Hans Kirsten

Karl Ernst Johannes (Hans) Kirsten (born March 9, 1902 in Annaberg ; † April 1, 1994 in Hesel ) was a Lutheran theologian and university professor .

Life

Kirsten grew up in a denominational Lutheran family and moved with his parents in 1919 from the Saxon regional church to the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (ELFK) . However, he returned to the regional church within a year. In 1921 he began studying Protestant theology at the University of Leipzig . Here he joined the Leipzig Wingolf . After a few semesters, because of her clear teaching of the Holy Scriptures, he rejoined the ELCF and continued his studies at the ELCF theological seminary. In 1922 he went to the theological college of the ELFK in Kleinmachnow . In 1924 he took the first exam in Leipzig and, after his vicariate, the second exam in 1925. In 1925 he became pastor in Groß Oesingen . Three years later the Bethlehem community called him to Hanover as their pastor . In 1940 Kirsten was drafted into the war. After the war he was entrusted with leading and teaching at the Theological Proseminar in Groß Oesingen. When the Lutheran Theological College was founded in Oberursel , he went there as founding rector and lecturer. Here he campaigned for the state recognition of the university. The University of Heidelberg awarded him a doctorate in 1952 based on an investigation into the shape and history of the early church baptismal liturgies. In 1959 he became a professor for practical theology in Oberursel . As a university lecturer, he was also co-editor of the Lutheran Rundblick (today: Lutheran Theology and Church ) and active in the Lutheran Liturgical Conference of the VELKD .

In 1968 the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church elected Kirsten as its President , which in 1969 led to his exemption as professor. As President of the ELFK, he played a key role in the unification efforts of the Lutheran confessional churches , which led to the foundation of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in 1972 . Until 1976 he held the post of provost in the southern district of the SELK.

In 1979, when he was retired, he was visiting professor at the theological seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England in Cambridge .

In 1980 he received an honorary doctorate from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne .

Kirsten was married to Gertrud, geb. Martin. The only son from this connection died in World War II. The daughter Gertraude († 2015) married the Oberursel professor for church history Manfred Roensch (1930-2001).

Fonts

• Spiritism in the light of Scripture . Zwickau [1926].
• Asmussen and Orthodoxy (= The word they should let stahn! Time issues in the light of the Bible, booklet 2) . Zwickau [1935].
• Lutheran Church in Germany - where to? The question of the Lutheran Free Church to the Lutheran regional churches in Germany (= The word they should let stahn! Time issues in the light of the Bible, volume 3) . Zwickau [1937].
• Why a Lutheran Free Church today? Frankfurt / Main 1949.
• Theological statements on the Arnoldshain Last Supper theses . Wiesbaden 1958.
• Chronicle of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church 1945-1960 . [Uelzen 1960].
• The baptism cancellation. An investigation into the form and history of baptism according to the early church baptismal liturgies . Berlin 1960.
• Unity in faith and doctrine. The Path of the Lutheran Free Churches in Germany after the War, Volume 1: The Teaching Cleansing 1945–1949 . Groß Oesingen 1980.
• The Church in the World. Essays on practical theology from three decades . Groß Oesingen 1983.
• with Ida Näther: Our Lutheran Mission in India. Groß Oesingen 1984.

literature

• Christoph Baumann: Hans Kirsten , in: Faculty of the Lutheran Theological University Oberursel (ed.): Lutheran Theological University Oberursel 1948–1998. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary . Oberursel 1998, pp. 83-85.
• Gertraude Roensch: island of security. My time from 1943 to 1945 . Groß Oesingen 2004.

Web links

• Kirsten, Prof. Dr. theol. John in Lutheran Pastors before 1945