Johann Andreas Cramer (1723–1788)

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Extent: 143 pages

Publisher: Heinrich-Barth Institute

Series: Beiträge zur historischen Theologie

Language: German

Johann Andreas Cramer (1723-1788) was one of the most renowned theologians and preachers in the German-speaking world of his time. Brinja Bauer examines Cramer’s life and work in the context of the theological Enlightenment and highlights his significance as a Lutheran theologian, poet, and cultural mediator of the eighteenth century. His sermons, hymns, and translations testify to his efforts to reconcile Lutheran theology with the ideas of the Enlightenment and to bring a form of appropriate education to Northern Europe. Beginning with Cramer’s origins in the Saxon Ore Mountains and his studies in Leipzig, the author traces his close intellectual networks with leading figures of the Enlightenment such as Gottsched, Gellert, and Klopstock. The author focuses on his various places of activity – Quedlinburg, Copenhagen, Lübeck, and Kiel – which are understood as stages in a continuous process of theological and literary development.