Jacob Neumann (13 July 1772 – 25 January 1848) was a Norwegian bishop.

Personal life

He was born in

Strømsø Strømsø is a borough of Drammen, Buskerud, Norway. Strømsø is located at the southern side of the river Drammenselva. Until about 1600, Strømsø was an island surrounded by the Drammenselva, but was later made landfast. In 1728 Strømsø ...

as a son of Hans Neumann (1745–1789) and Annechen Johanne Blom (1754–1773), and a grandson of Jakob Hansen Neumann. He was also a first cousin of Gustav Peter Blom and Gustava Kielland and a second cousin of Christian Blom. In February 1800 in Copenhagen, he married pharmacist's daughter Justine Marie Agnete Bruun (1780–1838). They had the grandchildren

Henrik Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estoni ...

, Jakob and Emanuel Mohn and Kristofer Janson.

Career

He studied under Christian Kølle at Snarøya from 1781 to 1785 and in Elsinore from 1785 to 1787, before enrolling at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, where he graduated in 1796 with the cand.theol. degree. He took the dr.philos. degree in

church history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of t ...

in 1799 on the thesis ''Historia primatus Lundensis''. He worked as a private tutor until 1799, when he became

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

. In 1805 he was promoted to

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

. He continued writing, being one of the last

Rationalists In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to other possible s ...

in Norway. In 1811 he published ''Doctor M. Luthers lille Katechismus'', a version of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

. He was elected to the first session of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

in 1814, representing Agershus Amt. In 1819 he became dean of

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

in 1819. In 1822 he was promoted to bishop of the

Diocese of Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

. He was a member of '' Det nyttige Selskab'' in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, and was a co-founder of Bergens Sparebank in 1823 and Bergen Museum in 1825. He also served as deputy representative to Parliament in 1824. He was decorated with the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

in 1811 and the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

in 1815. He died in January 1848 in Bergen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Jacob 1772 births 1848 deaths Bishops of Bjørgvin 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran bishops 19th-century Norwegian people Norwegian non-fiction writers University of Copenhagen alumni Akershus politicians People from Drammen Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Members of the Storting 1814