Hans Engelland

Hans Engelland (born June 23, 1903 in Föhrden , † November 4, 1970 in Kiel ) was a German theologian .

Live and act

Hans Engelland was born to a farmer near Rendsburg . He attended a school in his hometown and a high school in Rendsburg. After passing his school leaving examination at Easter 1923, he studied Protestant theology at universities in Tübingen , Göttingen and Berlin . From autumn 1928 to spring 1931 he assisted Karl Heim at the University of Tübingen. On May 10, 1930 he received his doctorate from Heim with distinction on The Question of Knowledge of God in Melanchthon . In the same year followed the habilitation on beliefs and actions of Philipp Melanchthon . Engelland taught systematic theology in Tübingen until the winter semester of 1932/33 . Since he did not get any vacancies there, he switched to the University of Kiel in the summer semester of 1933, where he taught dogmatics.

During the time of National Socialism , the non-party Engelland in Kiel was quickly exposed to hostility from National Socialist colleagues, including Hermann Mandel . The Gaufführung of the NS-Studentenbund from Schleswig-Holstein stated in their newsletter NS-Student 1935 that Engelland with its views does not correspond to "the eternal morality and morality of the Germanic race". Members of the student union campaigned successfully for the dismissal of the theologian, who also had to renounce all rights associated with the habilitation. On June 4, 1935, he had to give up his teaching license on the basis of Section 6 of the Law to Restore the Professional Civil Service . From November 25, 1935 to April 30, 1936, the Gestapo prohibited him from speaking.

From July 1, 1935 to March 31, 1936, Engelland took over vicarages in Preetz and Kiel . After the second theological exam on April 14, 1936 in Kiel, he was ordained five days later by Wilhelm Halfmann in Kiel's Luther Church. Since his doctorate was recognized as the first theological exam, he did not have to take it.

From September 1, 1936 until it was dissolved by the Gestapo on December 10, he taught as a full-time lecturer and inspector of the seminary for the Church's people's missionary service at the Apologetic Central in Berlin-Spandau . In his classes he covered the Bible, dogmatics, ethics, apologetics, inner mission and the essential points of church history. From June 1, 1938 to the end of October 1948, Engelland had a position as pastor of the deaconess mother house "Elisabethstift" in Oldenburg , which he also chaired. From October 23, 1940 to August 25, 1945 he had to do military service and spent some time in Soviet captivity.

After the end of the Second World War , Engelland refused an offer as episcopal vicar to Schleswig-Holstein in September 1945 , as did a director's position at the Kaiserswerther Association of German Deaconess Mother Houses . From November 1, 1948 to September 30, 1954, he taught systematic theology full-time at the Church University of Hamburg , where he was appointed "Professor of Theology at the Church University of Hamburg" on July 6, 1950. From the winter semester 1949/50 to the winter semester 1951/52 he took on a teaching position at the Pedagogical Institute, where he trained prospective religion teachers. After the church college had been dissolved, he received an appointment as honorary professor of the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Hamburg University on October 29, 1954.

From August 1954, Engelland took over the post of rector of the deaconess mother house Amalie-Sieveking-Haus in Hamburg-Volksdorf . In 1962 he received a call to the main pastor of the main church Sankt Jacobi . From May 1st 1963 until the end of his life he held a chair for systematic theology at Kiel University. Here he devoted himself in particular to research on Melanchthon and his works. Together with Edo Osterloh he wrote the biblical-theological concise dictionary for the Luther Bible and the more recent translations . He was considered a friendly pastor by his students. His colleagues Ernst Dammann and Helmut Thielicke described Engelland as a scientifically sound and pious theologian.

On November 21, 1960, the University of Kiel appointed Hans Engelland an honorary doctorate in theology.

Publications (selection)

• The question of the knowledge of God in Melanchthon , Munich: Chr. Kaiser 1930.
• Melanchthon, Faith and Action , Munich: Chr. Kaiser 1931.
• The certainty about God and the newer biblicism , Munich: Chr. Kaiser 1933.
• God and man at Calvin , Munich: Chr. Kaiser 1934.
• By grace alone! The doctrine of justification. Theological lecture to the congregation at the annual festival of the Breklumer Mission on June 20, 1935 ( Confessing Church , Issue 37) , Munich: Chr. Kaiser 1936.
• Three ways to God? The Volkish Faith - The Catholic Faith - The Biblical-Reformation Faith , Berlin: Furche 1938.
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The biblical doctrine of creation, fall and revelation , Berlin: Furche 1938.
• The reality of God and the certainty of faith , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1966.
• Jesus Christ, unlike everyone. Annunciation and Teaching , Metzingen: Brunnquell 1975.

literature

• Rainer Hering: Engelland, Hans . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 5 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0640-0 , p. 108-109 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Engelland in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography of Hans Engelland in the directory of expelled scientists from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul M. Dahl: Miterlebte Kirchengeschichte. The time of the church committees in the Ev.-Luth. State Church of Schleswig-Holstein 1935-1938 . Manuscript completed in 1980, revised for the Internet and edited. by Matthias Dahl, Christian Dahl and Peter Godzik 2017, p. 53 (online at geschichte-bk-sh.de).

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf Wilhelm Paul Drechsler	Senior Pastor at St. Jacobi in Hamburg 1962–1963	Paul Seifert