Otto Nathanael Nicolai

Otto Nathanael Nicolai (born April 5, 1710 in Kösseln , † June 1788 ) was a German Protestant theologian .

Life

Otto Nathanael Nicolai was born on April 5, 1710 in Kösseln in the Lauchstädt district as the son of the local preacher Samuel and his wife Maria Concordia, née Schrei. At first he was tutored by private tutors , but when he was nine years old his father died and he was sent to a Delitzsch school by his mother's brother . There the teachers ensured a thorough scientific education, whereby he also learned the older languages , to which he devoted himself more, as he needed them for a theology study. From 1723 he attended the Thomas School in Leipzig , where he was trained by its rector Johann Heinrich Ernesti , among others .

In 1727 Nicolai began studying theology at the University of Leipzig . At first he mainly attended philosophy lectures , then more theological. In 1733 he defended the pamphlet De ossibus regis Edom combustis ad Amos 2,1 and became the following year after his work Schediasma philologicum de angelo Israëlitarum per desertum duce ad Exod. 23, 20, 21 appointed Magister . In the following years he gave lectures at the university and shortly afterwards became Vespers preacher at the Paulinum . He continued to hold lectures on the Hebrew language and homiletics and initially rejected appointments to other offices.

It was not until 1738 that he actually followed an appointment and became a deacon in Naumburg . In 1742 he was appointed as a deacon at the St. Ulrich Church in Magdeburg .

In 1747 the University of Helmstedt appointed Nicolai a licentiate in theology, for which he wrote his inaugural dissertation de vinea Dei satis quidem culta, sed admodum sterili, ad illustr. locum it. 5, 1. 2 defended. At the same university he defended another dissertation, Exercitatio de gratia Dei privativa ad Ps. 121, 4 sqq. and became the doctor of theology doctorate . In addition, he was promoted to pastor at the St. Ulrichskirche that year because he had shown loyalty to his profession during his deacon time. In addition, he became consenior at the ecclesiastical ministry, from then on sat with the ecclesiastical court and became a scholarch at the grammar school there .

Nicolai had been married to Johanna Sophia Drechsler, daughter of a doctor, since 1740. Several children were born from the marriage.

Nicolai died in June 1788 at the age of 78.

family

On May 31, 1740, Nicolai married Johanne Sophie Drechsler, daughter of personal physician D. Johann Melchior Drechsler. The marriage had several children.

Act

At the time, Nicolai was considered a theologian with a thorough and varied education, especially in the field of older languages. He especially wrote about the critical exegesis , with Heinrich Döring Scripture practical explanation of the two letters of Paul to the Corinthians emphasizes. Nicolai also translated a work by another theologian. However, as early as 1766, 22 years before his death, he wrote his last independent work, the Book of Confessions and Communion .

Works

• Diss. De ossibus regis Edom combustis, ad Amos 2, 1. (Leipzig 1733)
• Schediasma philologicum de angelo Israëlitarum per desertum duce ad Exod. 23, 20. 21 (Leipzig 1734)
• Clear instruction from the word of faith and good teaching, or question and answer from all articles of faith in our evangelical church, in addition to the deviations of the Roman church (Döring notes that this work was supposedly reprinted five times, but it cannot be found out when and where it appeared.)
• Meletema exegiticum de prophetarum veterum Judaicorum vestitu, ad Zach. 13, 4. (Magdeburg 1746)
• Sermon of the most holy efforts of God to the members of his visible Church (Magdeburg 1747)
• The holy urgency of God in the death of those whose souls please him; a funeral sermon
• The day of death of the righteous, which is better than the day of their birth; a booth speech
• The mercy table of Jesus Christ prepared in Holy Communion, or communion devotions
• Diss. Inaug. de vinea Dei satis quidem culta, sed admodum sterili, ad illustr. locum it. 5, 1. 2. (Helmstedt 1747)
• Tractatus theologico-exegeticus de terroribus Hezekiah in faucibus mortis constituti, ad Isa. 33, 10–13 (Helmstedt 1749)
• Dialobus diabolo prejor, sive de gradibus nequitiae diabolicae diversis. Tractatus theologicus, in quo tum veritas rei probatur, tum causae ejus probabiles afferuntur, omnisque materia annotationibus theologicis et exegeticis illustratur, cum variis indicibus sub finem adjectis, adornatus (Magdeburg 1750)
• Exercitatio exegetico-historica de Salvatore Basilidis, Caulacau dicto, ad Isa. 28, 10 Irenaei Lib. I contra Haeres. cap. XXIV (Magdeburg 1750)
• Meletema de servis Josephi medicis, ad Genes. 50, 1. 2 (Magdeburg 1752)
• The fervent Abba of the believers, or the Holy Lord's Prayer, r in nine weekly sermons; his entrusted and dearest congregation at St. Ulrich and Levin in Magdeburg declared and presented, but now, on repeated request, together with a preface by Mr. Senior Struve, put to the light (Magdeburg 1752)
• Conspectus Theologiae theticae in XXIX tabellas mnemoneuticas redactae, quibus doctrina orthodoxa plana et cohaerente method succincaque brevitate explicatur, locis scripturae classicis solidisque rationibus theologicis confirmatur, et cum definitionum ac decisionum evolutionibus proponitur (Magdeburg 1753)
• Practical explanation of the two letters Pauli to the Corinthians, previously presented in 125 public considerations of the Christian community, and now made out with attached necessary notes on general use and use, also provided with appropriate registers (Leipzig 1756/1757, two volumes)
• Diss. Inaug. Exercitatio theologica de gratia Dei privativa, ad Ps. 121, 4 sqq. (Helmstedt 1760)
• Sermon of the piety of faithful subjects through whom the throne of their king is established
• First continuation of the Magdeburg Cleri (Magdeburg 1765)
• The Harmony of the Four Evangelists, beginning by D. Martin Chemnitius, continued by D. Polyc. Lyserus, and completed by D. Joh. Gerhard. Now from the Latin original for general use and diligently translated into German, under the supervision of DON Nicolai. In addition to the necessary registers (Magdeburg 1764/1765; two parts)
• Book of Penance, Confession and Communion (Magdeburg 1766)

literature

• Heinrich Doering : The learned theologians of Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . Verlag Johann Karl Gottfried Wagner, Neustadt an der Orla, 1833, Vol. 3, pp. 69–72 ( online )
• Johann Georg Meusel : Lexicon of the German writers who died from 1750 to 1800. Gerhard Fleischer d. J., Leipzig, 1810, Vol. 10, pp. 101-103, ( online )
• Karl Gottlob Dietmann : The entire priesthood assigned to the unchanged Augspurgische Confeßion in the Electorate of Saxony and those incorporated, including some neighboring countries (Part 1, Vol. 5, Leipzig / Dresden 1763; pp. 311-314; online )

Web links

• Tripota - Trier portrait database