Friedrich Ulmer (theologian)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Ulmer (born March 15, 1877 in Munich ; † August 18, 1946 in Erlangen ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and pastor as well as a university professor and president of the Martin Luther Association .

Life

Friedrich (Karl Hans) Ulmer studied philosophy, oriental studies and theology in Munich, Erlangen and Leipzig. During this time he was next to u. a. Otto Weber and Friedrich Seggel in 1896 one of the founding members of the Christian student union Munich Wingolf . In the following years he also joined the Erlanger Wingolf and the Munich Wingolf at the Technical University, which later merged with the Munich Wingolf.

After completing his doctorate as a humanities scholar and theologian, Ulmer was a pastor in Adelshofen near Rothenburg ob der Tauber from 1910 to 1918 and a chaplain during the First World War . He then worked as pastor of the St. Jakob parish in Nuremberg until 1920 and then as city pastor and dean in Dinkelsbühl . In 1924 he became professor of practical theology at the University of Erlangen.

In the Third Reich, Ulmer was initially positive about the system and affirmed his position as the Führer in the Lutheran Church magazine on April 1, 1934 . According to his colleague Wolfgang Trillhaas , he “couldn't be surpassed” in loyalty to the regime. In the opinion of the conservative Lutheran Wilhelm Freiherr von Pechmann , who corresponded with Ulmer about the National Socialist fight against Christianity, the demarcation of the Lutheran Church from the Old Prussian Union was more important to him than the defense of "National Socialist Antichristism". Nonetheless, two years later, Ulmer criticized an appeal by Robert Ley in the Lutheran Church , which denounced Christianity as well as class hatred, the liberalist bourgeoisie and the Marxist proletariat as life-negating and life-destroying. Ulmer judged Ley lacked the necessary knowledge of Christianity. He should also remember that millions of Christians "in spite of such devastating and joy-robbing experiences never tire of commemorating in intercession, like the leader, as well as the entire kingdom and people". Elsewhere, Ulmer complained: "As Germans and as Christians, we ask all official speakers not to expect us to listen to speeches that we must see as the destruction of our most sacred and the national community." As a result, Ulmer was the only professor in 1937 Erlangen Faculty § 6 of the Professional Civil Servants Act at that time applies. “To simplify administration” civil servants could be forced to take early retirement without giving any reason, which in the Weimar Republic served to relieve the public budget and the National Socialists as a reason for dismissal for opponents of the regime. The attempts of the Erlangen faculty to achieve retirement were unsuccessful.

The physician Wolfgang T. Ulmer is his son.

Martin Luther Bund

Between 1928 and 1937, Ulmer was also President of the Martin Luther Association, founded in 1885, in which the individual chests of God in the Lutheran regional churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Prussia and Baden were united. The term of office of Ulmers was u. a. marked by a considerable upswing, an increase by a Polish and a Swiss member association as well as the renaming of Allied Lutheran Divine Chest in 1932 . The Erlangen Faculty of Theology also benefited from the fact that Ulmer had the foreign and diaspora theological home built on site and the central office , i.e. the headquarters, relocated from Leipzig to Erlangen. As President of the Martin Luther Association, he was responsible for the Lutheran Church magazine until 1937 when it was banned from publishing other church newspapers. From today's perspective, the Martin Luther Association describes Elmer's attitude towards National Socialism as "uncompromising". At that time, the requests of the protagonists at the time led to the fact that Ulmer resigned from his position as President of the Martin Luther Association.

In addition, from 1933 Ulmer was a member of the Lutheran Unification Work (from 1868 to 1927 General Evangelical Lutheran Conference ), an international association of individual Lutheran personalities, and was a member of the Lutheran Council , which existed from August 1934 to June 1936 , which established a closer union of Lutheranism within the Confessing Church should bring about.

Publications (selection)

As an author

  • The sermon in the Lutheran service , Erlangen 1939.
  • Church work history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in outline , Erlangen 1938.
  • Confessional Church and Gustav Adolf Association and Martin Luther Association. From the point of view within the Lutheran Church , Erlangen 1934.
  • What will happen to our church? On the new church constitution , 2nd amend. Ed., Erlangen 1933.
  • Nature and delimitation of liturgy , Leipzig 1928.
  • Let's find the way. New poems , Rothenburg o. T. 1921.

As editor

  • Lutheran Church's Sermon Book. A vintage sermon on the old epistles , Erlangen 1936.
  • The Augsburg Confession, in its wording adapted to the language of the present and with the necessary explanatory notes by the community , Leipzig 1930.
  • The Schwabacher, Marburger and Torgauer articles in their wording adapted to the language of the present and with comments , Erlangen 1930.
  • Education sermons , Berlin 1926.

literature

  • Peter Engel: Prof. D. Dr. Friedrich Ulmer 1877-1946. President of the Martin Luther Association in difficult times. His family and his fate , In: Lutherische Kirche in der Welt, Jahrbuch des Martin-Luther-Bund, 2005, p. 121.
  • Gottfried Werner: Friedrich Ulmer - Father of the Martin Luther Association and its works , In: Lutherische Kirche in der Welt, Yearbook of the Martin Luther Association, 1985, pp. 188-202.
  • Gottfried Werner (Ed.): Lutheran Church in Motion. Festschrift for Friedrich Ulmer on the occasion of his 60th birthday , Erlangen 1938.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brief CV on Brill Online , accessed on March 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ August Winkler: Vademekum Wingolfitikum , Wingolfsverlag, Wolfratshausen 1925, p. 208.
  3. ↑ Bernd Moeller and Bruno Jahn (eds.): German Biographical Encyclopedia of Theology and the Churches (DBETh), de Gruyter, Berlin, 2005, p. 1354.
  4. ^ A b Kurt Meier: The Theological Faculties in the Third Reich , De Gruyter Study Book, Berlin, 1996, p. 86f.
  5. ↑ a b Quoted from Tanja Hetzer: "German hour": Volksgemeinschaft and anti-Semitism in political theology by Paul Althaus (contributions to historical science), Allitera Verlag, Munich, 2009, pp. 165f.
  6. ^ A b Wolfgang Sommer: Wilhelm Freiherr von Pechmann. A conservative Lutheran in the Weimar Republic and in National Socialist Germany , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2010, pp. 213f.
  7. ↑ In: Lutherische Kirche 18 (1936), pp. 158–162, quoted from: Kurt Meier: ibid.
  8. ↑ Tanja Hetzer: ibid.
  9. ↑ Heinz Boberach , Carsten Nicolaisen , Ruth Pabst (eds.): Handbook of the German Protestant Churches 1918 to 1949: Organs - Offices - Associations - People, Volume 1: Nationwide institutions , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2010, p. 446.
  10. ^ Gerhard Mueller: Theologische Realenzyklopaedie: Part I, Volume 1-17 and Register Volume , de Gruyter, Berlin, 1994, p. 724
  11. ^ Karlmann Beyschlag: Die Erlanger Theologie , Martin-Luther Verlag in cooperation with the Association for Bavarian Church History, Erlangen, 1993, p. 183.
  12. ↑ Visit from Dr. Ulmer im Martin-Luther-Bund , report from March 25, 2008 on the Martin-Luther-Bund (archive) website, accessed on March 19, 2015.
  13. ↑ Heinz Boberach, Carsten Nicolaisen, Ruth Pabst (eds.): Ibid., P. 279f.
  14. ↑ Heinz Boberach, Carsten Nicolaisen, Ruth Pabst (Eds.): Ibid., P. 133.
personal data
SURNAME Ulmer, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and pastor as well as university professor and president of the Martin Luther Association
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1946
Place of death gain