Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten

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Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten

Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten (born March 14, 1706 in Wolmirstedt , † July 4, 1757 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German Protestant theologian.

Life

The eldest son of the pastor Jakob Baumgarten and his wife Rosina Elisabeth (née Wiedemann) had unstable health from an early age. He spent the first years of childhood in Berlin with his grandparents and in Wolmirstedt. From the age of six he received private tuition, developed the basic framework of the philosophical sciences and was introduced to theology by his father. After his death in 1722 he attended the education department of the Halle orphanage and also spent his rest of life in Halle an der Saale .

Despite health restrictions, Baumgarten began studying at the University of Halle in 1724 and was accepted into the house of Gotthilf August Franckes , the son of August Hermann Franckes . Initially, he mainly focused on the study of oriental languages . For this he took classes with Heinrich Christian Immanuel Frommann in Rabbinic and attended lectures by Christian Benedict Michaelis in Chaldean , Syrian , Arab and Ethiopian . In 1725 he became a teacher at the orphanage and the following year inspector of the associated Latin school. After he had already had the opportunity to practice preaching at the orphanage, in 1728 he took over a preaching position at the Market Church of Our Dear Women . Baumgarten obtained his master's degree at the university in 1731 and then took up lectures in the philosophical faculty. His younger brothers Alexander Gottlieb and Nathanael were also among his students . Together with August Gottlieb Spangenberg , Baumgarten was appointed adjunct of the theological faculty in 1732 and appointed full professor of theology in 1734 . As such, he also participated in the university's organizational tasks and was vice-rectorate in 1748/49 . Since 1748 he was a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences .

Baumgarten married Henriette Elenore von Bomsdorf (born April 16, 1712) on May 13, 1734, daughter of the royal Polish and electoral Saxon colonel Philipp Wilhelm von Bomsdorf. At least five children resulted from the marriage: Christiane Henriette (born May 31, 1736), Marie Elenora (born June 7, 1738), Siegmund Heinrich (born February 2, 1740), Charlotte Wilhelmine (born January 25, 1743) and Heinrich Jakob (born July 24, 1745)

Act

Baumgarten is considered a transitional theologian between Old and New Protestantism, who united the different and sometimes contradicting traits in the theology of the 18th century. Personally, he always remained connected to an Orthodox Lutheranism and the spirituality of Halle Pietism . Many contemporaries saw him as a supporter of Christian Wolff's philosophy , which is why Joachim Lange , Wolff's sworn enemy, intrigued against Baumgarten within the theological faculty. Baumgarten applied Wolff's demonstrative method with caution to ethics ( teaching of the lawful behavior of a Christian or theological morality , Halle 1738 etc.) and dogmatics ( Evangelical Doctrine of Faith , Halle 1759–1760, 3 vols.). At the end of its effectiveness, the preoccupation with history came to the fore. Without intending to do so, he carried out preparatory work for the development of the historical-critical method in exegesis by his student Johann Salomo Semler .

Baumgarten rendered outstanding services to German literature through his translation of the General History of the World (Halle 1744–59, 18 vols .; continued by Semler ).

Works

  • Dissertatio theologica de dictis Scripturae Sacrae probantibus . Hall 1735.
  • Admiranda singularis providentiae divinae vestigia in vindicanda per pacem Passaviensem A. 1552. et Augustanam A. 1555. sacrorum evangelicorum libertate . Hall 1755 ( digitized version )
  • Dissertatio theologico-moralis de gradibus peccatorum . Hall 1736.
  • Disputatio prima de Scriptura Sacra . Hall 1739.
  • Exam miraculi legionis fulminatricis versus Thomam Woolstonum . Hall 1740.
  • Programmata cum appendice epistolarum . Hall 1740.
  • Dissertatio theologica exhibens demonstrationem extra ecclesiam non dari salutem . Hall 1742.
  • Historia trisagii . Hall 1744.
  • Examen variarum opinionum de regno posterorum Abrahami in Aegypto . Hall 1744.
  • Excerpt from church history, from the birth of Jesus . (4 vols.). Hall 1743–62.
  • Theses theologicae elementa doctrinae sanctioris… complexae . Hall 1746.
  • News from a library in Halle (8 vols.). Hall 1748–1751.
  • News of strange books (12 vols.) Halle 1752–58.
  • Outline of a history of religious parties, or worship societies, and the same disputes as much as divisions, outside and in Christianity . Hall 1755.

literature

Web links

Commons : Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten  - Sources and full texts

References and comments

  1. ↑ Dreyhaupt mentions in his “Pagus Neletizi et Nudzici” (Zweyter Theil, p. 583) that Baumgarten “, along with the subsequent Professor Heinrich Lysio, taught a baptized Jew, Doctor Frommann, in the rabbinical language”. This information has been spread since then in biographical articles and in research literature on the history of theology. But it cannot possibly refer to a visit to lectures with Heinrich Lysius , who never taught in Halle and also did not write a rabbinical textbook that Baumgarten could have used. There is also no temporal possibility that Baumgarten and Lysius could have taken lessons from Frommann together.
  2. ↑ See Martin Schloemann: Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten , p. 36 with note 98.
  3. ↑ Martin Schloemann: Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten , p. 38f. with note 109, indicates that Baumgarten's appointment as full professor is often incorrectly given as 1743, as is the case in Martin Schmidt's biographical article in the NDB.
  4. ^ Members of the previous academies. Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 19, 2015 .
  5. ↑ See Martin Schloemann: Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten , pp. 40–50.
personal data
SURNAME Baumgarten, Siegmund Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baumgarten, Sigmund Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1706
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolmirstedt
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1757
Place of death Halle (Saale)