Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl August Christoph Hopf (born May 31, 1910 in Melsungen , Hesse ; † July 19, 1982 in Hermannsburg , Lower Saxony ) was first pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria , then the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) and mission director the Lutheran Church Mission eV (Bleckmar Mission).

Life

From school to the end of the Second World War

Hopf was baptized on June 15, 1910 and grew up in Melsungen. He passed his Abitur in Kassel in 1928. From 1928 to 1932 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Erlangen , among others with Professors Otto Procksch , Philipp Bachmann , Werner Elert and Hans Preuss .

He belonged to a predecessor church of the SELK, whose superintendent Heinrich Wicke ordained him on January 6, 1933 in Melsungen as pastor . However, since he could not be employed there, he looked for a job as a pastor in the Bavarian regional church. Initially he looked after 12 rural communities in the area around Lonnerstadt , namely his main and residential community in Mühlhausen. At the same time, he took an active part in the church fight against the German Christians right from the start .

From 1933 to 1936 he was city vicar in Aschaffenburg . During this time he tried to contribute to the confessional struggle of the Lutheran Church in Germany with various publications and contacts. In 1934 he was appointed to the first Lutheran Council and was a member of the Bavarian delegation at the German Lutheran Day in Hanover in 1935. In 1935 he passed the second theological exam and took up his first full position in the parish in Mühlhausen near Bamberg on May 1, 1936 . In addition to the pastor's office, he continued to actively participate in the church struggle alongside Hermann Sasse .

On January 1, 1939, he took over the editing of the Lutheran Church magazine , which, however, was banned by the National Socialists some time later . Due to health reasons, Hopf was not fit for use in the war and was able to continue his ministry as a pastor during the Second World War . In 1946 he married Lydia Heckel, who still lives in Hermannsburg today. The couple have two sons and a daughter.

post war period

After 1945, Hopf resolutely opposed the affiliation of the Lutheran regional churches to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), which he assessed as an unconfessional Union Church. The focus here was the Lutheran doctrine of Holy Communion and the commitment to the real presence of the body and blood of Christ under bread and wine ( real presence ). Communion between denominational churches was unthinkable for him. On October 18, 1948, legal detention took place against the decision of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Bavaria to join the EKD.

Since he did not want to bow to pressure from the regional church, he was put on hold with effect from May 18, 1949. His successor declared all future official acts to be "invalid" and "not recognized". Nevertheless, he continued to serve as a pastor without official approval and held services, initially in private rooms. He won some followers who formed a congregation around him and finally joined the (old) self-employed Evangelical Lutheran Church in January 1950. In the same year Hopf was appointed director of the Lutheran Church Mission in Bleckmar . He held this position until his retirement in 1978. Hopf died on July 19, 1982 in Hermannsburg.

meaning

Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf worked in the history of Christianity as an example of a pastor and mission director who , on the one hand, rejected and fought against any weakening of Lutheran theology on the one hand, and on the other hand any discrimination against people for racist reasons, because of a strong denominational-Lutheran bond with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran confessions. He showed this commitment during the church struggle with numerous theological statements at that time, but also afterwards in the fight against the unification of the EKD with unclear interpretation of the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

The attitude gained in the church struggle also led him to reject any form of racism and racial discrimination: as a mission director against the apartheid regime in South Africa , he showed this . There he promoted the independence of black Lutheran congregations in southern Africa, which united in 1967 to form the " Lutheran Church in Southern Africa " (LCSA) = "Lutheran Church in Southern Africa". His basic program, the Lutheran Church and Lutheran Mission, is fundamental and groundbreaking to this day . As a retiree, he consequently got involved with Amnesty International . He saw the church's silence on the violation of human rights as a threat that would result in severe judgments from God.

His literary achievement is also enormous. Hopf wrote numerous essays, which, however, are not yet accessible in one complete edition. The application of God's word to the things of this world can be seen as the motto of his life .

Until his death, he published numerous articles as well as the Lutheran papers in which well-known professors published articles and theological statements. This magazine was discontinued with his death.

estate

The estate of Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf and other family members is kept as a deposit in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg (HStAM inventory 340 Hopf) and can be researched online using the “Arcinsys Hessen” research database.

Fonts

• Lutheran Church Order (= Confessing Church , No. 29), Munich 1935.
• ... and Luther. The reformer answers the questions of the time to the church , Erlangen 1938.
• with Hans Kreßel : The feast of the last day. A proposal with a fundamental investigation and practical examples of the design , Essen 1941.
• The mission sermon with Hermann Bezzel , Erlangen 1977.
• Critical viewpoints for the present. A Lutheran theologian in the church struggle of the Third Reich, on his confessional struggle after 1945 and on the dispute over his stance on apartheid. Edited by Markus Büttner and Werner Klän. Oberurseler Hefte supplementary volume 11, Edition Ruprecht: Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-7675-7157-0 .

As editor

• Lutheran sheets . 35 years and 125 numbers.
• Luther letters to confessing communities , Göttingen 1935.
• Dr. Martin Luther: A little book from the church , Göttingen 1936.
• Dr. Martin Luther: Kirche im Kampf , Göttingen 1936.
• Lutheran Church's Sermon Book. Last Supper Sermons , Erlangen 1939.
• Hermann Sasse: In statu confessionis. Collected essays, Berlin 1966.
• Lutheran Church drives Lutheran mission. Festschrift for the 75th anniversary of the Bleckmar Mission , Bleckmar 1967.
• Hermann Sasse: Corpus Christi. A Contribution to the Problem of the Sacrament Concord . With a foreword by Joachim Heubach , Erlangen 1979.
• Hermann Sasse: Certificates. Erlangen sermons and lectures before congregations 1933–1944. With a preface by Hermann Dietzfelbinger , Erlangen 1979.
• Ludwig Harms . Personal reports , Hermannsburg 1980.
• Hermann Sasse: Sacra scriptura. Studies on the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, Erlangen 1981.

literature

• Dominik Bohne: Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf 1910–1982. Pastor, church politician, theological publicist, man of mission. Materials Reicher Ebrachgrund, BD. 5 Münster, Hamburg, London 2001, ISBN 3-8258-5338-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Announcement about the transfer of Pastor Fr. W. Hopf to the waiting position . In: Young Church. Evangelical church newspaper . tape 10 , no. 17/18 , October 1949, pp. 555 .
2. ↑ Overview of the inventory "Nachlass Hopf"  (HStAM inventory 340 Hopf). In: Archive Information System Hessen (Arcinsys Hessen), as of December 17, 2014.

Web links

• Lutheran Church Mission
• Literature by and about Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf in the catalog of the German National Library