Heinold Fast

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Heinold Fast (born March 17, 1929 in Emden ; † November 22, 2015 ibid) was a Mennonite theologian and clergyman. He is best known as a researcher and author in the field of the Reformation Anabaptist movement and Mennonite history.

Life

Heinold Fast came from a Mennonite family whose paternal ancestors lived in a German Mennonite colony in the Ukraine . He was the youngest child of the elementary school teacher and pastor Lic. Theol. Abraham Fast and his wife Luise. Heinold Fast's mother was born with a hand and came from a Mennonite family in Worms . In the summer of 1914, Abraham and Luise Fast visited their relatives in Worms and witnessed the outbreak of the First World War there . Fast's father was interned as a foreigner for a short time and, after his release, applied for the vacant pastor position of the Mennonite community in Emden, which he took up in 1918. His tasks also included looking after the Mennonite communities in Leer , Norden and Gronau .

Heinold Fast initially spent his childhood and youth in Emden. The city center of Emden and the Emden Mennonite Church were completely destroyed by the numerous bombing raids from 1940 onwards. The family thus lost their official residence. Several temporary apartments that the family subsequently lived in were also victims of the bombs. In a review of his life, Heinold Fast said that as a teenager he got to know all of the Emden bunkers. Eventually the family was evacuated to Emsland . She stayed there until members of the Leeran Mennonite Congregation offered them an apartment in their house. So it came about that Fast completed most of his high school education in Leer. After graduating from high school, he decided to study Protestant theology . His training path led him first to the Mennonite Bethel College in North Newton ( Kansas / USA) and then to the universities in Göttingen and Heidelberg . Here he completed his studies in 1957 with a dissertation on Heinrich Bullinger and the Anabaptists . The doctoral supervisor was the church historian Heinrich Bornkamm .

After completing his doctorate, Heinold Fast took over the pastor's office from his father, which he held until he retired. In addition to the local community work, he worked for more than 25 years in the management of the Association of German Mennonite Congregations , in whose creation he was significantly involved. He was its chairman for a total of twelve years. Heinold Fast was also active on an international level. He was a member of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK), at whose 1st All-Christian Peace Assembly he took part in 1961 in Prague . From 1972 to 1978 he was a member of the Presidium of the Mennonite World Conference .

Another focus of his pastoral work was the supervision of Mennonite theology students, for whom he organized annual conferences. Heinold almost worked on a voluntary basis for many years as head of the important Protestant-Reformed Johannes a Lasco library in Emden.

After 35 years of service, he retired, which he spent in East Friesland. The Anabaptist researcher James M. Stayer counted Heinold Fast among the "learned pastors"; In his opinion, these are rarely found.

Publications (selection)

Heinold Fast became known far beyond the circle of his Mennonite community for his research on the early Anabaptist movement. His book The Left Wing of the Reformation , published in Bremen in 1962, is an introductory standard work in this area. Here are some of his works:

Anabaptist story
  • Sources on the history of the Anabaptists , vol. 17: Letters and writings of Upper German Anabaptists 1527 - 1555 , Gütersloh 2007
  • (Ed.) Sources on the history of the Anabaptists in Switzerland , Vol. 2: Ostschweiz , Zurich 1973
  • Hans Krüsi's little book about faith and baptism , - In: Zwingliana, Vol. XI, Issue 7, 1962
  • The left wing of the Reformation. Testimony of the faith of the Anabaptists, spiritualists, enthusiasts and anti-Trinitarians ( Classics of Protestantism, Vol. 4 ), Bremen, 1962
  • The special position of the Anabaptists in St. Gallen and Appenzell . In: Zwingliana, Vol. XI, Issue 4, 1960, No. 2
  • Heinrich Bullinger and the Anabaptists. A contribution to the historiography and theology in the 16th century (dissertation), Weierhof (Pfalz), 1959
  • The silent Baptist understanding of baptism . In: Dieter Schellong: Why Christians no longer let their children be baptized. With contributions by Markus Barth, Rüdiger Bremme, Heinold Fast, Jürgen Fangmeier , Wilhelm Wilkens . Volume 18 in the book series Answers . Frankfurt am Main 1969. pp. 37-51
Mennonite history
  • Denomination profile and tolerance in East Frisia in a Mennonite perspective 1795 - 1957 - In: Yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History, Vol. 96 (1998), pp. 89–96
  • The Mennonites and the founding of Neustadtgödens - In: Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter, Vol. 52 (1995), pp. 85-100
  • Article Die Mennoniten - In: Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 358–361
  • A voice from the historical peace churches - In: Contributions to a peace theology, Maxdorf 1982.
  • The Association of German Mennonite Congregations 1886 - 1961 , Weierhof (Palatinate), 1961
Others
  • And neither is it. Wilhelmine Siefkes or: a contribution to the day of national mourning and eternity Sunday - In: Mennonitische Blätter, Hamburg, 1975

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice in the Emder Zeitung from November 25, 2015; accessed on November 26, 2015
  2. ↑ See the title of Abraham Fast's book: From Our Lives. Notes on the day of the golden wedding of lic. theol. Abraham Fast, pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Emden, and his wife Luise, b. Handed, May 22, 1962 (Worldcat) ; accessed on December 1, 2015
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Goertz: In memoriam Heinold Fast (1929–2015) ; accessed on December 1, 2015
  4. ^ Article on Heinold Fast's retirement in the Ostfriesen-Zeitung of March 28, 1992.
  5. ↑ James M. Stayer: The learned pastor - a rare copy (laudation on the occasion of Heinold Fast's 75th birthday) - In: Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter , 61, 2004, pp. 9-14
personal data
SURNAME Almost, Heinold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Mennonite theologian
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Emden
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 2015
Place of death Emden