So, wait. I'm reading the Puncta again (mildred, want to put it on rheinsberg?) while in the throes of trying to reply to stuff (I agree, of course, that he's totally writing with an eye to FW, and maybe his dad), and I got stuck here:
I acknowledge that, for wise reasons, Divine Providence has decreed that these misfortunes should fall upon me, to bring me to true repentance, and to enable me to work out my salvation.
Which... looks... if you squint sideways at it... kind of like predestination, to me. I know point 2 assigns an actual Katte-cause making it not!predestination, and I mean, obviously you (by which I mean FW) are supposed to read the whole letter and say "Yeah! You screwed up and God is making all this revenge fall upon you" but I do kind of wonder if there was a reason he did the points like that, where you can read point 1 in a certain way if you don't then go on to read point 2, whereas I feel kind of like it would have been more natural to say as point 1, "The prince royal didn't cause my death, my own ambition and neglect of the Almighty did."
Okay, I know, I am just grasping at straws here to give Fritz as much comfort from this letter as I can wring out of any line of it :P
I'm reading the Puncta again (mildred, want to put it on rheinsberg?)
I've added it to my to-do list. :)
Along with: finish trying to track down Katte's Species Facti and interrogation protocols, write up tonight's Katte findings from Koser, finish outlining Catt's memoirs and do a write-up, and reread Blanning as concentration allows, and keep chipping away at a big Rheinsberg write-up in the works.
I'd also like to get Katte's letters to his father and grandfather in the same Rheinsberg post, and maybe his grandfather's letter to FW and FW's reply.
Meant to add: I'm no kind of theologian, but I feel like "repentance + work out salvation" is the opposite of predestination, where your salvation is decided before you're born and can't be worked toward.
However, it's possible that the mention of Providence doubled as a private nod from Katte toward Fritz and their mutual interest in fatalist doctrines.
Hm - I don't know what an 18th-C theologian would have said; I think a 21st-century one would say that predestination doesn't rule out repentance and even working out salvation (which is a Pauline quote in any case), but it does say that whether you had been chosen to be one of the ones who was able to truly repent and work out salvation had been already chosen. But I'm sure I'm reaching too far with this anyway :)
I'm reading the Puncta again (mildred, want to put it on rheinsberg?)
It's up! Along with several related items. Poor Katte. *hugs*
Totally unrelated Katte comments:
1) Reddit (of all places, lol), says that the part about Katte's stepbrothers killing themselves in a duel, one dying immediately and one dying of wounds afterward, comes from Martin von Katte's manuscript. I'm not excessively optimistic about getting a copy, but I've put in an ILL request, because it can't hurt. WorldCat turns up 4 copies for me, in Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, and Wolfenbüttel.
2) Lol, I ran across a picture of the moment of unveiling of Katte's commemorative plaque at Küstrin, in April 2015. I didn't realize it involved cosplay!
3) Found the Kattes and von Arnims intermarrying in the 1530s, although I don't think it involves a shared ancestry for Achim and Hans Hermann. If I cared enough, I think I could put together a family tree linking them, although possibly not.
I swear I was looking for Martin von Katte's document when I ran across (2) and (3)!
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Re: Katte!
Re: Katte!
I acknowledge that, for wise reasons, Divine Providence has decreed that these misfortunes should fall upon me, to bring me to true repentance, and to enable me to work out my salvation.
Which... looks... if you squint sideways at it... kind of like predestination, to me. I know point 2 assigns an actual Katte-cause making it not!predestination, and I mean, obviously you (by which I mean FW) are supposed to read the whole letter and say "Yeah! You screwed up and God is making all this revenge fall upon you" but I do kind of wonder if there was a reason he did the points like that, where you can read point 1 in a certain way if you don't then go on to read point 2, whereas I feel kind of like it would have been more natural to say as point 1, "The prince royal didn't cause my death, my own ambition and neglect of the Almighty did."
Okay, I know, I am just grasping at straws here to give Fritz as much comfort from this letter as I can wring out of any line of it :P
Re: Katte!
I've added it to my to-do list. :)
Along with: finish trying to track down Katte's Species Facti and interrogation protocols, write up tonight's Katte findings from Koser, finish outlining Catt's memoirs and do a write-up, and reread Blanning as concentration allows, and keep chipping away at a big Rheinsberg write-up in the works.
I'd also like to get Katte's letters to his father and grandfather in the same Rheinsberg post, and maybe his grandfather's letter to FW and FW's reply.
Meant to add: I'm no kind of theologian, but I feel like "repentance + work out salvation" is the opposite of predestination, where your salvation is decided before you're born and can't be worked toward.
However, it's possible that the mention of Providence doubled as a private nod from Katte toward Fritz and their mutual interest in fatalist doctrines.
Re: Katte!
Thank you for putting the Puncta up!
Re: Katte!
It's up! Along with several related items. Poor Katte. *hugs*
Totally unrelated Katte comments:
1) Reddit (of all places, lol), says that the part about Katte's stepbrothers killing themselves in a duel, one dying immediately and one dying of wounds afterward, comes from Martin von Katte's manuscript. I'm not excessively optimistic about getting a copy, but I've put in an ILL request, because it can't hurt. WorldCat turns up 4 copies for me, in Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, and Wolfenbüttel.
2) Lol, I ran across a picture of the moment of unveiling of Katte's commemorative plaque at Küstrin, in April 2015. I didn't realize it involved cosplay!
3) Found the Kattes and von Arnims intermarrying in the 1530s, although I don't think it involves a shared ancestry for Achim and Hans Hermann. If I cared enough, I think I could put together a family tree linking them, although possibly not.
I swear I was looking for Martin von Katte's document when I ran across (2) and (3)!
Oh, Martin also wrote a somewhat easier to get a hold of book called Schwarz auf Weiss: Erinnerungen eines Neunzigjährigen, which might or might not be cool.