Berneuchen movement

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The Berneuchen movement is a church evangelical movement that emerged in the first half of the 20th century. The goals of the movement are: reform of the church and its worship life as well as mutual pastoral and spiritual accompaniment.

history

The Berneuchen movement emerged in 1922 from circles of the Protestant youth movement . The background to this was the radical changes in society and the church caused by the First World War , which the initiators perceived as a deep crisis and a challenge to a new beginning. Representatives of several church youth associations met in Angern near Magdeburg to discuss new approaches; From 1923 to 1927 there were annual meetings at the manor Berneuchen (now in Polish: Barnówko) in the Landsberg district in Neumark . The hosts were the retired General Rudolf von Viebahn and his wife Luise, a daughter of the Berneuchen pond management pioneer Max von dem Borne .

Waltraut von Lamezan describes the initial situation in 1993:

A “group of young people met who were concerned that the church as they experienced it was only a facade. The post-war generation was looking for religious experiences, but found in the church a doctrine that was completely incomprehensible to them, bourgeois ways of life and worship services whose style could not have been attractive to them. The people who met in Berneuchen did not give up, did not want to turn their backs on this church either, but looked for ways in which the church could be renewed from within. "

In 1926 the Berneuchen book , written by Wilhelm Thomas , Ludwig Heitmann , Karl Bernhard Ritter and Wilhelm Stählin , was published. It should show the church a way to move forward. In addition to the authors, the program was signed by 66 other people, including Paul Tillich and Ernst Schwebel . The only two women among those who signed were Ruth von Kleist-Retzow , maternal grandmother of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's fiancé Maria von Wedemeyer , and Anna Paulsen .

Maria von Wedemeyer's sister, Ruth-Alice von Bismarck, describes the Berneuchen movement as follows:

“The Berneuchen movement asks for a sacramental renewal of the church. She wants to practice an attitude that expects everything from God's attention and answers it with praise in singing, praying and doing. She wants to transform a church that is too strongly related to sin and Good Friday into a happy Easter church. She attaches importance to liturgical colors instead of black, celebrates the Lord's Supper as a joyous meal, practices fraternal pastoral care and confession and obliges to fixed text and prayer orders that unfold the richness of the church year. "

Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself, who was keenly interested in the spiritual life during his time in Finkenwald , did not join the Berneuchen movement. He and their representatives in the Pomeranian Brotherhood Council, especially Friedrich Schauer , clashed hard to the point of complete rupture.

Branches

The Berneuchen movement today includes the Berneuchen service , the Michael Brotherhood and the St. Michael Community . All three spiritual communities focus on the celebration of the Eucharist in the form of the evangelical mass , on prayers of the hours , daily reading of the Holy Scriptures and on meditation .

The common center of all communities is the Kirchberg monastery house near Sulz am Neckar .

Michael Brotherhood

The Michaelsbruderschaft arose from a meeting at Michaelis (September 29th) 1931 of 22 brothers in the Kreuzkapelle ( University Church of Marburg ). The brotherhood sees itself as "a binding community of men, pastors and lay people within the Church of Jesus Christ" ( Reinhold Fritz ). It includes brothers from eight different denominational churches. The Young Brotherhood is a separate convention of the brotherhood and accepts young women and men who are looking for a committed spiritual life for the time of their training or study.

About a third of the brotherhood are pastors . It is important not to be a parish fraternity, but rather a union of men who are looking for a shaped spirituality . In the 1990s, the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland entrusted the Michael Brotherhood with the implementation of preparation times for theological offspring. In the field of liturgy in particular, the Michael Brothers have often helped shape the language of agendas. The Michael Brotherhood is led by a so-called elder.

Community of Saint Michael

The Sankt Michael community was founded in 1989 in Borchen as a community of men and women who feel equally committed to the Berneuchen heritage.

Berneuchen service

The Berneuchen service is a spiritual community of women and men who support and continue the concerns of the Berneuchen movement. It is ecumenically open and cultivates a holistic understanding of spirituality. Meetings take place in regional convents with Eucharistic celebrations, reflection, encounters and discussions.

Well-known members of the Michael's Brotherhood

literature

  • The Berneuchen book. On the claim of the gospel to the churches of the Reformation , Hamburg 1926 - new edition: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt 1978, ISBN 3-534-08188-9 .
  • Wilhelm Stählin : Berneuchen. Our fight and service for the Church. Kassel: Stauda 1939 ( digitized version , State Church Archive Stuttgart )
  • Hans Carl von Haebler: History of the Evangelical Michaelsbruderschaft from its beginnings to the general convention in 1967. Edited on behalf of the Evangelical Michaelsbruderschaft, Marburg 1975.
  • Quatember. Quarterly Bulletins for Church Renewal and Unity ; ed. from the Ev. Michaelsbruderschaft, the Berneuchener Dienst and the St. Michael Community; ISSN  0341-9495
  • The Year of God : Yearbook, published from 1922 to 1938 by Johannes-Stauda-Verlag Kassel, Greifenverlag Rudolstadt and Bärenreiter-Verlag Kassel.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ↑ Ruth-Alice von Wedemeyer: Notes. In: Dietrich Bonhoeffer : Bridal letters, cell 92. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Maria von Wedemeyer 1943–1945. C. H. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54440-1 , p. 247
  3. ↑ Hans Carl von Haebler: History of the Evangelical Michaelsbruderschaft . 1975, p. 229 .