Christoph Christian Sturm (1740–1786) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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 ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, was born at Augsburg, January 25, 1740. He studied at the universities of

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

and Halle. 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

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. 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 (''Heilige-Geist-Kirche'') at

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, where he passed the happiest part of his professional life, and where he wrote most of his devotional works. Finally, in 1778, he was appointed chief pastor of St. Peter's Church at

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. Here he at first lived happily, beloved and respected as a preacher and author, until, in 1782, his views on the Salvation of the led J. M. Goetze, chief pastor of St. Katherine's Church in Hamburg, to accuse him of

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. 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.John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Legacy

Sturm's works have been translated into numerous different languages and are still in use today.

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

owned a copy of the ''Reflections on the Works of God in Nature'', which he annotated extensively.

Notes

1740 births 1786 deaths German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub