Johann Jacob Zimmermann
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
nonconformist theologian, Millenarian, mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, and astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
Life
Zimmerman was born in Vaihingen, WürttembergWürttemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
(now Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) in 1644, lived in Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
, and studied Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at the University of Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, where he was awarded the title Magisterhut in 1664.
He took his first post as a Lutheran minister at Bietigheim (Baden)
Rastatt (district)
Rastatt is a district in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Calw, Freudenstadt and the Ortenaukreis. To the west it borders the French département Bas-Rhin...
in 1671, but already was developing a reputation through his scientific and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
writings, publishing under the name Ambrosius Sehmann.
A famed astronomer and astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
, Zimmerman produced one of the first Equidistant Conic Projection star charts of the northern hemisphere in 1692.
But in 1685 Zimmermann was removed from his post by Lutheran church leaders, in part for his Scriptura Sacra Copernizans, which defended the astrological theories of Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
. As a testimony to his importance as a scientific writer, the work was reprinted in Hamburg in 1707, this time under Zimmermann's own name.http://www.friedensblitz.de/sterne/kometenangst/kunstrechner.html
Traveling to Frankfurt on Main, he became a follower of Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition...
, a Pietist
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
pastor and prominent critic of the established Lutheran church. Zimmermann made a living as a writer and teacher, and gradually developed a following in the city of Hamburg, creating elaborate theories predicting the end of the world. In his Muthmassliche Zeit-Bestimmung, Zimmermann set out his belief that the apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
would occur on the "edge of the wilderness" at the end of the autumn of 1694. His work centered on an elaborate textual and numerological
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
interpretation of the biblical Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, especially chapter XII. Zimmermann planned to lead his followers to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to build a "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" to greet the dawn of this new world. His group, termed Rosicrucians, were to number 40, and were to lead a largely solitary life practicing Astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, Geomancy
Geomancy
Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand...
and a variety of arcane mathematical and magical forms of divination. Zimmermann began negotiations with Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
Governor William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
to obtain land for his settlement.
Unfortunately, Zimmerman died as the group of eleven families were preparing to travel from Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
. His disciple Johannes Kelpius
Johannes Kelpius
Johannes Kelpius , a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer, interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy, came to believe with his followers in the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" that the end of the world would occur in 1694...
was elected to take Zimmermann's title of magister, leading "the Hamburg Group" (including Zimmermann's widow) to an area near Wissahickon Creek
Wissahickon Creek
Wissahickon Creek is a stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, it runs about 23 miles passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Here they established a religious community which, while still famed in local legend, dissolved shortly after Kelpius' death in the early eighteenth century.
Zimmerman is mentioned (as Dr. Zimmerman) in Book 3 of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
's Principia (on p. 505) as having observed the great comet of 1680.
See also
- Johannes KelpiusJohannes KelpiusJohannes Kelpius , a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer, interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy, came to believe with his followers in the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" that the end of the world would occur in 1694...
- German mysticismGerman mysticismGerman mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by...
- Astrology and numerologyAstrology and numerologySome astrologers believe that each number from 0 to 9 is ruled by a celestial body in our solar system -- the layout below is one widely accepted system among modern astrologers but there are other systems as well, such as the kabbalistic system...
- Rosicrucianism
Works
- Auf alle und jede Hypotheses applicable Fundamental-Aufgaben von den Sonn- und Mond-Finsternisssen. Hamburg 1691
- Coniglobium...Eine vortheilhafftige und nach dem...HevelianischenJohannes HeveliusJohannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish:Some sources refer to Hevelius as German:*Encyplopedia Britannica * of the Royal Society was a councilor and mayor of Danzig , Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
Gestirn-Register eingerichtete...Himmelskugel. Hamburg 1704 - Muthmassliche Zeit-Bestimmung...Göttlicher Gerichten über das Europeische Babel. o.O. 1684
- Scriptura S. Copernizans...Astronomischer Beweissthum des Copernicanischen Welt-Gebäudes. Hamburg 1690
- Collection: Aktuelles Verzeichnis der Werke Zimmermanns im VD17
Sources
- German Wikipedia: "Johann Jacob Zimmermann":de:Johann Jacob Zimmermann
- Encyclopedia Universalis: http://www.universalis.fr/corpus-universalis/1//T232294/universalis/article.htm
- "German-American Yesteryears: Johannes Kelpius, The Maddest of Good Men" By Robert A. Selig, June/July 1999 : http://www.germanlife.com/Archives/1999/9906_01.html
- "Horologium Achez" by Julius Sachse, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. XXXIV, January, 1895. ISBN 1-4223-7358-4
- Gerhard DünnhauptGerhard DünnhauptGerhard Dünnhaupt, FRSC is a German bibliographer, literary historian, emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, an honorary life member of the Modern Language Association of America, and an Elected Fellow of the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada...
: "Johann Jacob Zimmermann (1644-1693)", in: Personalbibliographien zu den Drucken des Barock, Bd. 6. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1993, S. 4344-55. ISBN 3-7772-9305-9