Carl Neuschäfer

Carl Neuschäfer (born January 24, 1879 in Frankfurt am Main , † September 7, 1946 in Zillhausen ) was a German Baptist pastor , theology lecturer and director of studies at the Baptist seminary .

Life

Carl Neuschäfer came from a Baptist pastor family. He lost his father at the age of nine. Despite economic hardship, Neuschäfer's mother made it possible for him to attend grammar school. Shortly before graduating from high school, Carl Neuschäfer fell ill with a protracted conjunctivitis. An operation was necessary, as a result of which he had to stop attending school. It was not until many months after the operation that preserved his eyesight that he could devote himself to further training.

From 1899 to 1901 he studied at the seminary of the German Baptists in Hamburg-Horn . He then matriculated at the theological faculty of the University of Tübingen , where Adolf Schlatter was one of his most important teachers. Neuschäfer was already active as pastor of the Baptist Congregation (today: Evangelical Free Church Congregation ) in Tübingen-Zillhausen during his university studies. In 1906 he followed a call to preacher and pastor of the Baptist community in Stuttgart . In 1911 he switched to the Baptist seminary in Hamburg, where he was initially a theological teacher specializing in the New Testament . In 1922 he was appointed director of studies at the seminary.

During the time of the so-called Third Reich , Neuschäfer represented National Socialist ideas. For him it was “a matter of course that the Germans belong together in blood” and that “all non-Germans are eliminated from public life”. This is tough at first, "but as a basic setting it is absolutely necessary and understandable". In this context he spoke explicitly of " Eastern Jews and other parasitic immigrants".

Carl Neuschäfer held the office of Director of Studies until he retired in November 1945. Only a year later he died in Stuttgart-Zillhausen.

Works

• Acts of the Apostles. A biblical course , Kassel 1927
• Biblical basic lines of diakonia. Lecture given at the Free Church Diakoniekonferenz in Elberfeld, 16.-19. Sept. 1930 , Kassel 1930
• A life in Jesus' service. Excerpts from diaries and letters from Mother Superior Emma Elsholz , together with Emma Elsholz, Kassel 1928
• About aesthetic enjoyment. An ethical review of time , Kassel 1928
• There is nothing we can do against the truth. Johann Gerhard Oncken , Kassel 1934

literature

• The community 1947, p. 46f.
• Hans Rockel: Carl Neuschäfer in memory ; in: Predigerseminar Hamburg-Horn in the anniversary year 1955 , Hamburg-Horn 1955, pp. 38–45
• Günter Balders in connection with the college of lecturers (ed.): Festschrift 100 Years Theological Seminar 1880 - 1980 , Wuppertal and Kassel 1980, p. 124.128.135.136.139.141.235. ISBN 3-7893-7874-7
• Günter Balders (ed.), One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 Years of Baptist Congregations in Germany 1834-1984 , Wuppertal and Kassel 1984, p. 354.
• Astrid Giebel: Faith that is active in love (Baptismus-Studien Vol. 1), Kassel 2000, pp. 232f.236.240.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Short biography on the website of the Theological Seminary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches - Wustermark-Elstal University of Applied Sciences ; Accessed January 31, 2009
2. ↑ Quoted from Andrea Strübind : “We Christians among spectators”. The German Baptists and the persecution of the Jews during the Nazi dictatorship . In: Free Churches and Jews in the Third Reich. Instrumentalized history of salvation, anti-Semitic prejudices and suppressed guilt (Ed. Daniel Heinz). Volume 54 in the series Church – Denomination – Religion . V&R unipress: Göttingen 2011. pp. 151-182; here: p. 160
3. ↑ Chronicle in: Predigerseminar in the anniversary year 1955 , Hamburg-Horn 1955, p. 66f

Web links

• Carl Neuschäfer in the BEFG's historical lexicon