Samuel Nethenus

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Samuel Nethenus (born May 15, 1628 in Rees , † March 1707 in Amsterdam , Netherlands ) was a German Reformed theologian . His half-brother was the theologian Matthias Nethenus .

Life

Born in 1628 as the son of a reformed pastor in Rees, Samuel Nethenus studied theology in Harderwijk after completing his school career at the grammar school in Wesel . In 1647 Nethenus became rector in Batenburg , in 1649 an assistant to his grandfather, who held the pastoral position in Baerl . In 1667 he took over this position as the successor to his grandfather. He appreciates the leading theologians of the Dutch Nadere Reformatie Willem Teelinck , Jodocus von Lodenstein and Jacobus Koelman . In the spirit of Nadere Reformatie, he advocates stricter Sunday sanctification and church discipline in the Classis Moers . In 1671 he proposed an entire program "For the Reformation of Life" in his church. In his congregation there were complaints about an abundance of pastoral arbitrariness, harsh legal sermons and the deterrence from going to the sacrament.

From 1671 to 1674 he was active in the defense against Labadism on the Lower Rhine. He turned against any separatism from the church. However, his discussions with Labadists in Wesel and Krefeld, which were probably unauthorized, led to complaints from the corresponding presbyteries.

In the following years he himself came into conflict with his community and the classis. In 1676 he no longer recognized third-party testimonies to attending the Lord's Supper. In his work "Sufendes Turteltäublen and Zion's lamentation of tears" he complains about grievances in the pastorate and the congregations. External church affairs and the popular church's use of the Lord's Supper are abuse and idolatry for him. In 1678 a visitation made it known that Nethenus would no longer convene the presbytery, that he alone would decide on the exclusion from the Lord's Supper and that the number of communicants was radically reduced. When he skipped the Lord's Supper at Christmas 1682 because he was not expecting a blessed communion, he was suspended in February 1683. Despite multiple efforts, Nethenus did not get the position back and finally became a pastor in Gulpen , where his work was not free from conflict.

In 1691 he was appointed consistorial councilor and court preacher of the Isenburg county to Birstein . When he came into conflict with the sovereign because of the ecclesiastical rights of the sovereign, Nethenus was again removed from his office in 1696. Nethenus then moved to Amsterdam, where he published his defense treatise "Apologia" in 1697 and died in March 1707.

Nethenus is an advocate of Dutch pietism , whose ideas he also tried to spread on the Lower Rhine . Although the communities supervised by Nethenus initially opposed this, Nethenus is considered to be the first pioneer of the pietistic character of the Reformed Church in the county of Moers .

Works (selection)

  • Lux in tenebris: Van de nootsakelikheyt der heiligde Kennisse (1657/71)
  • Learn to die because you are alive! Or: A sad poem about the much mourned fatal passing of the revered, highly and well-learned Mr. Matthias N. (1686)
  • Apologia Netheniana qua ostenduntur & extimulantur pastor & auditor re vere & nomine veri (1697)

literature

personal data
SURNAME Nethenus, Samuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German reformed theologian
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1628
PLACE OF BIRTH Rees
DATE OF DEATH March 1707
Place of death Amsterdam