August Rauschenbusch

August Rauschenbusch

Karl August Heinrich Rauschenbusch (born February 13, 1816 in Herford , † December 5, 1899 in Wandsbek ) was a German Baptist theologian who was one of the leading personalities within his free church in the USA and Germany at the time.

family

August Rauschenbusch came from a Protestant pastor's family. His father was August Ernst Rauschenbusch (1778-1840), pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran congregation in Altena . Rauschenbusch's mother, Karoline Theodore Schniewind, was the daughter of the imperial Freiräven Heinrich Wilhelm Schniewind, the last Westphalian freeman.

August Rauschenbach was the father of the Baptist journalist Frida Fetzer (née Rauschenbusch) and Walter Rauschenbusch , the founder of the social gospel . His daughter Winifred Rorty, b. Raushenbush, was the mother of the American philosopher Richard Rorty .

Life

As a six-year-old child, Rauschenbusch began to learn the Latin language under the guidance of his father . A year later he acquired his first knowledge of French , which was then followed by ancient Greek . He received his school education first in Altena; As a 15-year-old he switched to the Prima of the Elberfelder Gymnasium , which he left in 1833 with the certificate of maturity. After a short time as an assistant and private tutor in Altena and Unna , Rauschenbusch enrolled at the theological faculty of the University of Berlin in 1834 , which he attended until 1836. His most important teacher there was August Neander .

As a twenty-year-old man, August Rauschenbusch experienced an internal conversion . He moved to Bonn University in 1837 , studied under Carl Immanuel Nitzsch , among others, and passed the church examination in 1841. A year later he became a pastor in his father's church. During this time, the Westphalian abstinence association was founded , to which Rauschenbusch played a key role.

In 1846 he emigrated to the United States to devote himself to pastoral care for Americans of German descent. He worked as the German-speaking secretary of the American Tract Society and editor of the magazine American Ambassadors . Contacts with Baptists led to Rauschenbusch 1850 Mississippi Power the believers' baptism received and preacher of several German and English Baptist churches in New York and St. Louis was. A longer missionary trip took him to Australia , where many new Baptist churches arose through his ministry.

In 1858 he was appointed lecturer at the theological seminary in Rochester . His new task was, among other things, the management of its German-speaking department. In addition to his teaching post, he developed a lively writing activity and published several Christian periodicals.

After Rauschenbusch had worked in the Baptist congregation in Frankfurt am Main for a few months in 1888 , he finally returned to Germany in 1890 . Until 1892 he was a pastor in the Wiesbaden community , after which he worked again in Frankfurt until 1895. Subsequently, he followed an appointment to the seminary in Hamburg .

meaning

Rauschenbusch - according to his biographer Frank Fornaçon - shaped German Baptism on both sides of the Atlantic like no other of his generation . Especially through his literary work he had a great influence on theology and preaching of the German-speaking Baptist pastors. As co-editor of two hymn books ( Faith Harp , Faith Voice for the Churches of the Lord (1894) ) he also gave decisive impulses for community piety and worship .

Works (selection)

• Adolf Clarenbach's and Peter Fleisteden 's martyrdom, as they were burned in Cologne on Sept. 28, 1529. 2nd edition, Scherz, Schwelm 1845. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
• Description of a sea voyage from Bremen to New York , Altona 1847.
• Some instructions for emigrants to the western states of North America and travel pictures , Elberfeld and Iserlohn 1848.
• The night of the west. A description of the civil and spiritual conditions in the western states of North America , Barmen 1847.
• The origin of infant baptism, according to church and world history , Hamburg 1897.
• Biblical images of women for edification. Teaching Christian women and virgins , Frankfurt am Main 1897.
• The emergence of infant baptism in the third century AD and the reintroduction of biblical baptism in the seventeenth century AD. According to church and world history, presented by A. Rauschenbusch, former professor at the Baptist Preacher Seminary at Rochester in North America. Second much increased edition , Hamburg 1898.
• Life story of Roger Williams, first Baptist preacher in North America and founder of the state of Rhode Island , Hamburg 1898.
• Handbook of homiletics for free church preachers and city missionaries , Cassel 1899.

literature

• Walter Rauschenbusch (ed.): Life and work of August Rauschenbusch . Oncken, Cassel 1901.
• Frank Fornaçon: August Rauschenbusch . In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist churches in Germany . Oncken, Wuppertal u. a. 1985, ISBN 3-7893-7883-6 , pp. 356 f.
• Hans-Martin Thimme: August Rauschenbusch (1816–1899). Lutheran pastor in Westphalia and Baptist lecturer in America . Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 2008 (= contributions to Westphalian church history , 33), ISBN 978-3-7858-0527-5 .
• Hans-Martin Thimme:  Rauschenbusch, Karl August Heinrich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 31, Bautz, Nordhausen 2010, ISBN 978-3-88309-544-8 , Sp. 1095-1098.
• Andreas Schumacher: August Rauschenbusch (1816–1899). A pioneer of the German Baptists in North America , Bern 2010, ISBN 3034301537 .
• Hans-Martin Thimme: August Rauschenbusch between Germany and America . In: Frank Lüdke, Norbert Schmidt (ed.): The new world and the new Pietism. Anglo-American influences on German neo-pietism (= writings of the Protestant university TABOR , volume 3). LIT-Verlag, Berlin 2012, pp. 49–59.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Uwe Eckardt:  Rauschenbusch, August Christian Ernst. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 18, Bautz, Herzberg 2001, ISBN 3-88309-086-7 , Sp. 1174-1176.
2. ^ Joseph Lehmann: The history of the German Baptists , Volume II (revised by Friedrich Wilhelm Herrmann), Cassel 1922, p. 296 f.