Theodor Berckelmann

Theodor Berckelmann (born November 9, 1576 in Neustadt am Rübenberge , † July 30, 1645 in Göttingen ) was a German Lutheran theologian , Latin poet and general superintendent of Göttingen .

Life

The son of the citizen Johannes Berckelmann († 1577) and his wife Adelheit (née Brasen, † 1609) attended school in his hometown until the age of fourteen. In 1590 he continued his education in Wolfenbüttel , was able to attend the convent schools in Grauenhof and Amelunxborn supported by scholarships , was in Riddagshausen in 1593 and at the Mariental convent school in 1596 . In 1598 he became a conventual of the Amelunxernborn monastery , moved to the University of Helmstedt in 1598 to complete philosophical and theological studies, and enjoyed the lessons of Caspar Pfaffrad (1562–1622), Johannes Caselius (1533–1613) and Cornelius Martini (1567–1621) ). Under this guidance, he acquired the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophical sciences on October 3, 1601 , after which he briefly attended the University of Leipzig , the University of Wittenberg and the University of Jena .

On September 25, 1602 he became rector of the monastery school in Riddagshausen, continued his theological studies at the University of Tübingen in 1605 and made a long academic journey in 1607 in order to prepare for an academic career at the request of his duke. After his return in 1608, he received an extraordinary theological professorship in Helmstedt on March 9, 1609, became a full professor of theology on June 17, 1612, received his doctorate in theology on May 2, 1616 and, as a colleague of Georg Calixt, became his colleague. In the disputes that soon broke out about Calixt's heterodoxies , Berckelmann and his colleague Johann von Fuchte (1568–1622) took a mediating, but predominantly Calixt friendly position. But from 1620 he got involved in a dispute with his colleague Heinrich Julius Strube (1586–1629), who accused him of Calvinist tendencies because Berckelmann had advocated an agreement between Lutherans and Calvinists against the papal church.

After he was rector of the Alma Mater in 1624, he experienced the atrocities of the Thirty Years' War in Helmstedt . Such as the plague and the extensive depopulation of the city for fear of the approaching multitudes of troops led by Johann T'Serclaes von Tilly and Wallenstein . Berckelmann retired to the Amelunxborn Abbey in 1625, where he had become abbot in November 1625 , stayed in Braunschweig in 1626 and returned to Amelunxborn in 1627. He stayed here until 1629, when he had to flee with his convent students as a result of the edict of restitution . He went to Einbeck on April 28, 1629 and on April 25, 1630 became the first city preacher and general superintendent in Göttingen , also teacher of theology at the local grammar school. From here, too, he remained in friendly and correspondence with Georg Calixt and appeared as his like-minded fellow in the fight against Ramism . During the war times at that time, during the Tilly occupation and during the bloody storming of the city of Göttingen by Duke Wilhelm von Weimar (February 11, 1632), Berckelmann had to go through difficult things, but he tried to keep the peace through his appearance and faithful administration to promote ecclesiastical order until his death.

His portrait hangs on the northern gallery of the Göttingen Johanniskirche .

family

Berckelmann married on February 7, 1613 in Wolfenbüttel Anna Sophia (1594–1661), the eldest daughter of the princely Brunswick house marshal Henrich Mehrdorf († 1628). The marriage resulted in ten sons and two daughters. Two of these sons died at a young age. From the children we know:

• Heinrich Lorenz Berckelmann (born May 9, 1614 in Helmstedt, † February 24, 1661 in Hameln ), pastor in Hameln
• Johannes Theodor Berckelmann (born December 28, 1615 in Helmstedt, † 1653 in Goslar ), clerk in Friedland, Zehnmann in Goslar
• Werner Laurentius Berckelmann (born November 7, 1618 in Helmstedt, † April 20, 1658 in Münden ), city ​​physician in Münden
• Andreas Berckelmann (* 1622 in Helmstedt; † March 15, 1682), lawyer and city secretary in Göttingen
• Anna Sophia Berckelmann (* 1624 in Braunschweig), married. with the mayor of Göttingen Johann Ludewig Helmold
• Peter Valentin Berckelmann (born December 11, 1626 in Braunschweig, † June 9, 1699 in Rosdorf ), pastor in Sieboldshausen and Rosdorf
• Magaretha Elisabeth Berckelmann (born October 14, 1628 in Stadtoldendorf; † 1662), married. with the rector of the school in Osterode Mag. Henning Gottfried Fabricius
• Daniel Berckelmann (born November 28, 1630 in Göttingen; † January 8, 1708 in Wallensen ), pastor in Wallensen
• Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Berckelmann (born February 28, 1633 in Göttingen), Dr. med., mayor and city physician in Einbeck
• Friedrich Berckelmann (born June 17, 1634 in Göttingen, † 1687 in Lentze ), city secretary in Lentze, Mark Brandenburg

Works (selection)

His writings, which were only partially printed, were partly theological in content, partly in Latin poetry, especially a number of occasional poems, which of course are characterized more by a certain dexterity and "artistry" than by poetic content.

• Dissertationes Biblicae. 1636.
• Isagoge Theologica, De Studio Theologiae recte inchoando & continuando. Helmstedt 1619, 1665.
• Historia Resurrectionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Helmstedt 1617.
• Psalm XX. Serums. mo Principe ac Domino, Domino Friderico Ulrico, Duci Brunsvicensi & Lunaeb. … Iam vero pro placida gubernatione, & auspicatis nuptiis cum illustrissima & augustissima nympha, Anna Sophia Brandenburgica eodem mense Sept. septimo anno post, in arce Gvielphica celebrandis, iteraro voto repetitus Psal. XX. ... Helmstedt 1614.
• Disputatio VII. De Caeteris Decalogi Virtutibus, Seu Fructibus S. Spiritus: In Epistola ad Galatas expositis. Helmstedt 1613.

literature

• Inge Mager : Berckelmann, Theodor. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 80 .
• Fritz Roth : Complete evaluations of funeral sermons and personal documents for genealogical and cultural-historical purposes. Vol. 2, R. 1276.
• Julius August Wagenmann:  Berckelmann, Theodor . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 353.
• Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund : The learned Hanover, or lexicon of writers, learned businessmen and artists who have lived and are still alive since the Reformation in and outside of all the provinces belonging to the current Kingdom of Hanover, compiled from the most credible writers. Verlag Carl Schünemann, Bremen, 1823, vol. 1, p. 48, ( online ).

Web links

• Publications by and about Theodor Berckelmann in VD 17 .
• Portrait: http://diglib.hab.de/varia/portrait/a-01346/start.htm