Alfred Kurz (theologian)

Otto Adolf Alfred Kurz (born June 5, 1870 in Clausthal ; † 1958) was a German theologian and Protestant pastor or superintendent . He was a member of the German Christians .

Life

Kurz grew up in Clausthal in the Harz region as the son of the businessman Julius Kurz and attended grammar school there. After studying theology in Breslau, he was examined in Berlin. His ordination took place on March 15, 1905 in Magdeburg . First he worked as a pastor in Reichardtswerbe (church district Weißenfels), where he married Hanna Metzner on October 2, 1905. The marriage had two children. In October 1908, Kurz moved to the St. Thomas Church in Erfurt , to which he remained connected for decades, first as 2nd pastor at St. Thomas, and since 1924 as 1st pastor. In addition to his pastoral office, Kurz carried out theological studies, which resulted in the monograph The Certainty of Salvation with Luther in 1933 .

In 1934, at the suggestion of the city of Erfurt, Reich Bishop Müller - in his function as Regional Bishop of Prussia - also appointed him Senior of the Evangelical Ministry of Erfurt and Superintendent in Erfurt. Kurz retired on October 1, 1938. He later moved to Bad Sachsa .

In terms of ecclesiastical politics, Kurz had been closely associated with the German Christians since the Weimar Republic . Initially a member of the DC religious movement, he joined the DC church movement in 1936. In his report on the ecclesiastical and moral conditions , which he submitted to the Erfurt District Synod on June 28, 1934, permeated with a German-Christian spirit , he stated: “But God wanted and wants our salvation! In Adolf Hitler he gave us the helmsman who tore the German ship around in the last hour ... I will never forget the day on which Hitler spoke to an enthusiastic crowd on the Erfurt arena for the first time ... That hour in the stadium became me a strong experience. At that time, for the first time since the end of the war, I looked confidently into Germany's future. But it was in that sin that the thought arose in me for the first time that the time was approaching when our Evangelical Church would be faced with the decision: with Hitler or against Hitler? In terms of content, this question is synonymous with the other: With the people or against the people? The church without the people is not a church, the church against the people is unthinkable. "

Fonts

• Ego sum. Novel. Warneck, Berlin 1912.
• (Ed.) Erfurt Luther Book 1917. A celebratory offering for the 4th century celebration of the Reformation. Keyser, Erfurt 1917.
• The certainty of salvation with Luther. An evolutionary and systematic presentation. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1933.

literature

• Martin Onnasch: About ecclesiastical power and spiritual authority. A contribution to the history of the church struggle in the church province of Saxony 1932–1945. Dissertation, Halle 1979. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-59278-6 .
• Hermann-Josef Rupieper, Alexander Sperk (ed.): The situation reports of the secret state police on the province of Saxony 1933-1936. Volume 3, Erfurt administrative region. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2006, ISBN 3-89812-215-8 , p. 116.