Christoph Christian Sturm
Encyclopedia
Christoph Christian Sturm (1740–1786) was a german
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 preacher and author, best known for his Reflections on the Works of God in Nature. The son of Johann Jakob Sturm, a lawyer, at Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

, was born at Augsburg, January 25, 1740. He studied at the universities of Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

 and Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

. He was then appointed, in 1762, as one of the masters in the Paedagogium at Halle, and in 1765 became Conrector of the school at Sorau, at that time still part of Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

.

In 1767 he returned to Halle as fourth pastor of the Market Church, and became third pastor in the same year. He left Halle in 1769, to become second pastor of the church of the Holy Spirit at Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

, where he passed the happiest part of his professional life, and where he wrote most of his devotional
Bible study (Christian)
In Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...

 works. Finally, in 1778, he was appointed chief pastor of St. Peter's Church at Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. Here he at first lived happily, beloved and respected as a preacher and author, until, in 1782, his views on the Salvation of the Heathen led J. M. Goetze, chief pastor of St. Katherine's Church in Hamburg, to accuse him of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

. The resulting controversy embittered and shortened Sturm's life. In his latter years he suffered from a weak chest; and in the night of August 10, 1786, he was seized with an attack of spitting of blood, from which he never recovered. He died at Hamburg, on August 26, 1786.

Legacy

Sturm's works have been translated into numerous different languages and are still in use today, his works on the Reflections on the Works of God in Nature even highly influenced Beethoven, amoungst who's possessions was found a highly annotated copy of Sturm's work.
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