Gustav Friedrich Nagel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gustav Friedrich Nagel (born March 19, 1868 in Grundschöttel (today a district of Wetter (Ruhr) ); † March 6, 1944 in Hartenrod ) was a German Protestant theologian, pastor of the Association of Free Protestant Congregations in Germany and chairman of the German Evangelical Alliance .

Life

Nagel was born as the eldest of five children of the miner Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Nagel and his wife Maria Luise. After school and an administration apprenticeship, he worked as a secretary in the administration of Wetter (Ruhr) . Through his brother Fritz, who lived with a host family in Witten- Bommern during his training as a miner , he came into contact with questions of faith and eventually joined a small community in Wengern . At that time, the Free Evangelical Churches did not have their own theological training center. Nagel completed his theological training at the Predigerschule Basel , where he met Otto Schopf and Konrad Bussemer . After a short community service in St. Johann an der Saar (1895-1897), he became a preacher in the Free Evangelical Congregation in Siegen for 21 years in 1897. In 1919, Nagel was appointed by Friedrich Heitmüller to the "Holstenwall Community" in Hamburg . In 1924 Nagel took over the second chairmanship and in 1926 the first chairmanship of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany. As early as 1918 he had taken over the editing of the Evangelical Alliance Gazette , which under his leadership became the official organ of the general association of the German alliance in 1926. In 1940 the Evangelische Allianzblatt was discontinued, ostensibly for reasons of importance to the war effort. With the publication of the last issue, Nagel resigned from the service of the Evangelical Alliance and left Hamburg. His book The Great Struggle , in which he developed the meaning of the free church model, was formative for many free evangelical congregations .

Political attitude

Nagel's political attitude was marked by a deep skepticism towards the democracy of the Weimar Republic . His idea corresponded to a strong nation-state after the coinage of Bismarck . He considered social democracy to be “godless”, while Bolshevism, Catholicism and Judaism were threatening. As a nationally conservative person, shaped by the end-time theories of Johann Albrecht Bengel , Nagel welcomed Hitler's seizure of power and hoped that it would contain the moral devastation he felt. “The faithful end historical show had drawn too simple and naive lines,” concludes the church historian Erich Beyreuther .

Works (selection)

Gustav Friedrich Nagel wrote over 80 books. The main focus of his literary work was above all christological and ecclesiological topics as well as theological discussion of political movements of his time.

  • The big fight. A contribution to illuminating the question: Church or community of believers? Witten 1896, Bad Homburg 1912, Bonn 1922, Witten 1922.
  • The turmoil of God's people in the present. Foreword by Otto Schopf, Bad Homburg 1913, Witten 1913.

literature

  • W. Wöhrle: Gustav Nagel (1868–1944). On the 100th anniversary of his birthday on March 19, 1968. In: Der Gärtner. Witten 11/1968, pp. 208-210.
  • Thomas Habighorst:  Nagel, Gustav Friedrich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 434-439.
  • Hartmut Weyel: "The great battle" for clarity and unity in the community. For the 140th birthday of Gustav Friedrich Nagel (1868–1944). In: Being a Christian Today. 8/2008, pp. 58-61.
  • Hartmut Weyel: Gustav Friedrich Nagel (1868–1944). In: Wolfgang E. Heinrichs , Michael Schröder, Hartmut Weyel: The future needs an origin. Biographical portraits from the history and prehistory of free evangelical communities. Volume 2, Bundes-Verlag, Witten 2010, ISBN 978-3-933660-03-9 , pp. 207-226.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hartmut Weyel: Gustav Friedrich Nagel (1868–1944). Biographical portraits from the history and prehistory of free evangelical communities . In: Wolfgang Heinrichs, Michael Schröder, Hartmut Weyel (eds.): The future needs an origin . tape 2 . Bundes-Verlag, Witten 2010, ISBN 978-3-933660-03-9 , pp. 207 ff .
  2. ↑ Hartmut Weyel: Gustav Friedrich Nagel (1868–1944). Biographical portraits from the history and prehistory of free evangelical communities . In: Wolfgang Heinrichs, Michael Schröder, Hartmut Weyel (eds.): The future needs an origin . tape 2 . Bundes-Verlag, Witten 2010, ISBN 978-3-933660-03-9 , pp. 214 .
  3. ↑ cf. Hartmut Weyel: Gustav Friedrich Nagel (1868–1944). Biographical portraits from the history and prehistory of free evangelical communities . In: Wolfgang Heinrichs, Michael Schröder, Hartmut Weyel (eds.): The future needs an origin . tape 2 . Bundes-Verlag, Witten 2010, ISBN 978-3-933660-03-9 , pp. 212 .
  4. ↑ Erich Beyreuther: The way of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany . R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1969, ISBN 3-417-24589-3 , p. 93 .
personal data
SURNAME Nagel, Gustav Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Grundschöttel , today a district of Wetter (Ruhr)
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1944
Place of death Hartenrod