Günter Balders

Günter Balders (born September 4, 1942 in Meppen ) is a Baptist pastor and professor emeritus for church history ( University of Applied Sciences Theological Seminar Elstal ). He is the author of numerous books and essays on the subjects of Baptist Church History , Pietism and Hymnology .

Beginnings

Günter Balders comes from an Emsland Baptist family. He spent his youth in Lüneburg . After graduating from high school , he studied Protestant theology at the universities of Hamburg and Göttingen from 1960 . This was followed in 1968 by a candidate year at the Theological Seminary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches. Balders was already working as a teaching assistant and clerk in the area of the Evangelical Free Church Oncken Archive during the candidate year .

From 1970 to 1973 he completed his vicariate in the Evangelical Free Church Community Berlin-Schöneberg and was primarily responsible for pastoral care of the Berlin-Kreuzberg branch . In 1973 he was recognized as a pastor of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches.

Church history teacher and editor-in-chief

In the 1973 winter semester Balders was entrusted with a lectureship in church history at the Theological Seminary in Hamburg. In 1979 he moved to Oncken-Verlag in Gruiten , where he was responsible for editing the publishing house for 10 years. In 1989 Balders was again appointed lecturer for church history at the Theological Seminary in Hamburg by the leadership of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches. He held this office even after the seminar moved to Elstal near Berlin. In the course of the recognition of the theological seminar as a university of applied sciences , Günter Balders was appointed professor for church history in 2003. At the end of the summer semester 2007 he retired because he had reached the age limit and has been a guest lecturer at the university since then. His successor on the chair was Martin Rothkegel . Balders also heads two research projects on church history; one deals with the Baptist creeds , the other with Baptism as a controversial theological issue in the 19th century .

Hymnologist

One of Günter Balders' special fields of work is the hymn . He worked in various free church hymn book commissions. He was also active as a hymn poet, editor and translator. The free church hymn book Celebrations and Praises contains 34 songs that bear his signature. The Christian Singing Association names 175 songs that were created by Balders. Günter Balders is also involved in hymnological research, as evidenced by numerous publications.

The five-verse German adaptation of For All the Saints , written by him in 1998 and Christoph Bächtold in 2001/2004 - “For all saints in glory”, was included in the Catholic hymn of God's praise in 2013 (No. 548).

Other fields of work

In addition to teaching at the theological seminar, Günter Balders works in many institutions, associations and working groups. These include a .:

the Oncken archive in Wustermark-Elstal
the Association for Free Church Research based in Münster; here he is active in the association's advisory board;
the Paul Gerhardt Society based in Berlin; here he is a member of the board;
the Free Church Christian Singers Association ; here he directs the publishing work;
the so-called Pietism Commission (actually: Historical Commission for Research into Pietism ) based in Hanover; here he works on the publications committee.

Works (selection)

The following compilation is only a selection of Günter Balders' publications.

Church history

Dear brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents , Wuppertal and Kassel 1st edition 1978, 2nd edition 1984 (184 pages; with illus.).
Eduard Scheve: Trust the Lord. Blossoms and fruits of a life for community, mission and diakonia , compiled by Günter Balders, Wuppertal and Kassel 1979
Festschrift Hundred Years of Theological Seminary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches 1880–1980 , in conjunction with the college of lecturers, ed. by Günter Balders, Wuppertal and Kassel 1980
One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. 150 years of Baptist churches in Germany. 1834-1984. Festschrift , on behalf of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany with the collaboration of Manfred Bärenfänger, Edwin Brandt, Rolf Dammann, Frank Fornacon, Siegfried Kerstan, Axel Steen, Joachim Zeiger - with a foreword by Günter Hitzemann - edited by Günter Balders, Wuppertal and Kassel 1st edition 1984; 2nd edition 1985; 3rd, improved edition with literature supplements 1989
Experienced in the GDR. Reports from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , edited by Ulrich Materne and Günter Balders in collaboration with Reinhard Assmann, Bernhard Kühl and Manfred Sult. Wuppertal and Kassel 1995
Evangelisches Gemeindelexikon , Wuppertal 1st edition 1978, 2nd edition 1986 (including 22 articles by Günter Balders)
A “theology of the Führer principle”? German Baptists looking for a way in the Third Reich. In: Theological Conversation. Free Church Contributions to Theology 1979, Issue 1–2, pp. 29–40.
"Holy Allegiance". About the “Führer principle” in the Union of Baptist Congregations at the beginning of the Third Reich. In: Theological Conversation. Free Church Contributions to Theology 1979, Issue 3–4, pp. 5–15.

Hymnology

Free church hymn book Fieren & Loben - Die Gemeindelieder , Holzgerlingen, Kassel and Witten 2003 (including 34 texts, translations or arrangements)
Free church hymn book Community songs , Wuppertal and Kassel, Witten 1978 (including 5 texts, translations and arrangements)
Our children's song book , compiled and edited by Günter Balders, Marita Imhof, Hinrich Schmidt, Wilfried Siemens, Ulrike Szepan, 1st edition, Wuppertal and Kassel, 1986
Look at the star. Christmas choir book, edited by Horst Krüger with the collaboration of Günter Balders, Claus-Erhard Heinrich and Henning Worreschk . Wuppertal 2000 (including 29 lyrics or translations by Günter Balders)

Songs of Pietism from the 17th and 18th centuries , ed. by Christian Brunner with the assistance of Günter Balders, Leipzig, 2003

Article: Hymn IV: Free Churches , in: "Music in past and present", subject part vol. 5, Kassel u. a. 1996

Free Church Hymnology - an unfinished business , in: Journal "Theological Conversation - Free Church Contributions to Theology", Kassel 1990, Issue 2, 4–24 (special edition).

Hymn books (song books) from free churches and communities (in Germany) , preliminary overview, Glinde 1995

Literature (selection)

Uwe Swarat (Ed.): The praise of God brings heaven to earth. Festschrift for Günter Balders on his 65th birthday , Wuppertal 2007, ISBN 3877530656 and ISBN 978-3877530658 . The book contains a comprehensive Balders bibliography compiled by the editor.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ A detailed bibliography can be found in: Uwe Swarat (Hrsg.): Praise God brings heaven to earth. Festschrift for Günter Balders on his 65th birthday , Wuppertal 2007, ISBN 3877530656 and ISBN 978-3877530658 .

personal data
SURNAME	Balders, Günter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Baptist pastor, professor of theology and hymnologist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 4, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Meppen

[1] A detailed bibliography can be found in: Uwe Swarat (Hrsg.): Praise God brings heaven to earth. Festschrift for Günter Balders on his 65th birthday , Wuppertal 2007, ISBN 3877530656 and ISBN 978-3877530658 .