Paul Martig

Paul Martig (born October 5, 1869 in Ligerz , † January 21, 1933 in Chur ) was a Swiss Reformed theologian .

Life

Paul Martig was the second oldest child of pastor Stephan Martig and his wife, Anna Maria Grütter. Soon the parents moved to Riehen and Martig was trained in Basel at a private school, then at a grammar school. After he had passed his Matura , he studied Protestant theology at the University of Basel . He later moved to the University of Greifswald . Back in Basel his ordination took place in 1892 and he was accepted into the ministry. Nevertheless, he did not get a pastor's position at first because there were too many pastors in the canton at that time. Therefore, he temporarily accepted a job as a temporary worker at a Basel secondary school .

In 1895 Martig became vicar with Eberhard Vischer-Koechlin (1865–1946) in Davos . On June 28, 1897, the Evangelical-Rhaetian Synod accepted him . This was a prerequisite for becoming a pastor in the canton. Eventually he became a pastor in Davos and one year later he married the daughter of a hotelier, Margaretha Gredig.

In 1910 Martig moved to the Martinskirche in Chur , where he particularly campaigned for the youth, the poor and those at risk of alcoholism.

He belonged to the religious socialism that goes back to Leonhard Ragaz , but did not always share his opinion. He therefore endorsed the national strike in 1918, but tried to moderate the strikers. This ran counter to the general judgment that Martig tended to cause unrest. Nevertheless, an initiative came together to seek Martig's suspension. She accused him of teaching the class system to schoolchildren. Another negative aspect was that Martig was advising the strike leadership on a daily basis at the time of the strike. In order to negotiate a recall, the church council of Churs met on May 2, 1919. 406 signatures were shown which supported Martig's recall. Martig's supporters, however, started an opposite list of signatures and collected 900 votes for Martig. Therefore the project failed and Martig remained Chur pastor.

From 1930 his previously strong health began to decline. Therefore, he retired two years later. Shortly after his successor was appointed, he died on January 21, 1933 at the age of 63.

Works

• An enemy of youth (Chur 1912)

literature

• Erich Wenneker :  Martig, Paul. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 24, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-247-9 , Sp. 1062-1064.