Ludwig Adolf Petri
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Petri, Ludwig Adolf (16 November 1803 – 8 January 1873) was a German
Neo-Lutheran Neo-Lutheranism was a 19th-century revival movement within Lutheranism which began with the Pietist-driven '' Erweckung,'' or ''Awakening'', and developed in reaction against theological rationalism and pietism. This movement followed the Old Lu ...
clergyman.


Life

He was born at Lüthorst (by then a village of the
Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...
), and was educated at the
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
(1824–27) and, after being a private tutor for some time, became, in 1829, "collaborator" at the
Kreuzkirche The Dresden Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is a Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. It is the main church and seat of the ''Landesbischof'' of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, and the largest church building in the Free State o ...
in Hanover, where he was assistant pastor from 1837 until 1851, and senior pastor from 1851 until his death. During the years 1830–37 his convictions gradually changed from rationalistic to
orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
. His power as a preacher was especially shown by his ''Licht des Lebens'' (Hanover, 1858) and ''Salz der Erde'' (1864). For the improvement of the liturgy of his communion he wrote ''Bedürfnisse and Wünsche der protestantischen Kirche im Vaterland'' (Hanover, 1832); and still more important service was rendered by his edition of the ''Agende der hannoverschen Kirchenordnungen'' (1852). In behalf of religious instruction he wrote his ''Lehrbuch der Religion fur die oberen Klassen protestantischer Schulen'' (Hanover, 1839; 9th ed., 1888), and later collaborated on the ill-fated new catechism of 1862. He likewise conducted for many years the theological courses in the seminary for preachers at Hanover, and in 1837 founded in the same city an association for theological candidates, over which he presided until 1848. In 1845–47 he edited, together with Eduard Niemann, the periodical ''Segen der evangelischen Kirche'', and in 1848–55 was editor of the ''Zeitblatt fur die Angelegenheiten der lutherischen Kirche''. In 1842 he founded an annual conference of the Hanoverian Lutheran clergy; and in 1853, together with General
Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
Steinmetz and August Friedrich Otto Münchmeyer, he established the well-known "Lutheran Poor-box" (''Lutherischer Gotteskasten''). At the same time, Petri was firmly opposed to any amalgamation of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, and assumed an unfavorable position even toward the
Inner Mission The Inner Mission (german: Innere Mission, also translated as Home Mission) was and is a movement of German evangelists, set up by Johann Hinrich Wichern in Wittenberg in 1848 based on a model of Theodor Fliedner. It quickly spread from Germany to ...
. In 1834 he helped to found the Hanoverian missionary society, of which he was first secretary and then president, while he materially aided the cause of foreign missions by his ''Die Mission and die Kirche'' (Hanover, 1841), which can be regarded as an “Agenda of Lutheran Church Design in the 19th Century” (Wilhelm Maurer).Werner Raupp: Mission in Quellentexten, 1990 (see above, Sources), p. 270. His opposition to all movements in favor of a union of
Lutherans 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 ...
and
Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
found renewed expression in his ''Beleuchtung der Göttinger Denkschrift zur Wahrung der evangelischen Lehrfreiheit'' (Hanover, 1854), an attack on the unionistic sympathies of the theological faculty of Göttingen. After this, Petri withdrew more and more from public life; and the only noteworthy work which he subsequently wrote was ''Der Glaube in kurzen Betrachtungen'' (4th ed., Hanover, 1875). He died at
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
.


Sources

* Werner Raupp (Ed.): Mission in Quellentexten. Geschichte der Deutschen Evangelischen Mission von der Reformation bis zur Weltmissionskonferenz Edinburgh 1910, Erlangen/Bad Liebenzell 1990 (ISBN 3-87214-238-0 / 3-88002-424-3), p. 270-273 (Excerpt: Die Mission und die Kirche, 1841, p. 4-48).


External links


References

* Werner Raupp: Mission in Quellentexten, 1990 (see above, Sources), p. 270. {{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Ludwig Adolf 1803 births 1873 deaths German Lutheran theologians 19th-century German Protestant theologians 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century Lutherans