Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen

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Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (* approx. 1691 in Lingen , † approx. 1747 in Franklin Township ) was a German-American Dutch Reformed pastor, theologian and ancestor of the Frelinghuysen family in the United States of America . Frelinghuysen was best known for his religious contributions in the Raritan Valley in the early days of the First Great Awakening . Several of his descendants were influential theologians and politicians.

Birth and emigration

Frelinghuysen was born in Lingen as the son of the German Reformed pastor Johann Henrich Frelinghaus and his wife Margaretha Brüggemann Frelinghaus (1657-1728). After attending the reformed grammar school in Hamm, he enrolled in 1711 with his brother Mathias Davidt at the Georgianum grammar school in Lingen ( high school ) as a theology student and studied with Professor Johannes Wilhelmius and Otto Verbrügge for six years. The choice fell on Lingen, as there was the only faculty there that tended to follow the direction of the Utrecht theology professor Gisbert Voetius , who uncompromisingly took the Calvinist point of view with regard to predestination and condemned the rationalist teaching of René Descartes . Frelinghuysen achieved excellent results here with the professors in Greek and Hebrew. He studied Aramaic, Syriac and rabbinic Hebrew and learned the Dutch language until he was ready to preach. He was pastor in Loegumer Voorwerk in East Friesland for 14 months , was ordained and, for a short time, deputy head of the Latin school in Enkhuizen in the Netherlands . In June 1719 he followed an appeal from Raritan in the province of New Jersey , a British colony in North America, and after his re-ordination by the Amsterdam church council in the Dutch Reformed Church , he came to America in January 1720.

marriage

Frelinghuysen was married to Eva Terhune (approx. 1696 – approx. 1750), daughter of Jan Terhune and Margrietje van Sicklen. They married on Long Island and had seven children together.

First Great Awakening

Frelinghuysen pioneered the First Great Awakening , which culminated in evangelistic efforts in the mid-Atlantic region . He was assisted by Gilbert Tennent and George Whitefield . He tried to evangelize the Raritan Valley through Reformed Pietism , which was heavily based on the theological thinking of the Puritans . His preferred threefold evangelistic strategy focused on preaching, church discipline, and contextualizing Dutch Reformed church practice. According to current estimates, "The Great Awakening" was one of the first great movements that gave the American colonists a sense of unity in the New World and made them aware that God in his providence had a special purpose with them.

motto

In the foreword of his sermons published in 1733 he formulated the Latin motto Laudem non quaero, culpam non timeo (German: "I do not seek praise, do not fear guilt")

progeny

  • Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804), American general and senator for New Jersey from 1793-1796
  • Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787–1862), Attorney General of New Jersey, US Senator from 1829 to 1835, Chancellor of New York University from 1839 to 1850, Mayor of Newark, Vice President candidate 1844
  • Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1817–1885), American politician and co-founder of the Republican Party in New Jersey, Attorney General of New Jersey 1861–1866, member of the US Senate 1866–1869 and 1871-187, and served as Secretary of State of the United States from 1881-1885 under President Chester A. Arthur. He was involved in the Pearl Harbor Treaty as a US naval base
  • Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (* 1946), member of the US House of Representatives for New Jersey since 1995

literature

Web links

Commons : Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Tenfelde: Album Studiosorum Academiae Lingensis 1698-1819 . Lingen 1964.
  2. ↑ James Tanis: Dutch Calvinistic Pietism in the Middle Colonies. A Study in the Life and Theology of Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen . The Hague 1967.
personal data
SURNAME Frelinghuysen, Theodorus Jacobus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American theologian
DATE OF BIRTH around 1691
PLACE OF BIRTH Lingen (Ems)
DATE OF DEATH around 1747
Place of death Franklin Township (Somerset County, New Jersey)