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[German Version] (Feb 25, 1742, Hamburg – Apr 3, 1826, Bremen) attended school in Hamburg, and then studied Protestant theology in Göttingen from 1764 to 1767. After private tutoring, typical at that time, he became assistant rector in the Latin school at Bremen cathedral in 1771. His rise to pastor (fourth cathedral preacher in 1781) culminated in 1810 in his appointment as pastor primarius in the Lutheran cathedral. Nicolai’s broad interests can be seen in the themes of his publications (school, marriage, magnetism). When in 1802/1803 the cathedral and it…

[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Church History – III. Current Situation I. History of Religions Brotherhoods are a special form of community, not constituted by traditional forms of relationship (Covenant). They are mono-gendered groupings (also “sisterhoods”) distinguished by certain homogeneous characteristics. Initiation groups are often the origin of brotherhoods in cultural histo…

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Art History I. Church History The mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, and spouse of Joachim. Her name (= Heb. “grace”) is given first in the Protevangelium. The text was read throughout the Middle Ages and at Marian feasts. After 1450, this birth legend was linked with the concept of a trinubium of the saints. Characteristically, The Lives of the Saints supplied Anne with her own birth story and described her as a matron who bore each of her three husbands a daughter M…

[German Version] With the emigrations of the 19th century, the German revival movements gave birth to several independent mission societies for the Germans in North America. In 1840, a leadership crisis among the Stephanites (Missouri Synod) led to the founding in Dresden of the first explicitly denominational society, the Verein zur Unterstützung der lutherischen Kirche in Nordamerika. It was followed in 1853 by the Gotteskasten in Hannover, the model for similar groups in Lauenburg (1857), Bavaria (1860), and ¶ Hessen (1865). Between 1841 and 1899, W. Löhe trained 250 workers as Sen…

Teresa of Ávila (1515–82, also known as St. Teresa of Jesús, Teresa of Ahumada, and Teresa of the Cross) was a Spanish mystic, a Carmelite nun, and a reformer of orders (Religious Orders and Congregations 1). Teresa came from a family of conversos (her grandfather was converted from Judaism to Christian faith in 1485) who purchased their title of nobility. According to her autobiography, Vida, or Libro de las misericordias del Señor (1565, Book of the mercies of the Lord), Teresa, as a child in 1522, wanted to flee to the Moors with her brother Rodrigo in order to …

Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260-ca. 1328), a Dominican mystic, was born in Hochheim (near Gotha or Erfurt) in Thuringia. Eckhart entered the Erfurt Dominican monastery around 1275. After completing the usual training, he studied theology at the Dominican Studium Generale at Cologne, probably under Albertus Magnus (d. 1280), and from 1293 at Paris. In 1294 he became the prior of Erfurt and representative of the provincial Dietrich von Freiberg. In 1302 Eckhart was promoted to master in Paris. From 1303 to 1311 he was active as the first provin…

[English Version] Nicolai, Johann David (25.2.1742 Hamburg – 3.4.1826 Bremen), studierte nach dem Gymnasialabschluß in Hamburg von 1764 bis 1767 in Göttingen Ev. Theol. Nach zeittypischer Hauslehrertätigkeit wurde er 1771 an der Lateinschule am Bremer Dom Subrektor. Sein Aufstieg zum Pfarrer (vierter Domprediger 1781) gipfelte 1810 in seiner Berufung zum pastor primarius am luth. Dom. N.s weitgespannte Interessen zeigen sich in den Themen seiner Veröff. (Schule, Ehe, Magnetismus). Als der Dom mit se…