Christian Adam Dann (24 December 1758 – 19 March 1837) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

pastor,

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

writer and supporter of

Pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...

Biography

Dann was born on 24 December 1758 in Tübingen. His father Jakob Heinrich was mayor in Tübingen, court judge and member of the state parliament. After his childhood in Tübingen, he attended the Blaubeuren monastery school as a student and joined the Theological Abbey of Tübingen in 1777, where he became a student of

Gottlob Christian Storr Gottlob Christian Storr (10 September 1746 – 17 January 1805) was a German Protestant theologian, born in Stuttgart. He was the son of theologian Johann Christian Storr (1712–1773) and the older brother of naturalist Gottlieb Conrad Christian ...

. He then worked for two years as a preceptor vicar in

Bebenhausen Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the ci ...

and five years as a repeater at the Tübingen Abbey before he took his first job as a deacon in Goppingen in 1793. From 1794 he worked as a deacon in the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. On the occasion of a funeral speech at the grave of the Stuttgart actor and comedian Carl Friderich Weberling (1769–1812), he criticized morality and theatre life in the city so violently in 1812 that King Friedrich I transferred him to the village of Öschingen near Tübingen after he rejected it he had to take over the dean's office in Weinsberg. He then moved to Mössingen in 1819 before

King Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

brought him back to Stuttgart in 1824. After his return, he was the first deacon at the collegiate church and from 1825 until his death he was a pastor in Stuttgart's Leonhardskirche. A sermon he gave in 1830 influenced Charlotte Reihlen the future founder of the Stuttgart Deaconess Institute so much that she converted to Pietism. Dann died at the age of 78 on 19 March 1837 in Stuttgart. He was buried in Department 5 at the Fangelsbachfriedhof in Stuttgart.

Animal welfare

Dann was one of the earliest Pietists to write about animal welfare.Ingesman, Per. (2016). ''Religion as an Agent of Change: Crusades – Reformation – Pietism''.

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...

. p. 224. He authored two books (1822, 1832) defending the welfare of animals from a Christian framework.Rincic, Iva; Muzur, Amir. (2019). ''Fritz Jahr and the Emergence of European Bioethics''.

LIT Verlag LIT Verlag is a German academic publisher founded in 1980. Its managing director is Wilhelm Hopf. Its principal place of publication is Münster; further publishing offices are located in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, London, Zurich, and New York Ci ...

. pp. 42-43. Dann influenced

Albert Knapp Albert Knapp (25 July 1798, Tübingen - 18 June 1864, Stuttgart) was a German poet and animal welfare activist. Biography He studied theology at Tübingen, became vicar in Feuerbach (1820) and filled other positions until he made a reputation in ...

who founded the first German society for animal welfare in 1837. In Germany, Dann is known as the "Father of the German Tierschutzbewegung" (Father of the German animal welfare movement).Marie, M; Edwards, S; Gandini, G; Reiss, M; Borell, E. von. (2005). ''Animal bioethics: Principles and Teaching Methods''. Wageningen Academic Publishers. p. 48.

Selected publications

*''Bitte der armen Thiere, der unvernünftigen Geschöpfe, an ihre vernünftigen Mitgeschöpfe und Herrn, die Menschen''. Fues, Tübingen 1822 (2nd edition 1838). 'Plea of the poor animals, the unreasonable creatures, to their sensible fellow creatures and lords, the people''*''Nothgedrungener, durch viele Beispiele beleuchteter Aufruf an alle Menschen von Nachdenken und Gefühl zu gemeinschaftlicher Beherzigung und Linderung der unsäglichen Leiden der in unserer Umgebung lebenden Thiere''. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1832. 'An urgent call, illuminated by many examples, to all people who can think and feel, for communal taking to heart and alleviating the unspeakable suffering of the animals living in our environment''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dann, Christian Adam 1758 births 1837 deaths German animal welfare scholars German animal welfare workers 18th-century German Lutheran clergy German Lutheran theologians People from Tübingen 19th-century German Lutheran clergy

Biography

Animal welfare

Selected publications

See also

References