Christoph Kölers Übersetzung von Joseph Halls Heaven upon Earth (1632)

Called “our English Seneca” in his time, Joseph Hall (1574–1656), Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, author of theological and moral treatises, wrote one of his most famous and important works Haeven upon Earth in 1606. This treatise was translated into German in 1632 by the Breslau poet, professor and librarian Christoph Köler (1602–1658). The subtitle of Hall’s work Of True Peace and Tranquillity of Mind places his philosophical-religious reflections in the succession of the Senecan and Lipsian “tranquillity of mind”, a philosophical standpoint that Köler, the resolute representative of Lipsian Neo-Stoicism in Silesia, held dear in a special way. The article examines the scope, aim and function of Köler’s translation for education, culture and literary history.