August Schreiber (missionary)

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August Schreiber (born September 8, 1839 in Bielefeld , † March 22, 1903 in Barmen ), whose full name was August Wilhelm Schreiber , also called August Wilhelm Schreiber the Elder to distinguish it from a director of the same name of the North German Mission , was a German pastor and missionary .

Life

family

August Schreiber was born as the son of the court councilor, public prosecutor and deputy Johann Karl Ludwig Schreiber (1803–1855) and his wife Amalia Friederika Schreiber (née Krummacher, 1808–1845). His older brother was the pharmacist and councilor Dr. phil. Bernhard Friedrich Schreiber (1833–1907); his older sister was Maria Schreiber (1836–1902). In 1859 she married the pastor and superintendent Bernhard Heinrich Volkening (1828–1910), a son of the well-known pastor Johann Heinrich Volkening (1796–1877).

education

August Schreiber attended grammar school in Gütersloh . During this time he was impressed by the Africa missionary Carl Hugo Hahn . This made him want to become a missionary to the Herero .

He studied theology from 1858, initially in Halle. Schreiber became a member of the Halle Wingolf . Professors Martin Kähler and August Tholuck had a lasting influence on him. Kähler conveyed to him theological way that mission was necessary and an indispensable task of the church. August Tholuck was a biblicist and revival theologian. He led writers to break away from idealistic philosophy, to seek the basis of salvation in biblical faith, and to recognize the justification of the sinner as a core concern of the New Testament.

Schreiber spent his final semester in Erlangen, where he was a member of the Erlangen Wingolf . Here he was particularly interested in the lectures of Professor Johann von Hofmann , especially with regard to scriptural evidence and the rebirth through church, word and sacrament, whereby the born again finds his fulfillment in God. Schreiber took his two theological exams in Munster . Schreiber received his doctorate in philosophy. He received his missionary training from 1864 to 1865 in London and Edinburgh , where he also improved his English. In Edinburgh he also studied medicine.

On May 24, 1866, he married Anna Sophia Amalia Luisa Möller (1846-1891) in Lübbecke .

Missionary work in Sumatra

In the summer of 1866 he traveled to the Batak in Sipirok on Sumatra on behalf of the Rhenish Mission , where Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen had just baptized the first member of this people, and helped him with his missionary work. The Rhenish Mission had mission stations in the Dutch East Indies since 1861 . Schreiber became head (praes) of the mission to the Batak. He was the first missionary of the Rhenish Mission in Sumatra to graduate from university in theology.

Adult school in Parausorat

In April 1868 Schreiber opened a catechetical school for adults in Parausorat. The missionary operators of the school aimed at the formation of a self-sustaining Batak Church. (More on this in the chapter “Mission Policy”.) The duration of the training was set at two years. In a first class five young Batak were trained as teachers by Schreiber, who acted as the main teacher. He was supported by the local missionaries Klammer and Schütz. The students had already been baptized, were selected from the best elementary school graduates and were named Ephraim, Thomas, Paulus, Johannes and Markus. Selection criteria were intelligence and, in the opinion of the missionary, “good character”. Two of these students later became pastors .

The selection criteria could, however, be bypassed if the candidate had a sufficiently high social status as the son of a chief. After a few months, the non-Christian Willem Dja Muda, the son of Sutan Baginda, the chief of Baringin, was accepted in the hope that he would later evangelize his family and the village. Dja Muda was baptized in 1876, but converted to Islam after becoming chief and became a tough opponent of the Batak mission.

The following subjects were taught:

  1. Bible knowledge, interpretation and history
  2. catechism
  3. Geography of Greater India and the World
  4. Story, therein:
    • History of ancient peoples who influenced biblical Israel
    • Church history
    • the struggle between Islam and Christianity
    • Contemporary history under the aspect of the emergence of European hegemony over the world at that time
  5. arithmetic
  6. singing
  7. Natural sciences

In 1870 Chr. Leipoldt became a full-time teacher, beginning with the start of a second class at the adult school, this time consisting of twelve students, four of whom later became pastors. Malay and German were added as subjects .

Both the Latin and Batak script were used as both were taught in elementary school. To remedy the shortage of textbooks, Schreiber and Leipoldt worked hard to translate European books. They imparted the knowledge they needed to their students so that they could later teach their own people. Most of the students received very good assessments and were later awarded as teachers, unless they had given up teaching because of poor pay.

Spreading the Mission

Schreiber supported the Mennonite missionary Heinrich Dirks , who in January 1871 also began to evangelize with the Batak some distance away.

The center of the missionary work shifted from the area of ​​the Angkola-Batak to the north, into regions in which no longer their language, but that of the Toba-Batak was spoken. The catechetical school could not provide adequate training for local church teachers for these areas, both because of the distance and because of the language difference. Schreiber was also concerned about the Malay influence among the Angkola. For example, he reported on a "Malayization" of the Angkola-Batak language. He feared that learning the Malay language , rather than maintaining one's own language, could open communities to Islamic influence. Later Dutch missionaries in the Karo-Batak area had similar fears.

work in Germany

In 1873 Schreiber had to return to Germany because his wife fell ill after the second grade of the adult school had completed their training. A third class was now being taught by Leipoldt. Girls were trained for the first time in primary school in 1873.

The mentioned language problem was provisionally solved in 1874, after Schreiber's departure, by founding a hiking school in the Toba-Batak language. In the same year, Schreiber began teaching at the mission seminary as the successor to Gustav Warneck .

Also in 1874 special training for girls was started in the mission area. The number of girls in primary school initially remained low. To increase the number of students, the Batakmission urged church members to send their daughters to school. But this initiative had little success. Schreiber attributed this to the lower position of women in Batak society. They served as the main labor in the household, but did not receive the same educational opportunities as men, as Schreiber complained in his text "The work on pagan women and girls".

In 1875 the third grade finished their training at the adult school. Leipoldt also had to leave Sumatra because of the poor health of his wife, whereupon the school was closed.

In 1879 August Schreiber and Chr. Leipoldt's translation of the New Testament from Greek into the Angkola Mandailing Batak language appeared.

Schreiber was involved in drawing up the first church ordinance of the Batak Church, together with Ludwig Nommensen, who was in charge, mission inspector Friedrich Fabri and the missionary Koedding, who had proselytized in Sibolga . No German or European models were copied, but the structures that had naturally grown in North Sumatra were used.

In the 1880s, Schreiber began promoting female teachers (sisters) in order to promote the education of girls, which was very important to him. Here the influence of the English and American missions, especially Alexander Duff , was evident .

At the continental mission conference of 1880 his text "What can we learn from the Americans and English for the theory and practice of missionary work?" Was presented. He emphasized three points:

  1. They better support the local population.
  2. In America in particular, a distinction is made between cultural and missionary work; Mission is not seen as a cultural force.
  3. Doctors and women missionaries have long been involved in missionary work.

Schreiber emphasized the view that female missionaries are not inferior to male missionaries, but that they do some work better, especially the promotion and training of girls.

In 1884, Schreiber called for a clear separation between the Christian mission and colonization.

In 1888 Schreiber represented the Rhenish Mission Society at the London Mission Conference. (More on Schreiber's views in the chapter "Mission Policy".)

Mission Inspector

In 1889 he was the first missionary to become the first inspector of the Rhenish mission. He held this office until his death.

In 1890 Schreiber was able to send Hester Needham from England, the first sister to the German mission area, and 34 more women followed later. Their main task was diakonia; however, the sisters were entrusted with setting up and teaching at special primary schools for girls. Skilled sisters were asked to teach weaving, nursing, or obstetrics schools. Schreiber wanted to improve the social position of the Batak women through education.

In 1896 Schreiber spoke out against a ban on mixed marriages, but this was due to the lack of European wives for the German settlers.

The first doctor sent by the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft was Julius Schreiber, August Schreiber's son. He reached the Batak area in 1898.

On two extended trips August Schreiber tried to visit as many missionaries as possible and to find out about their work. His reports about it were found to be very engaging and led to many theologians going into missionary work and receiving rich donations for it. So he traveled to Sumatra again around the turn of the year 1898/1899. Together with Nommensen, he visited the missionaries at the various stations. The Batak Church had expanded significantly in the area since serving as a missionary.

On New Year's Day 1899, he reached Sigumpar and preached to the local community in an open-air service from a high, carefully crafted pulpit made of bamboo and palm fronds, with a view of the lake and the mountains, as he later reported. Well over 1000 listeners sat on the floor in front of him. Schreiber was impressed by the participation of the Batak in the service, with particular emphasis on the choral competition held by the schoolchildren on the afternoon of the same day.

In 1900 Schreiber represented the Rhenish Mission Society at the New York Mission Conference. At both of the conferences Schreiber attended, many aspects of mission development and the problems arising from the mission's impact on education were discussed. Schreiber never commented on these problems and did not take part in the relevant events. It is therefore difficult to assess what influence the conferences had on the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft with regard to its educational mission. Based on what Schreiber expressed in writing, it can be assumed that continental European mission societies such as the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft benefited from such contacts with American and British societies, as shown by the emphasis on autonomous churches (see chapter "Mission Policy") and the education of girls. So August Schreiber contacted various English mission leaders regarding the inclusion of female evangelists (sisters).

Also in 1900 Julius Schreiber founded the mission hospital in Pearadja , where Johannes Winkler was employed in 1901 .

In 1903 Ludwig Nommensen asked for permission to do missionary work in Timor as well. August Schreiber encouraged him by telegram with a single word: "Tole", the Batak word for "forward". Nommensen regarded Schreiber, who died that same year, as a friend and important supporter of his work with the Batak since their work together in Sumatra.

Mission Policy

Schreiber's assumption of office as mission inspector coincides closely with the mission beginning in 1888 at Astrolabe Bay in northeast New Guinea .

Schreiber closely linked the mission with the introduction of offices. In contrast to his predecessor Friedrich Fabri, he refused to mix the Christian mission with colonizing activities such as “education for work”, “civilization” or science; he limited the mission to the biblical missionary mandate of proclaiming the gospel. To put the proclamation of the word in the center corresponded to the evangelical understanding of the church. This required the sermon in the local language.

Schreiber was also influenced by the revival movement , from which his emphasis on the role model function of the missionaries and his demand that they should be permanently present in the mission area derived.

The mission should begin with individuals, but ultimately new churches should be formed, as Schreiber saw the Christian community as a prerequisite for Christian life. The missionary should strive to hand over his responsibility for the emerging congregation to local elders (after the Greek term presbyter ) and pastors who have evangelized by him; the new churches should become self-sufficient and take over the missionary work themselves. In this view, Schreiber followed Anglo-American mission theories.

The congregations should also gradually become independent in material matters. To this end, Christian literature should first be made available and teaching programs drawn up. The organization required for this should also be managed by locals. First, helpers for church work should be trained, then local teachers should follow, then evangelists and finally pastors from the local population. At an advanced stage, elders should assume the missionary functions. The role of elders was at least as important to scribes as that of the missionary's immediate aides. He made the formation of the elders one of the primary tasks of missionaries in advanced churches, which missionaries should accomplish through frequent personal contact and holding meetings.

The congregations should grow together to form churches with local pastors and elders on their own. Schreiber refused to allow the congregations to join European church structures. He was reacting to the experiences of earlier times; Fabri’s missionary policy was clearly colonial, patronizing and nationalistic. Schreiber also followed the decisions of the London Mission Conference of 1888, which had declared the formation of independent church structures in mission areas to be the main objective of the mission. In Schreiber's view, there should be no rules about how the church structures should look in the final phase; the respective cultural events should flow into the natural growth of the churches; European models should not be artificially imposed, so that the duties of the officials are carried out with genuine inner drive.

Schreiber's convictions only slowly came to fruition in missionary reality; the missionary policy outlined here did not establish itself until decades later. The missionaries were initially too strongly influenced by their own culture, especially the revival movement. Therefore, the mission was aimed too much at individuals; too little consideration was given to the local culture and religion. However, Fabri's influence is not discernible here.

In the case of New Guinea, for these reasons, the mission made slow progress until about 1912. Then the missionaries had adapted to the local conditions and the first churches were formed. From 1919 onwards, the congregations solidified and church offices with local officials emerged. The missionary effort was completed in 1932.

Another difficulty with the mission was that locals sometimes felt that different rules apply to Europeans than they do to themselves, as Europeans are a different kind of creature. Schreiber therefore considered it an absolute prerequisite for the mission to convey to the locals that all people are equal and that racial differences are purely external. (See Farnbacher, p. 109, footnote 164).

Works

Remembrance day

His feast day in the Evangelical Name Calendar is March 22nd.

Before the introduction of the official name calendar, the day of remembrance was already listed in:

  • Jörg Erb : The cloud of witnesses. Volume 4, Kassel 1951/1963, pp. 508-520.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Becker (editor): Rassenmischehen, Mischlinge, racial segregation: On the politics of race in the German colonial empire , contributions to European overseas history 90 , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-515-08565-3 , contribution by Kathrin Roller: Between racism und Piety , p. 235, online under "August + Schreiber" + Missionary & source = bl & ots = 7fnzjiJnkR & sig = QG60A5s120Ad46-AIHmjqp0j_e4 & hl = de & sa = X & ved = 0ahUKEwi4q7H9j9TLAhU6AEoPz
personal data
SURNAME Schreiber, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schreiber, August Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor and missionary
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielefeld
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1903
Place of death Barmen