Paul Fagius

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Paul Fagius (copper engraving)

Paul Fagius , also Latinized as Paulus Fagius , i.e. Paul Büchlin (* 1504 in Rheinzabern , † November 13, 1549 in Cambridge ), was a German theologian , reformer and Hebraist .

Life

education

Paul Büchlein (or Bucher), latinized Fagius (" little book "), was born in Rheinzabern in 1504 as the son of a teacher and councilor, his mother came from Heidelberg . In 1515 he attended a secondary school there and then began his studies at the University of Heidelberg . In 1518 he attended the Heidelberg disputation . At the age of 17, he passed his baccalaureate exam. At this time, the born Paul Büchelin changed his name and called himself Paul Fagius.

Johannes Brenz and Martin Bucer were among his teachers in Heidelberg . Bucer, 13 years his senior, became Fagius' friend and lifelong companion. It was also Bucer who advised Fagius, who was unusually talented in Hebrew, the holy language of the Old Testament, to continue his Hebrew studies in Strasbourg . From 1522 onwards, Fagius deepened his knowledge there with the Hebraist Wolfgang Capito and was also active as a teacher.

Teacher and pastor in Isny

In 1527 he became the school principal in the free imperial city of Isny in Swabia and in the same year married Agnes Buchbaum from Isny. Four children joined the family. Fagius took part in the Bern disputation , where he also met the reformer Ulrich Zwingli . Fagius was involved in Isny ​​joining the Protestation in Speyer in 1529 and joining the Schmalkaldic League in 1531 .

At the end of 1535 the people of Isny ​​sent Fagius to Strasbourg on Bucer's recommendation so that he could complete his theological training there. They wanted to make him their pastor. In the Isny ​​merchant Peter Buffler, Fagius had a generous patron who gave him great support.

In 1537 Paul Fagius returned to Isny ​​as a pastor, where he worked successfully for five years. The great passion of the teacher, pastor and reformer was Hebrew. Fagius made it his business to teach Hebrew to young people, especially budding theologians, and to promote the study of the language among his colleagues. He also dealt with the rest of Hebrew literature, especially the works of the rabbis who dealt with the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

First Hebrew printing company - with Levita

Printer's mark from Fabius' Isny ​​print shop
Elias Levita: Lexicon chaldaicum, Isny, Fagius and Frog Eaters, 1541

In Isny ​​he founded the first Hebrew printing company in Germany together with the Jewish grammarian and editor Elijah Levita , who had traveled from Venice to Isny ​​because he could print here with a specialist. They worked together for two years. One of the works published during this collaboration is the book Shemot Devarim , an old Yiddish-Hebrew-Latin-German dictionary (Isny 1542). When conflicts arose in the community in Isny ​​in 1542, he was offered several positions.

For almost two years he was pastor in Constance and organized the church there. In 1544 he took up the professorship for the Old Testament and the associated parish at the University of Strasbourg . Elector Friedrich II of the Palatinate appointed him in 1546 with the preparation of the official introduction of Protestantism to Heidelberg and with the reform of the University of Heidelberg . However, Fagius encountered such strong opposition that his attempt at university reform failed and he returned to Strasbourg in 1547.

Teaching ban and end of life in England

With the beginning of the Counter Reformation , the pressure on Paul Fagius grew. As a staunch opponent of the Augsburg interim , he was therefore excluded from the university and left Strasbourg together with Bucer in April 1549 to go to England and later to be the Regius Professorship for Hebrew at the University of Cambridge . There he taught Hebrew philology and the interpretation of the Old Testament. After only a short period of work, he succumbed to a fever-related illness in November 1549.

During the Catholic Counter-Reformation in England his bones were exhumed in 1556; Fagius was sentenced to death by fire posthumously in a show trial . His bones were burned in public. In 1560 he was rehabilitated.

Fonts

  • Sententiae vere elegantes piae (Edition of the Sayings of the Fathers ), Isny ​​1541
  • Perousch (exegetical work on Genesis 1-4), Isny ​​1542 (changed edition Konstanz 1543)
  • Sepher Aemana ie liber fidei seu veritatis , Isny ​​1542
  • Sententiae morales Ben Syrae; Tobias hebraice (edition of the books Jesus Sirach and Tobias with Latin commentary), Isny ​​1542
  • Precationes hebraicae (Jewish prayers), Isny ​​1542
  • Compendaria Isagoge in linguam Hebraeam , Konstanz 1543
  • Paraphrasis Onkeli Chaldaica (Latin translation and explanation of Targum Onkelos ), Strasbourg 1546

Editing:

  • Elias Levita: Tischbi , Isny ​​1541
  • Elias Levita: Methourgeman (Chaldean Lexicon), Isny ​​1541
  • Elias Levita: Hebrew Grammar , Isny ​​1542
  • David Kimchi: Commentary on the first 10 psalms, Isny ​​1541, Konstanz 1544

literature

Web links

Commons : Paul Fagius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Biography, Part 1, accessed on November 6, 2017
  2. Biography, Part 2, accessed November 6, 2017
  3. ^ Rolf Heyers: Dr. Georg Marius, called Mayer von Würzburg (1533-1606). (Dental) medical dissertation Würzburg 1957, p. 5.
  4. Biography, Part 3, accessed on November 6, 2017
  5. 4 Enoch .