Danzig Notables -- Johann Heinrich Nothwanger

Johann Heinrich Nothwanger was born into a merchant family in Danzig in 1664. After a degree in theology from the university in Halle, he preached in Magdeburg, and was called as deacon to St Johann in Danzig in 1695. He was very active in shaping the religious life of his community. In 1700 he was the moving force behind the introduction of weekly public instruction in Lutheran catechism for the parish and for pupils of St. John's School (Johannisschule). These were the weekly public lessons in which Luise Kulmus demonstrated her remarkable memory and interest in theology. (After 1708 these were introduced at other parishes.) When he became pastor of St. Johann's in 1707 he also became one of the most active members of Danzig's Geistliches Ministerium, the council of all municipal Lutheran pastors. He worked for the publication of a unified Lutheran catechism (Agende) in Danzig (1708) and for the publication of the new, unified hymnal in 1719. He died in 1726. Of his preaching the author of the entry in the Alt-preußische Biographie wrote: "Seine dem Zeitgeschmack entsprechend bilderreichen, zum Pietismus neigenden Predigten muten teilweise sonderbar an, z. B., wenn er das Leben mit einem Dominksmarkt vergleicht, den der Tod durch Abbrechung der Buden endet." (Of the hymnal Löschin wrote: "Der ascetische und dichterische Geschmack, der sich in dem größten Theile dieser Lieder verräth, ist immer noch der kleinlich spielende, sich in den sonderbarsten Gleichnissen und in deren breiter Ausmalung gefallende, den man fast bis gegen das Ende dieses Zeitraumes auch noch in den Predigten wahrnimmt . . ." II, 185)

Samples of Nothwanger's preaching include those from a double funeral oration (1712).

[Gotthilf Löschin. Geschichte Danzigs von der ältesten bis zur neuesten Zeit. 2 vols. Danzig: F.W. Ewert, 1822 and 1823.]