Eduard Wüst

Eduard Wüst

Eduard Wüst (born February 23, 1818 in Murrhardt , † July 13, 1859 in Neuhoffnung on the Volga ) was an Evangelical Lutheran theologian and co-founder of Russian-German Pietism .

Live and act

Wüst was born in Murrhardt in the Swabian Forest in 1818 as the son of a baker . After studying Protestant theology in Tübingen , Wüst worked as a vicar in Neuenkirchen and Rietenau near Backnang, among others . In Rietenau, Wüst first encountered radical pietism and the ideas of Johann Michael Hahn . Wüst took over his theology and began to preach pietistically, which, however, immediately led to his dismissal from the Protestant regional church . In the following months, Wüst turned to more pietistic circles in Stuttgart . Through the mediation of the Evangelical Brethren Congregation Korntal , Wüst was finally called to the Russian-German settlements on the Sea of ​​Azov in 1845 to look after the newly established Lutheran congregations there. Under his influence, the first separatist pietist circles soon formed among the Germans settling in the Ukraine . The Mennonite Brethren Congregations founded in Mennonite settlements in Ukraine in 1860 also go back to his work .

In terms of content, Wüst stood, among other things, for the rejection of fixed church structures and church ceremonies, for the demand for greater adaptation of biblical forms of life and greater emphasis on private devotions. Wüst also campaigned against the widespread alcoholism . The variant of church separatism developed by Wüst later developed partly strong charismatic tendencies.

literature

• Hans Brandenburg : Eduard Wüst. A messenger from Korntal in southern Russia (= Our spiritual ancestors. A series of images of life. Issue 2). Evangelische Missionsverlag, Stuttgart 1955.
• Ralph Tuchtenhagen :  Wüst, Eduard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 160-161.