Johann Friedrich Mayer (theologian)
Johann Friedrich Mayer | |
---|---|
Born | 6 December 1650 Leipzig |
Died | 30 March 1712 Stettin | (aged −38)
Nationality | German |
Movement | Lutheran Orthodoxy |
Spouse | Catharina Sabina Welsch |
Children | Johann Abraham Mayer |
Johann Friedrich Mayer (6 December 1650 – 30 March 1712) was a German
Life
Johann Friedrich Mayer was born in
On 13 February 1671, he joined the Theological Faculty of Leipzig University. On 29 January 1672, he was made
However, he did not find the position in Grimma fulfilling and wished to pursue an academic career.
By decision of the Saxon High Consistory in Dresden, he was appointed fourth professor of theology at the
Mayer was rector of Wittenberg University in the winter semester of 1684. The scandal of the breakdown of his marriage, ending in divorce, which was rare at that time, impaired Mayer's effectiveness in Wittenberg, and he accepted the position of senior pastor of St. James' Church, Hamburg, though he would have preferred to remain in Wittenberg. Spener had admonished Mayer in connection with his marital problems and prevented him from obtaining positions that became available in Wittenberg, which led to a deep and lasting rift between Mayer and Spener.[2] As a champion of Lutheran orthodoxy, Mayer later became one of Spener's most troublesome opponents.
In 1692–93 there was a serious controversy among the senior pastors in Hamburg concerning the admissibility of
During his time in Hamburg, Mayer conducted a lively correspondence with leading figures of his time. He was active at the
In Hamburg Mayer had advanced to the status of an important champion of Lutheran orthodoxy. Following the death of Konrad Tiburtius Rango , Charles XII of Sweden, on 11 May 1701, offered Mayer Rango's post of General Superintendent of Swedish Pomerania, a position which he took up on 12 August.[1][2] By virtue of this office he was professor of the Theological Faculty of the University of Greifswald, pastor and senior city minister at the collegiate church of St. Nicholas, assistant chancellor of the university, and chairman of the Greifswald Consistory. Aided by his already voluminous library and art collection, Mayer developed extensive activity as an author in Greifswald.
Mayer played an active role in the organizational work at the university and was its rector in 1701 and 1705.
He concerned himself with the
On 29 May 1673 J. F. Mayer married Catharina Sabina Welsch, the daughter of Gottfried Welsch, a Leipzig Professor of Medicine. His son Johann Abraham Mayer later became a Professor of Medicine in Greifswald. The marriage was dissolved in 1686.
Johann Friedrich Mayer died 30 March 1712 in
Importance
As a strictly orthodox Lutheran, Mayer brooked no deviations from prescribed beliefs and, even during this period of late Orthodoxy, insisted on the sole validity of Lutheran orthodoxy. He did not realize that this obduracy deprived orthodoxy of its legitimation. It was this rigid attitude that enabled the currents of Rationalism and early Enlightenment to develop, which could not have been his intention.
Book and Art Collections
Mayer built up a large book and art collection. He had one of the largest private libraries of the early 18th century. His art collection included a synagogue scene, a large collection of medals and a large number of pictures, including Cranach's portraits of the Protestant Reformers of Wittenberg. In 1694, Mayer was given an eight-voice
Writings
Independent works (selection)
Mayer had 281 printed works published, so only a selection is given here.
- Museum ministri ecclesiae
- L. de electione Pontificis Rom. Hamburg, 1700
- Historia versionis Germanicae Bibiorum Lutheri
- Historia synodorum Gryphiswaldensium
- De side Baronii & Bellarmini ipsis Pontificiis ambigua
- Ecclesia Papaia Luterane patrona & cliens
- Biblotheca Biblica, Greifswald, 1702
- Chrysostomus Lutheranus, Wittenberg, 1686
- Ves und wiedergefundenes Kind Gottes
- Hamburgischer Sabbath
- Hamburgisches Ninive
- Biblotheca scriptorum Theologiae moralis, published with Strauchen's Theologiae morali, Greifswald, 1705
- Eclogae evangelicae
- Erste Früchte der Beredsamkeit
- Würdiger Communicant
- Warnung für einen falschen Eyd
- Betendes Kind Gottes
- Buß und Gebetsprüche
- Evangelischer Engel
- Wiederholung der heiligen Sabbathsarbeit
- Gottgeheiligte Früh-Stunden; 1706, Leipzig, published by Nicolaus Thürmann
- Lanx satura lucubrationum philologicarum, Strasbourg, 1669
- Bild Königs Karl XII, Greifswald, 1708
Letters
- Greifswaldisches Wochen-Blatt. 1744. (Copies of extracts from Mayer's correspondence)
- Handschriftliche Briefe Mayers an Johann Albrecht Fabricius. In: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. Nachlass Reimarus M. 7-55.
- Handschriftliche Briefe Mayers an G. Spizel. In: Staatsbibliothek Augsburg.
Others
- Johann Carl Dähnert: "Pommersche Bibliothek". Vol. 2, Greifswald 1753, S. 405–424, 445–459, 525–535 Bd. 3, Greifswald 1754. pp. 41–58, 83–93.
- Kurt Detlev Möller: Johann Albrecht Fabricius 1668–1736. In: Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte Jg. 36 (1937) pp. 1–64, here especially p. 43.
References
Bibliography
- Hoffmann, Friedrich Lorenz (1870). Schröder, Hans (ed.). Lexikon der hamburgischen Schriftsteller bis zur Gegenwart [Lexicon of Hamburg writers to the present] (in German). Vol. 5. Hamburg. pp. 89–164.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Krauter-Dierolf, Heike (2005). "Speners 'Erfordertes Bedencken' zum Hamburger Revers (1690) und die sich daran anschließende Auseinandersetzung mit Johann Friedrich Mayer in den Jahren 1691–1696". Die Eschatologie Philipp Jakob Speners: der Streit mit der lutherischen Orthodoxie um die 'Hoffnung besserer Zeiten' [The Eschatology of Philipp Jakob Spener: the dispute with Lutheran Orthodoxy over 'Hope of Better Times'] (in German). Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161485770.
- Pyl, Theodor (1885). "Mayer, Johann Friedrich". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie [General German Biography] (in German). Vol. 21. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 99–108.
- Zedler, Johann Heinrich (1739). "Mayer, Johann Friedrich". Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon Aller Wissenschafften und Künste (in German). Vol. 19. Leipzig. columns 2336–2341.
The following are cited indirectly via the German Wikipedia article (q.v.). The translator of the English article may not have seen the original sources:
- ISBN 3356011391.
- Blaufuss, Dietrich (1994). "Der Theologe Johann Friedrich Mayer (1650–1712). Fromme Orthodoxie und Gelehrsamkeit im Luthertum" [The theologian Johann Friedrich Mayer (1650–1712). Pious orthodoxy and scholarship in Lutheranism]. In Kühlmann, Wilhelm; Langer, Horst (eds.). Pommern in der Frühen Neuzeit: Literatur und Kultur in Stadt und Region [Pommerania in the Early Modern Period: Literature and Culture in the Town and the Region] (in German). Tübingen. ISBN 9783484365193.)
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Fischer, Ernst (1989). "Patrioten und Ketzermacher" [Patriots and Heretic Producers]. Festschrift Wolfgang Martens' [Festschrift for Wolfgang Martens] (in German). Tübingen. pp. 17–47.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Geffcken, Johannes. "Johann Friedrich Mayer als Prediger" [Johann Friedrich Mayer as a Preacher]. Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte (in German). Jg. 1 (1841): 567–588.
- Gummelt, Volker (1996). Johann Friedrich Mayer. Seine Auseinandersetzungen mit Philipp Jacob Spener und August Hermann Francke [Johann Friedrich Mayer. His disputes with Philipp Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke] (Habilitation thesis) (in German). Greifswald.
- Gummelt, Volker (2012). "Eine wiederentdeckte Rubens-Kopie aus dem Nachlass des Generalsuperintendenten Johann Friedrich Mayer". Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte (in German) (2): 26–28. ISSN 0032-4167.
- Hoffmann, F. L. (1865). "Johann Friedrich Mayer". Serapaeum (in German) (26): 209–222.
- Hofmeister, Adolf (1931). "Eine Denkschrift Johann Friedrich Mayers" [A Denkschrift for Johann Friedrich Mayer]. Monatsblätter der Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde (in German). 45: 157–161, 173–181.
- Krause, Friedehilde (1972). "Eine Buchauktion ... Das abenteuerliche Schicksal der Bibliothek von Johann Friedrich Mayer" [A Book Auction ... The fantastic fate of the library of Johann Friedrich Mayer]. Marginalien. Zeitschrift für Buchkunst u. Bibliographie (in German) (45, H. 1): 16–28.
- Krolzik, Udo (1993). "Mayer, Johann Friedrich". ISBN 3883090433.
- Lother, Helmut (1925). Pietist. Streitigkeiten in Greifswald [Pietist. Disputes in Greifswald] (in German). Gütersloh.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Rüdiger, O. (1903). "Das Pfalzgrafendiplom für Johann Friedrich Mayer". Mitteilungen des Vereins für hamburgische Geschichte (in German). 7: 339–346.
- Rückleben, Hermann (1970). Die Niederwerfung der hamburgischen Ratsgewalt (in German). Hamburg.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Steiger, Johann Anselm (2005). 500 Jahre Theologie in Hamburg: Hamburg als Zentrum christlicher Theologie [500 Years of Theology in Hamburg: Hamburg as a Centre of Christian Theology] (in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110185296.
- von Busch, Jan (2014). "Arp Schnitgers Hausorgel für Dr. Johann Friedrich Mayer". Ars Organi (3): 141–147. ISSN 0004-2919.
- Walch, Johann Georg (1985) [reprint; originally published in 1733 (Part 3) and 1739 (Part 5)]. Historische und theologische Einleitung in die Religions-Streitigkeiten der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche: von der Reformation bis auf jetzige Zeiten (in German). (orig. Jena) Stuttgart.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)