Alfred Roth (writer)

Alfred Roth (1928)

Alfred Roth (born October 24, 1882 in St. Goar am Rhein; † July 24, 1950 in Wasenberg near Schwalmstadt ) was a writer , preacher and chairman of the Hessen-Nassau Community Association , now the Evangelical Community Association-Hessen-Nassau.

life and work

Childhood and youth

When Alfred Roth was three years old, his mother died. The father remarried and moved to Hersfeld with the children Alfred and Maria. The new mother, who took great care of the children, belonged to the Baptist congregation and raised the children in the Christian free church faith. When Alfred was seven years old, his father also died. The family lived in simple circumstances, the children attended elementary school . Alfred continued his own studies, he was interested in literature, politics and classical languages, especially New Testament Greek. Dealing with religious questions and topics was important to him. He gradually distanced himself from the Baptists and finally joined the Protestant church with his sister. He found a new religious home in the regional church community established in Hersfeld in 1896.

Having become self-employed at an early age and without professional training, he began to write and published his first story in a Berlin magazine when he was seventeen. More stories and essays should follow in the next few years. Roth was a gifted speaker and developed into a charismatic preacher. The regional church community appointed him as a lay preacher. As a travel preacher, he was traveling all over northern Hesse.

In 1900, at a Whitsun Conference in Gnadau , he met the Swiss pastor Otto Stockmayer, who was one of the leading figures in the community movement . Roth dealt with his teaching, he sought his pastoral advice and won his trust. After Stockmayer's death in 1917, Roth became his biographer. a. published a book of Stockmayer's devotions.

Hessen-Nassau community association

At the age of twenty-three, Roth was called to be the first full-time preacher of the new community in Homberg an der Efze . He succeeded in building a lively Bible study group. He was able to convince people through his personal religious relationship. Nevertheless, he followed the development of the community movement critically. A special turning point for the members of the community, including Roth, was the emergence of the Pentecostal movement , which, coming from America, spread in Hessian communities and especially in Kassel (1907). It was therefore also called the “Kassel Movement”. These events, with their suggestive effect on people, were discussed intensively within the community associations. Roth belonged to the leading group of people in the Gnadauer Verband, who in 1909 spoke out against this enthusiasm with the "Berlin Declaration". "We are not expecting a new Pentecost; we are waiting for the Lord to come." There was a clear separation between the Pentecostal movement and the community movement.

Alfred and Christine Roth (around 1910)

In 1908 Alfred Roth and Christine Glebe from Hersfeld married. The couple had three children, Elfriede, Walther and Magdalene.

In 1908 Roth became secretary in the (regional association within the Gnadauer Verband). He returned to Hersfeld with his family and worked there as a preacher and at the same time managing director of the association. An intensive working group and friendship developed with the chairman of the community association, Pastor Leopold Wittekindt. Roth published a biography about Wittekindt: "A fighter for the kingdom of Jesus Christ". After Wittekindt's death in 1924, Roth succeeded him as chairman of the community association. He became increasingly known and invited to many conferences and Bible days in Germany and Switzerland.

Writing and journalistic activity

For health reasons, he finished his work in Hersfeld and moved with his family to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. In addition to his honorary work as chairman of the community association, he now devoted himself entirely to writing. He was the author and editor of several Christian monthly and weekly newspapers. A central theme in his stories and life pictures was the theology of the cross . In addition to the stories, he wrote theological books, biblical interpretations and books on the history of the community movement.

1933-1945

Roth turned against the emerging National Socialism early on . Regarding the new " Faith Movement German Christians ", opinions within the community movement differed widely. Roth advocated breaking away from the "German Christians" at the Gnadau board meeting in 1933, and at the general meeting of the Hessen-Nassau Association in 1934, all members were obliged to break away from the "German Christians" or to resign from the association. Shortly afterwards the association joined the " Confessing Church ". In the course of the next few years the Gestapo monitored his lectures more and more, and his literary work was controlled more and more until it came to a complete standstill. The Christian magazines were discontinued, the "Gnadauer Community Gazette", for which he had written articles, was banned.

In 1936 Roth fell seriously ill and largely withdrew from the public. Political and personal reasons motivated him to leave Kassel during the war and move with his wife to the son's parsonage in Wasenberg. There he largely took over the parish office as long as the son was drafted into the military. In the major attack on Kassel in 1943, his house on Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse with its library and almost all of the manuscripts were completely destroyed.

post war period

In his book "Fog. Thoughtful Reflections on a Direction of Time", which he was able to bring out in 1947 with the help of the American military government, he tried to analyze how it could be seduced by Nazi ideology using his diary entries.

After the war, Roth published a small pamphlet on the 50th anniversary of the Hessen-Nassau community association. Until the end he worked for an agreement within the community movement. But the contrasts were still too great. Alfred Roth died on July 24, 1950. He was buried in Wasenberg .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ (A. Roth: Fifty Years of the Hess.-Nassauischer Gemeinschaftverein, p. 20)

Publications (in selection)

• They bear noble seeds: pictures from the work of Hess.-Nass. Community association. Giessen 1914
• Right down to the gem: narration. Barmen 1916
• Who sow with tears. Narrative. Barmen 1917
• Morning shine of eternity: 3 stories. Barmen 1920
• Grace has appeared: Daily devotions by Otto Stockmayer. Processing u. ed. by Alfred Roth. Gotha 1923 (13th edition Lüdenscheid 2007)
• Leopold Wittekindt: A fighter for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. A picture of life. Neumünster 1924
• Sanctuary Sources: The Oxford Movement in Light of Fifty Years of History. Neumünster 1924 (1st reprint Albstadt 2007)
• Otto Stockmayer: A witness and follower of Jesus Christ: life, teaching and work. Gotha 1925 (3rd edition, Giessen 1962)
• The extinguished Christmas candles: narrative. Neumunster 1926
• The treasure in earthen vessels: life pictures and pictures from the life of the disciples of Jesus. Neumunster 1927
• In the fire: narration. Neumünster 1928
• At the sources of the kingdom of God: The Acts of the Apostles interpreted for our time. Neumunster 1929
• Questions of faith that keep coming up. Neumunster 1929
• Adolph Monod, a preacher of word and deed. Neumünster 1930
• In the great doctor's office. Bad Blankenburg 1930
• It sounds bright: a story from the Rhine. Giessen 1930
• Relief: narration. Basel 1931
• Questions of sanctification that keep coming up. Neumunster 1931
• August Vilmar, a rock man in storm times. Neumunster 1931
• Luther and the Old Testament. Neumünster 1933
• Hedwig von Redern in memory. Gotha 1935 (3rd edition, Giessen 1960)
• Johann Friedrich Oberlin, the father of the Steintal. Neumünster 1935
• 50 years of the Gnadau Conference in connection with the history of Gnadau. Giessen 1938
• Eva von Tiele-Winckler, the mother of the lonely. Gießen / Basel 1939 (6th edition 1966)
• Fog: Thoughtful reflections on a direction of time. Giessen 1947
• Fifty years of Hess.-Nass. Community association; Witten 1947
• I still have ...: Traits from the life of the prophet Elias. Marburg 1951

Numerous articles in the journals "Gnadauer Gemeinschaftblatt"; "Holy to the Lord"; "In the waiting room".

literature

• Karl Rübsamen: Alfred Roth. In: Arno Pagel: You pointed to Jesus. Giessen 1975
• Alfred Sommer: Alfred Roth, one of the formative fathers of the community movement. In: What God Did. 100 years of the Hess.-Nassau Association. Melsungen 1997;
• Hans von Sauberzweig: He the master - we the brothers. History of the Gnadau community movement. Offenbach 1959.
• Thomas Jeising :  Roth, Alfred. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 31, Bautz, Nordhausen 2010, ISBN 978-3-88309-544-8 , Sp. -.