Johann Nikolaus Weislinger (1691 – 29 August 1755) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

al writer.

Life

Weislinger was born at

Püttlingen Püttlingen () is a town in Saarland, Germany, 10 km northwest of Saarbrücken. Geography The town lies in the Köller Valley, approximately 20 km to the northwest of Saarbrücken and 5 km north of Völklingen. Going in a clockwis ...

German Lorraine The region of German Lorraine ( or ''Deutschlothringen'') was the German-speaking part of Lorraine (region), Lorraine, now in France, that existed for centuries into the 20th century. Following its annexation by France in the 18th century, it bec ...

. After attending the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

high-school at

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, he became a private tutor in 1711. From 1713 he studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, then took up theology and prepared for ordination as priest under the direction of the Jesuits at Strasburg. Soon after ordination he was appointed

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

priest at Waldulm (1726), and in 1730 at Kappelrodeck, but in 1750, on account of severe illness, he was obliged to resign his position. He died at Kappelrodeck in Baden.

Works

Weislinger was a prolific controversialist, widely read in the writings of his opponents. The ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' describes him as having a "keen mind" and being "quick at repartee", but as using "coarse and rough" language. Historian Ulrich L. Lehner characterizes his style as "offensive" and "ferocious", damaging the Protestant-Catholic relations of his day. The most famous of Weislinger's writings is , which he composed when a student of theology; it appeared at Strasburg, 1723, and was often reprinted. Among his other polemical writings are: * (Constance and Augsburg, 1730) * (Augsburg, 1733) * (Strasburg, 1738) * (Strasburg, 1840-). *He issued a new edition of Kaufmann's (Strasburg, 1744).

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Weislinger, Johann Nikolaus 1691 births 1755 deaths 18th-century German Roman Catholic priests German non-fiction writers People from Püttlingen Heidelberg University alumni German male non-fiction writers