Bremen church dispute

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The Bremen church dispute of 1840 and 1844/45 was the dispute between theologically rationalist pastors and the predominantly conservative Reformed pastors in Bremen .

history

Dispute of 1840

St. Ansgarii Church (around 1839)
Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher (around 1860)

The first dispute arose in July 1840 when the Elberfeld reformed pietistic theologian and revival preacher Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher gave two polemical guest sermons (including on Mt 25.31-46 EU Judgment Day  on heresy and Gal 1.8 / 9  EU , cursed sermon ) in the Bremen St. Ansgarii Church held. As a sharp opponent of rationalism, Krummacher spoke out "against the wrong intentions of the modern biblical critics" because "... they create a new world behind your back ...". He characterized the spirit of the time as "directed not only against this and that human theology, but against Paul , in Paulo against all apostles, in these against Christianity itself". He also attacked the teachings of great philosophers and writers such as Socrates , Plato , Immanuel Kant , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , Johann Gottlieb Fichte , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller .

One opponent was the rationalist Bremen pastor Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel von St. Ansgarii, who gave three sermons in response to Krummacher. The pietistic country pastor Johann Nicolaus Tiele (1804-1856) appeared as an opponent of Paniel. Wilhelm Ernst Weber in turn attacked Tiele. Friedrich Ludwig Mallet used his position as editor of the "Bremer Kirchenbote" to curse Krummacher.

Most of Bremen's citizens were on Paniel's side. The Senate largely stayed out of this dispute. The dispute attracted national attention; u. a. reported the young Friedrich Engels in several newspapers as their Bremen correspondent at the time . The then pietistic Engels was staying with the pastor of St. Martini Bremen , Georg Treviranus , and criticized both the rationalists and the Orthodox who were faithful to the Bible. Krummacher then wrote a theological reply to Dr. Paniel in Bremen. With a report to the public .

22 pastors from Bremen also wrote a confession of pastors from Bremen in which they on the one hand admitted to the pietistic-conservative line, but on the other hand criticized Krummacher's overbearing tone. Only five pastors from Bremen represented the rationalist line. The historian Hans-Ludwig Schaefer assessed this dispute: “If we ask about the outcome of the struggle, the victory was on the side of the representatives of the new piety. Large sections of the middle and lower classes of the population had been addressed and torn from their mental half-sleep. Yes, the whole city discussed the disputed questions lively. "

Second church dispute 1844/45

On July 10, 1842, Carl August Wilhelm Nagel was appointed to one of the two pastors of the Remberti community in Bremen . Around this time, the church “liberal” time of the Remberti community began. Nagel was a representative of church liberalism with the inclusion of scientific knowledge.

After a meeting of German naturalists in Bremen in 1844, Nagel anonymously published the essay Some About the Influence of Natural Sciences on Religion and National Education in the Weser-Zeitung . It soon became known who wrote this article. With his liberal interpretation of the Bible, Nagel caused quite a stir in Bremen. He sparked a dispute with his Orthodox opponents, who voted for his exclusion from the spiritual ministry Venerandum , a body in which the old, new and suburban pastors exercised the church government on behalf of the Senate . The Rembertigemeinde and the liberal pastor Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel from the St. Ansgarii Church defended Nagel.

Mayor Johann Smidt and the Church Commission of the Senate supported Nagel with the declaration, “... that, since so-called religious courts do not exist in the Bremen Free State, no authorities are allowed to pose themselves to them on their own initiative. Pastor Nagel could not and should not be expelled from the Ministerio, and the Ministerio would not hold a meeting without inviting him to. ”On July 30, 1845, the Senate finally annulled the resolution of the Ministry. He forbade the clergy from any further criticism and every pastor had to declare in writing that they would refrain from further attacks.

Ultimately, this clearly confirmed the theological freedom of teaching in Bremen, with effects also for other regions.

Writings as a result of the dispute

  • Johann Nicolaus Tiele: The Gospel Blessing. One of the pamphlets by Anonymus and Dr. Paniel prompted a reply . Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1840. Digitalized MDZ reader
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher: Theological reply to Dr. Paniel in Bremen. With a report to the public . Wilhelm Hassel, Elberfeld 1840.
  • Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel: A critical letter from the seaside resort Norderney to Pastor Tiele zu Oberneuland near Bremen, as defender of the FW Krummacher'schen cursing matter . AD Geisler, Bremen 1840.
  • Moritz Rothe: Open letter to Pastor Tiele zu Oberneuland regarding his letter about the pastors Dr. Paniel and Dr. FW Krummacher held sermons in Bremen in July 1840 . Bremen 1840.
  • Johann Nicolaus Tiele: Letter to Dr. theol. et philos. Paniel Pastor at St. Ansgarii in Bremen in relation to his three Sunday sermons given on July 12th, 19th, 26th, 1840. Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1840. Digitalized MDZ reader
  • Wilhelm Ernst Weber : The curses as a contribution to the latest pulpit polemics . 2. with additions possibly. Edition Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1840.
  • Confession of pastors from Bremen in matters of truth . Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1840. Digitalized MDZ reader
  • Pastor FW Krummacher and Pastor Dr. Paniel. After the sermons you recently delivered in Bremen and published in print . (By Theodor Schlichthorst). Edited by (Johann Christian) L (Ludwig). Müller. Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1840.
  • Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel: The different theological directions in the Protestant Church of our time. For understanding for thinking Christians first in the secular classes . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1841.
  • Wilhelm Ernst Weber: The Christian need of the time to pietism and especially to Krummachertum . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1841.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher: The sanctimonious rationalism before the judgment seat of the h. Font. Resumé of the Bremen church feud . Wilhelm Hassel, Elberfeld 1841. Digitized
  • General Literature Newspaper . No. 99, 100 and 101, June 1841. (Collective review) Digitized
  • Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus : To illuminate churchly important issues of our time. Concerning especially attempts at church cursing and violent church discipline . Carl Schünemann, Bremen 1842.
  • Johann Melchior Kohlmann : Necessary answer to Pastor Dr. Paniel's complaints in Citizen Friends No. 36, 37, 38 about the "documentary notifications of former Bremen collegial donors St. Ansgarii and St. Willehadi and Stephani, together with the associated communities St. Ansgarii and St. Stephani" . Johann Georg Heyse, Bremen 1844.
  • Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel: The Alpha and Omega. An anger lamp to illuminate the writing of Dr. Paniel. Files relating to the attempt made by nine pastors from Bremen to expel Pastor Nagel from the ministry . Carl Sonnenberg in Commission, Oldenburg 1846. Digitized

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher: Paulus not a man in the spirit of our time. Sermon delivered on July 19, 1840 to the St. Ansgarii congregation .
  2. ^ Gustav Adolf Benrath, Martin Sallmann : The Pietism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (=  History of Pietism , Volume 3). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-55348-X , p. 251.
  3. ^ Hans Walter Krumwiede : Church history of Lower Saxony: From the German Confederation in 1815 to the establishment of the Evangelical Church in Germany in 1948. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-525-55432-X , p. 349 f.
  4. ↑ Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Paniel: A critical letter from the seaside resort Norderney to the pastor Tiele zu Oberneuland near Bremen, as defender of the FW Krummacher'schen Verfluchungssache .
  5. ^ Johann Nicolaus Tiele: Blessing of the Gospel. One of the pamphlets by Anonymus and Dr. Paniel prompted a reply .
  6. ↑ The Curse as a contribution to the latest pulpit polemics .
  7. ↑ Reinhart Seeger, p. 68.
  8. ^ Johann-Günther König, p. 207.
  9. ↑ See: Hans Pelger, Michael Knieriem.
  10. ↑ Confession of pastors from Bremen in matters of truth , p. 30
  11. ↑ Toel, Tiele, Mallet, Ludwig Müller and Schlichthorst. (Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher: The sanctimonious rationalism before the judgment seat of the modern scriptures. Resumé of the Bremen church feud , p. IX.)
  12. ^ Hans-Ludwig Schaefer: Bremen's population in the first half of the nineteenth century . Bremen 1957, p. 129. (Quoted from Johann-Günther König, p. 213.)