Erich Sauer (theologian)

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Erich Sauer (born December 31, 1898 in Berlin ; † February 25, 1959 in Wiedenest ) was theological assistant from 1920, head of studies from 1937 to 1952, and head of the mission house of the Wiedenest Bible School of the Brethren movement in Bergneustadt from 1952 to 1959 . His books, which have been published in large numbers and have been translated into more than twenty languages, make him one of the most influential theologians of the history of salvation in the evangelical world of the 20th century .

Live and act

Erich Sauer came to the Christian Community Berlin , a community of the so-called Open Brothers , through his mother as a child . There the boy received strong spiritual impulses, which at the end of 1911 finally led to an inner return to the Christian faith. Immediately after his conversion he began to work in various branches of the free church community ( Sunday school , young community, city mission). Inspired by a visit by the China missionary Ernst Kuhlmann , who impressed him very much, he wanted to go to missions as a teacher himself. For this purpose he first studied English , history , philosophy and theology at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin with the aim of obtaining a doctorate . However, a severe eye condition that almost blinded him forced him to stop his extensive studies.

The director of the Allianz Bible School founded in 1905 on Hohenstaufenstrasse in Berlin and moved to Wiedenest in 1919, Johannes Warns , invited Sauer to relax in Oberbergisches Land in 1920 , which was the beginning of his later field of activity as a Bible school teacher for the young man. His lectures and sermons were noted and greatly appreciated, the cooperation with his colleagues Major Wedekind, Heinrich Koehler and Ferdinand Peterssen was amicable.

In 1933 he married Lotte Köhler (1898–1984), the youngest daughter of the Bible school director Christoph Köhler. There was a daughter from this marriage.

After the death of Johannes Warns in 1937, Erich Sauer took over the direction of the Allianz Bible School. Together with his brother-in-law Heinz Köhler, he headed this institute until his death in 1952. After that, he took over the management of what is now the “Missionshaus Bibelschule Wiedenest e. V. “complete works up to his death in 1959.

In addition, Sauer developed an extensive teaching and preaching activity at home and abroad. His lecture tours have taken him to many countries in Europe and North America . He went on study trips to Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey and Greece. In the many encounters with Christians of different denominations , an inkling of the greatness of the kingdom of God grew in him . The insight that the church of Jesus is always larger than its own denomination , but also always smaller than the total number of those who belong to any church fellowship , became an important pivot of his doctrinal concepts for Sauer. He therefore saw an important field of activity in the Evangelical Alliance and was an important source of inspiration for many years.

Teaching

Another, perhaps even more significant, characteristic of his teaching was the interpretation of the Bible in terms of salvation history . His approach to salvation history was already hinted at in his first work of 1931 Purpose and Goal of Human Creation. In 1937 his two main works, The Dawn of World Redemption and The Triumph of the Crucified , were published, with which he became world famous. In them he developed that the Bible is not a dogmatic textbook, nor is it an arbitrary collection of ancient documents, but the testimony of the history of God's revelation. World history is the scaffolding of God's history of salvation. His theology of salvation history therefore tries above all to recognize the salvation history of God, revealed in creation , redemption and perfection, as a real history, which is shaped according to a purpose made and revealed by God. His hermeneutic endeavors were aimed at taking and understanding the biblical texts seriously, both in their contemporary context and in their wider salvation-historical context. Despite all the differences in the biblical books in terms of genre, style, composition, authorship and environment, Sauer saw the unity of the Bible of the Old and New Testaments preserved in the God who reveals himself.

For this reason he also dared to trace various “lines” (longitudinal sections) in the history of salvation that correspond to God's plan of salvation with the world and develop in continuity and discontinuity in the Old and New Testament. In line with Anglo-Saxon theologians of the revival movement, he did not shy away from having them represented graphically. In this context, his Wiedenest plan of salvation became known , which was attached to various of his writings and was widely distributed. His students and listeners therefore called Sauer a steward of the mysteries of God .

Sauer's main works (see below) achieved large editions and, also because they were translated into many languages, were distributed worldwide.

criticism

Sauer developed his theology before 1945, and the idea of ​​the “Aryan master race” found its way into his course of salvation history . He referred to Genesis 9.26f., Which contained a folk mythology about Sem , Ham and Jafet , a real "race program" according to which it was willed by God that the African and Asian peoples were inferior to the Europeans. He saw the "establishment of the Aryan-Japhetite world regiment" by the Indo-European and Persian King Cyrus II in 538 BC. BC, which was never broken again. He was therefore largely benevolent towards Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist rule, precisely because he took action against communism and fought against Bolshevism . He was critical of the Confessing Church . He was ambivalent about the Jewish question; He did not want to acknowledge the pogroms against the Jews in Germany until 1941, and only after the Second World War did he have to recognize the Holocaust and change some of his assessments in his books. On the other hand, he welcomed the establishment of the State of Israel very much. There was no public admission to have misjudged National Socialism and thus tolerated or even supported racism , anti-Semitism and human rights violations. It remains controversial to what extent and to what extent his historical misconceptions and his lack of insight have affected his entire theological work and legacy.

See also

motto

Erich Sauer's motto was: “Every Christian - a missionary! Every local church - a mission church! "

Works

  • Purpose and aim of human creation , 1931
  • The dawn of world redemption. A walk through the Old Testament salvation history , 1937, 9th edition 1998, ISBN 978-3-417-21410-9
  • The triumph of the crucified. A walk through the New Testament history of salvation , 1937, 9th edition 1974, new edition 1994, ISBN 978-3-417-21411-6
  • From the nobility of man , 1939
  • Eternal and Eternal Divine Plan of Salvation , 1950
  • In the arena of faith. A wake up call to new life according to Hebrews 12 , 1952
  • God, Mankind and Eternity , 1952, ISBN 3-417-21407-6 ; New edition 1992, ISBN 978-3-417-21407-9
  • It's about the eternal victory wreath , 1952
  • 1905-1955. Mission House Biblical School Wiedenest. A Testimony of God's Grace , 1955
  • The king of the earth. A testimony to the nobility of man according to the Bible and natural science , 1959

literature

  • Horst Afflerbach : Erich Sauer's theology of salvation history (= systematic-theological monographs. Volume 16), R. Brockhaus Verlag, Witten 2006, ISBN 978-3-417-29498-9 (dissertation)
  • Gerhard Gronauer: The State of Israel in the pietistic-evangelical end-time piety after 1945 . In: Gudrun Litz / Heidrun Munzert / Roland Liebenberg (ed.): Piety - Theology - Piety Theology. Contributions to European Church History. Festschrift for Berndt Hamm on his 60th birthday , Studies in the History of Christian Tradition 124, Leiden / Boston 2005, pp. 797–810.
  • Daniel Heinz (Ed.): Free Churches and Jews in the “Third Reich”: Instrumentalized history of salvation, anti-Semitic prejudices and suppressed guilt (= Church - Denomination - Religion. Volume 54), Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Unipress, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-899 -71690-0
  • Stephan Holthaus : Erich Sauer - life and work . In: Bibel und Gemeinde 99 (1999), pp. 122-134.
  • Ernst Schrupp (Ed.): In the service of congregation and mission 1905–1980. 75 years of the Wiedenest Bible School . Wiedenest 1980.
  • Karl Mühlek:  SAUER, Erich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 1417-1419.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stephan Holthaus: Erich Sauer - life and work. A contribution to the 100th birthday of the theologian and Bible teacher Erich Sauer , in: Bibel und Gemeinde 99 (1999), issue 2, pp. 122-134.
  2. ^ Stephan Holthaus: Erich Sauer - life and work. A contribution to the 100th birthday of the theologian and Bible teacher Erich Sauer , in: Bibel und Gemeinde 99 (1999), issue 2, pp. 122-134.
  3. ↑ Cf. Sauer: Das Morgenrot der Welterlösung , 1937, p. 86 f.
  4. ^ Stephan Holthaus: Erich Sauer - life and work. A contribution to the 100th birthday of the theologian and Bible teacher Erich Sauer , in: Bibel und Gemeinde 99 (1999), issue 2, pp. 122-134.
  5. ↑ Horst Afflerbach: God is the origin and goal of all history. On the 50th anniversary of Erich Sauer's death on February 25, 2009 , in: Open Doors 103 (2009), Issue 2, pp. 20–23.
  6. ↑ Horst Afflerbach: Erich Sauer's theology of salvation history (= systematic-theological monographs. Volume 16), R. Brockhaus Verlag, Witten 2006, ISBN 978-3-417-29498-9 , especially pp. 377-386.
personal data
SURNAME Sour, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian, director of the Wiedenest Bible School and author of the Brethren movement
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1959
Place of death Wiedenest