Otto Friedrich Horns

Otto Friedrich Horns

Otto Friedrich Hörner (born January 6, 1746 in Heroldingen , † December 28, 1781 in Augsburg ) was a German Lutheran theologian , deacon and writer .

Life

The first existing directory of Swabian writers in the 18th century was created by the pastor's son Otto Friedrich Hörner, who was born in Heroldingen on January 6, 1746. His father Johann Balthasar died a year and a half after the birth of his son. The widow then moved with her family to Schrattenhofen , from where Hörner attended the Heroldingen school. Since the mother was the sister of the general superintendent Georg Adam Michel in Oettingen , she entrusted her son to him in particular. His extensive library full of local and spiritual literature shaped the boy, who now spent a few years of youth in the royal city.

After studying at the University of Altdorf (theology, philosophy, physics, etc.) and taking his exams, Hörner went to Augsburg. There he taught a young aristocratic family, acquired the right to preach in all Protestant churches, and was ordained in 1770 . During the years of famine and epidemic that followed, he took care not only of teaching and preaching, but also of the sick, suffering and dying in the Spital am Roten Tor , where the famous Augsburger Puppenkiste is located today . This tireless commitment, during which he had to replace sick and deceased teachers and clergymen, earned him so much trust that he was called to the diaconate at the Evangelical Holy Cross in Holy Week 1772 . From then on, he bravely preached not only in churches such as St. Anna and other churches in Augsburg against the overgrowth of grain and greed as the cause of the epidemic, along with bad grain. It was now permanently used in the first Protestant church building in Augsburg (inaugurated in 1653).

During Hörner's time, the first pastor at Evangelical Holy Cross was Johann August Urlsperger , a dogmatist and founder of the Christianity Society , who was close to Pietism and who traveled a lot . Hörner wrote numerous writings, a. v. a. a songwriter dictionary. Johannes Hus as "the first Lutheran, 100 years before Luther", who was burned in Constance, is described as vividly as Martin Luther . In The Happiness of Being a Christian , Hörner opposes the view that God was more punitive in the Old Testament and particularly kind in the New. Faith was also necessary in both parts of the Bible and Christ had delivered from the curse of the law, but not from keeping the Ten Commandments.

In other writings, some of which were long poems, Hörner emphasized the need for a healthy lifestyle with exercise in the fresh air and a balanced diet because of his dealings with the sick. On August 8, 1780, he gave a sermon of joy, 250 years after the Confessio Augustana and on the occasion of the religious freedom of Protestants.

The writer and pastor, who corresponded across Germany, survived typhus twice . The third time the doctor fought against it in vain, but Hörner saw himself prepared for eternity for its end on December 28, 1781 at the age of almost 36. He left his wife, who had always eagerly supported him, with three children - four more had died earlier.

Works (selection)

• The duty not to marry - Augspurg 1760.4
• Messages from songwriters of the Augsburg hymn book. Nördlingen 1770.8, 2nd edition increased by half. Schwabach 1775.8
• Alphabetical index or lexicon of the Swabian writers living now, taken from the famous Mr. Prof. Hamberger`s Teutschlande learned in Götting, with many additions and a preface, which partly mixed opinions about the characteristic state of the current scholarship in Swabia, partly Contains ads by the now living Augspurgian artists. Noerdlingen 1771.8.
• A memory of God's help after the hard times in 1770–1773; a sermon. 1773.8.
• The great happiness of being a Christian; a sermon. Schwab. 1774.8
• Encouragement to give thanks and supplication; a sermon. Noerdlingen 1774.8
• Over Pauli high revelation and rapture in paradise and the third heaven, 1776
• Sensations with which the public free lecture began on the first day of 1776 and fw Augspurg 1770.8.
• Contributions to the Göttingen weekly papers on teaching and edifying common Christians, e.g. Against the favorite sin; in the 39th piece of the 2nd volume.

literature

• Alfred Schott: The Protestant Church of the Holy Cross , 1903, p. 34.
• Johann Christoph Heckel : Short life story of Otto Friedrich Hörner , Augsburg 1782
• Volker von Volckamer: literature, music and fine arts. In: Rieser Kulturtage Documentation Volume III / 1980, Nördlingen
• Ralf Hermann Melber: Otto Friedrich Hörner - writer and real deacon. City of Harburg (Schwaben), Harburger Hefte 13 p. 153 ff., Harburg (Schwaben) 2015.

Plaque

Since 2016, a memorial plaque in Wörnitzstrasse has been commemorating the writer and deacon in Heroldingen's birthplace. At the same house there is also a memorial plaque for the reformer Georg Karg, who was also born in Heroldingen .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Donauwörther Zeitung of April 7, 2016