Wölner, Johann Christoph von

The son of the pastor. He studied theology at Halle University , listened to lectures by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten and Christian von Wolf , which had a great influence on his worldview.

In 1752 he graduated and got a job as a home teacher in a wealthy family.

In 1754, he was ordained and received the position of a parish priest , but he soon resigned and became involved in agriculture.

At the same time, he became a zealous freemason , soon gaining significant influence in the order. Belonged to the number of closest persons of Prince Ferdinand of Braunschweig, the great master of the Great National Maternal Lodge Three Globes ^[2] .

In 1765, Wölner joined the Freemasonry Union and, thanks to his energy and oratory talent, soon reached a high position there.

In 1782, he met the Prussian prince, who in 1784-1786. gave lectures on the science of management. When in 1786 he ascended the throne under the name of Friedrich Wilhelm II , Wölner was elevated to nobility (October 1786), was appointed secret chief financial officer and head of the court construction office, and in 1788 - state minister of justice and chief of the department of spiritual affairs .

Using great personal influence on the king, he tried especially to concentrate in his hands the management of spiritual affairs. As a minister, contrary to the principles prevailing in Prussian state life until then, he sought to restrain religious freedom and put an end to the so-called educational trends in the church community. The consequence of his efforts was the publication on July 9, 1788 of a religious edict (Religionsedikt), which threatened with the deprivation of office and even more severe punishments to those clergy who retreated from the symbolic books of their church. To ensure the application of this edict, a censorship edict was issued on December 19 of that year, and on May 14, 1791, a decree was instituted to establish a “spiritual examination commission”.

Wölner's aspirations met with strong resistance among the clergy, the court, and even the highest administration; their only result was the development of hypocrisy.

After the death of King Frederick William II , Wölner was fired without retirement in 1798, and has since lived on his estate, where he died in 1800 without leaving any offspring.

• Religious and school edicts in Prussia 1788 and 1794

• Schuster Georg. Secret societies, unions and orders. St. Petersburg. Ed. O. N. Popova. 1905
• Christian August Ludwig Klaproth, Immanuel Karl Wilhelm Cosmar: Der königlich preußische und kurfürstlich brandenburgische wirkliche geheime Staatsrat an seinem 200jährigen Stiftungstage den 5 Januar 1805 , Berlin 1805, S. 497-501
• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). - Lpz. : Duncker & Humblot, 1875-1912. (German)
• Uta Wiggermann: Woellner und das Religionsedikt, Beiträge zur historischen Theologie Band 150, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.
• Dirk Kemper: Obskurantismus als Mittel der Politik. Johann Christoph von Wöllners Politik der Gegenaufklärung am Vorabend der Französischen Revolution, in: Von “Obscuranten” und “Eudämonisten”. Gegenaufklärerische, konservative und antirevolutionäre Publizisten im späten 18. Jahrhundert, hg. v. Christoph Weiß in Zusammenarbeit mit Wolfgang Albrecht, Literatur im historischen Kontext. Studien und Quellen zur deutschen Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart Band 1, St. Ingbert 1997, 193-220.
• Mißbrauchte Aufklärung? Schriften zum preußischen Religionsedikt vom 9. Juli 1788.118 Schriften im Umfang von 13992 Seiten auf 202 Microfiches. Mit einem Begleitband hg. von Dirk Kemper. Hildesheim: Olms Neue Medien 1996. 13992 S. auf Microfiches, 256 S. Begleitband.
• Reinhard Markner: Woellner, Johann Christoph (1732-1800) , in: Le Monde maçonnique au XVIIIe siècle, hg. v. Charles Porset (†) u. Cécile Révauger, Paris 2013, Bd. 3, S. 2820-2824. (Deutsche Fassung)

• Wölner, Johann Christopher