Armin Kraft

Armin Kraft (born August 22, 1941 in Braunschweig ) is a German Protestant theologian, emeritus cathedral preacher and provost a. D. in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig .

biography

After his ordination , Kraft began as pastor of the Riddagshausen monastery church . In 1975 he became cathedral preacher at Braunschweig Cathedral , the collegiate church of St. Blasii . From 1992 to 2006, as provost, he was the spiritual director of the Braunschweig provost and held a preaching assignment at St. Martini's Church .

On the occasion of his adoption in 2006, Regional Bishop Friedrich Weber called him “the face of the Protestant Church in Braunschweig for 40 years”. Contributing to this was on the one hand his 25 years of teaching activity at Wilhelm-Gymnasium in the subjects of philosophy and religion, on the other hand his "Kraft-Words", a column that appears twice a week in a free newspaper that is widely distributed. The popular contributions later found their way into printed anthologies.

Kraft is the author of over 16 books. Kraft introduced the daily five-minute devotions in the cathedral.

The "miracle of Braunschweig"

Armin Kraft achieved nationwide fame as part of the “Miracle of Braunschweig” . By January 2014, an anonymous donor had donated over 260,000 euros for social purposes in Braunschweig; The donor donated Kraft's collection against child poverty three times.

voluntary work

After retiring, Armin Kraft was appointed honorary commissioner against child poverty by the Lord Mayor of Braunschweig, Gert Hoffmann (CDU). Donations were collected very successfully under his leadership. In December 2014, the entrepreneur Friedrich Knapp ( New Yorker ) donated 1 million euros.

Kraft is the chairman of the Alternative Sport Association. V., an initiative for violence prevention for children and young people in the Braunschweig region.

criticism

2014 was against Armin Kraft criminal charges of receiving bribes in office ( § 331 of the Criminal Code ), embezzlement ( § 246 of the Criminal Code) and theft ( § 242 of the Criminal Code) and because of the attempt of fraudulently obtaining a financial power of attorney and legacy hunting found and initiated proceedings. He was accused of having accepted a total of six-figure sum of money from an acquaintance for decades (by then the lady, Charlotte W., had already died). In addition, gold bars were missing from a locker (value in 2016 approx. € 1.8 million). The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig discontinued the proceedings for lack of sufficient suspicion ( Section 171 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ). The allegations were made by the great niece and executor of the ten heirs. The whereabouts of the gold is unclear. In the further course the church court of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover dealt with the case for 1.5 years in order to examine the initiation of disciplinary proceedings , but did not initiate any.

The general public only became aware of the case in November 2016 through research and reporting by the NDR . In a TV interview with the NDR, Kraft confirmed the donations, but expressed the view that the relationship with the deceased was purely private and had nothing to do with his church office. This was followed by weeks of reporting in the Braunschweiger Zeitung .

At the end of November 2016, Kraft resigned as a voluntary commissioner against child poverty . The church government of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig discontinued disciplinary proceedings after an examination. Fifty theologians from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig then signed a statement underlining that it was not common practice to accept donations.

In March 2016 Armin Kraft was sentenced to a fine and a one-month driving ban for bodily harm and fleeing an accident ( Section 142 of the Criminal Code) . In downtown Braunschweig he is said to have run his car over the foot of a woman. Instead of pretending to be the cause of the accident, he moved away from the scene of the accident, but then came back and pretended to be a witness to the accident.

Memberships

• Chairman of the City Pastors' Conference
• Chairman of the community committee in the regional synod
• Member of the church leadership in the General Synod of the United Lutheran Churches

Fonts (selection)

• News. Texts for everyday life . Evangelisches Dompfarramt Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1978, ISBN 3-87065-567-4
• Force words . Evangelisches Dompfarramt Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1978, ISBN 0-692-42261-7
• The St. Blaise Cathedral in Braunschweig: Its history and its works of art . St. Blasii Cathedral Foundation, Braunschweig 1982
• Points of contact. Between everyday life and Sunday, doubt and faith, Church and world. Braunschweig Cathedral Provost, Braunschweig 1990
• 365 power words and 1 for 1 leap year . Braunschweig Cathedral Provost Office, Braunschweig 1990

Individual evidence

1. ^ Regional Bishop Dr. theol. Friedrich Weber: Address to say goodbye to Provost Armin Kraft. (PDF) Retrieved June 7, 2017 . 
2. ^ Armin Kraft said goodbye: Mascherode parish. Retrieved June 7, 2017 . 
3. ↑ A celebration with bread and water . In: Unser38.de . ( Unser38.de [accessed June 7, 2017]). A celebration with water and bread ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Armin Kraft: 365 power words and 1 for 1 leap year . Domprobstei Braunschweig, 1990 ( amazon.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
5. ↑ - The miracle of Braunschweig . In: Deutschlandfunk Kultur . ( deutschlandfunkkultur.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
6. ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Anonymous donations: The miracle of Braunschweig - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Panorama. Retrieved June 7, 2017 . 
7. ↑ FOCUS Online: Armin Kraft, Commissioner for Child Poverty of the City of Braunschweig, with the 500 euro notes - photo . In: FOCUS Online . ( focus.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
8. ↑ Friedrich Knapp donates a million for Braunschweig children . In: Braunschweiger Anzeiger . December 9, 2014 ( braunschweigeranzeiger.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
9. ↑ Ergonautix: Alternative Sports: The Association. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on June 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Alexander Wallasch: The provost and the old lady's money: Luther's nightmare . In: the daily newspaper . ( taz.de [accessed June 8, 2017]).
11. ↑ Investigations stopped in 2014: with us community: Ev.-luth. Parish office for people with intellectual disabilities. Retrieved June 8, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Alexander Wallasch: The provost and the old lady's money: Luther's nightmare . In: the daily newspaper . ( taz.de [accessed on June 10, 2017]).
13. ↑ Personal statement by Armin Kraft . In: Unser38.de . ( Unser38.de [accessed June 8, 2017]).
14. ↑ NDR: Ex-Provost Kraft gives up volunteering after allegations. Retrieved June 7, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Alexander Wallasch: The provost and the old lady's money: Luther's nightmare . In: the daily newspaper . ( taz.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
16. ↑ NDR: Ex-Provost Kraft gives up volunteering after allegations. Retrieved June 7, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Disciplinary proceedings against Provost Kraft discontinued . ( regionalweltenbuettel.de [accessed June 7, 2017]).
18. ↑ Braunschweiger Zeitung, Braunschweig, Germany: Case Armin Kraft: 50 theologians write a statement . ( braunschweiger-zeitung.de [accessed on June 8, 2017]).
19. ^ NDR: New disciplinary proceedings against ex-provost Kraft. Retrieved June 10, 2017 .