Ernest Stoeffler
Fred Ernest Stoeffler (born September 27, 1911 in Abstatt-Happenbach near Heilbronn ; † September 24, 2003 in Lansdale (Pennsylvania) ) was a German-American Methodist theologian who was best known as a researcher on pietism.
Life
Stoeffler emigrated to the USA with his parents in 1926 and studied Protestant theology there , including at Yale University . He then worked as a pastor in various congregations of the Methodist Church , the predecessor church of the United Methodist Church . After completing his doctorate in 1948, initially taught part-time, from 1951 full-time at Temple University in Philadelphia . In 1978 he retired. Stoeffler also got involved on a voluntary basis, e.g. B. as an interpreter for the Red Cross .
plant
In two volumes (1965 and 1973), Stoeffler published the first English-language complete account of Pietism , which he brought closer to Puritanism and started with William Perkins . His thesis that the “father of Lutheran Pietism” was not Philipp Jakob Spener , but Johann Arndt became famous . This conception formed the basis for the layout of the history of Pietism published by Martin Brecht . However, the thesis was also repeatedly disputed (especially by Johannes Wallmann ).
Fonts (selection)
- Mysticism in the German Devotional Literature of Colonial Pennsylvania . Worse, Allentown, Pa. 1949 (also dissertation, Temple University, Philadelphia 1948).
- The Rise of Evangelical Pietism . Brill, Leiden 1965 (below).
- German Pietism During the Eighteenth Century . Brill, Leiden 1973 (below).
- (as ed.) Continental Pietism and Early American Christianity . Grand Rapids, Me. 1976.
- Tradition and Renewal in the Ecclesiology of John Wesley . In: Traditio - Krisis - Renovatio from the theological point of view. Festschrift for Winfried Zeller . Marburg 1976, pp. 298-316.
- Johann Arndt . In: Martin Greschat (ed.): Gestalten der Kirchengeschichte , Vol. 7, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1982, pp. 37–49.
literature
- Karl Heinz Voigt : Stoeffler, F. Ernest. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 23, Bautz, Nordhausen 2004, ISBN 3-88309-155-3 , Sp. 1440-1444.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Place of death against Voigt corrected after the obituary at www.legacy.com .
- ↑ Cf. Martin Brecht (Ed.): The Pietism from the seventeenth to the early eighteenth century (= History of Pietism, Vol. 1). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, p. 5. ISBN 3-525-55343-9 .
- ↑ See e.g. B. Johannes Wallmann: Pietism Studies. Collected Articles II . Mohr Siebeck 2008, pp. 56-65, 85-87.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stoeffler, Ernest |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stoeffler, Fred Ernest |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American Methodist theologian and church historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Abstatt-Happenbach near Heilbronn |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 24, 2003 |
| Place of death | Lansdale, Pennsylvania |