Nicolaus Zapf

Nicolaus Zapf (born February 2, 1600 in Milbitz ; † August 29, 1672 in Weimar ) was a German Lutheran theologian .

Life

Born as the son of the preacher Esaias Zapf († 1627 in Königsee / Thuringia) and his wife Anne (née Beckin), he received his first education from his father. At the age of fourteen he attended high school in Arnstadt , where he acquired the skills needed to attend university. In 1620 he moved to the University of Jena , which he had to leave for financial reasons. But he was able to return in 1622 to acquire the academic degree of master 's degree. In 1623 he moved to the University of Wittenberg , where in the winter semester he obtained permission to read for universities as a master's degree. Through the mediation of Erasmus Schmidt , he was entrusted with teaching the children of the Bitterfeld magistrate, Michael Schneider. Michael Schneider and Konrad Viktor Schneider were among those children .

After successfully holding private lectures, he was accepted into the Faculty of Philosophy as an adjunct on May 1, 1626 . In his job as a university lecturer, he gained such a reputation that he was offered various positions as a high-ranking clergyman. However, Zapf wanted to travel to his homeland during the Thirty Years' War . However, he was detained in Erfurt due to the war and stayed there for a few weeks due to the uncertainty on the country roads. During this time he got to know, among other things, the council that offered him a theological professorship at the University of Erfurt . He couldn't refuse this offer and accepted the offer.

After he had given his inaugural address de academiis amplificandis in the Auditorium Coelieum on October 3, 1633, he did his doctorate with his colleagues Georg Großenhain (1601–1638) and Bartholomäus Elsner (1596–1662), chaired by Johann Mathäus Meyfart (1590–1642) ), on March 2, 1634 doctor of theology. After Starckklopff's death, he was also given the professorship for the Hebrew language in 1637 and, after Grossenhain left the academy, the professorship of the Augsburg confession in the same year . In 1642 Wilhelm IV of Saxe-Weimar appointed him his church council. In the following year he succeeded Johannes Kromayer as court preacher and general superintendent in Weimar. In this function he took part in various church conferences and represented the position of Lutheran orthodoxy .

In terms of genealogy, it should be noted that he had married the councilor's daughter Magarethe Elisabeth Nürnbergerin in Erfurt in 1634. This marriage gave birth to fourteen children, nine sons and four daughters. His sons Gottfried Zapf (1635–1664), Salomon Zapf , who married Catharina Susanne Alberti's niece of Johann Thomasius and Jakob Thomasius , and Wilhelm Zapf also gained prestige in the 17th century.

Selection of works

de Spiritu in genere eiusdemque conceptu
de Liberalitate
de causa et causato
de elementis
de igne elemeniari
de modestia
de magistratu
de calido innato
de objecto cuiuslibet disciplinae
de anima vegetante
de mettibus seu intelligentiis
Theoremata quaedam e practica philosophia excerpta
de mundo
Trias argumentorum contra Matth. Mant. Hungarum
Assertiones aliquot philosophicae. Wittenberg 1627
De stellis. Wittenberg 1626
Tractatus distinctionum ac limitationum, quarum luce practicae philosophiae praeccpta perspicua redduntur. Wittenberg 1631
Dubia physica. Wittenberg 1632
Opusculum Theologicum. Nuremberg 1637?
Compendium locorum theologicorum, articulos fidei complectens. Weimar 1644
Catena aurea articulorum fidei. Weimar 1645
Hodogeticum philosophiae practicae. Wittenberg 1606
Philosophia universa. Jena 1663
Dear-hearted guards were called out because of the creeping Weigliann murder torches. Ulm 1639
Investigation sermon on the Gospel Luc XIX. Weimar 1653

literature

Paul Tschackert: Zapf, Nicolaus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 694 f.
Otto Bock: The Reform of the University of Erfurt during the Thirty Years' War. Max Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1908, p. 39
Zapf, Nicolaus. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 60, Leipzig 1749, column 1620-1623.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Zapf, Nicolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Lutheran theologian
DATE OF BIRTH	February 2, 1600
PLACE OF BIRTH	Milbitz
DATE OF DEATH	August 29, 1672
Place of death	Weimar