role in this transfer. After Aloys Henhöfer, at the insistence of the Catholic Church, was not allowed to stay as a pastor in Mühlhausen, there was a risk that the community would have to accept financial losses due to the lack of a pastor of the country, provided the necessary financial support; Because the request was published in the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung and thus became known abroad, the result far exceeded expectations. With the support of 30,000 florins, the community was able to build its own house of worship.

In the necrology written by Johannes Bähr , who was also involved in the creation of the union, he gives a detailed report of the various conferences that led to the unification of the churches.

Honors

Nicolaus Sander received an honorary doctorate in theology from the theological faculty of Heidelberg University.

Web links

• Sander, Nicolaus , index entry: German biography .

literature

• Nicolaus Sander . In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 2nd year, 1824, 1st part. Ilmenau 1826. pp. 185-231.