Horst Reller

Horst Reller (born April 17, 1928 in Braunschweig ; † January 17, 2017 in Bissendorf , Hanover region) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian and senior church councilor in the church office of the VELKD .

Life

Reller grew up in Braunschweig. As a teenager he experienced a Lutheran congregation under Pastor Hans Leistikow in the Martin Luther House in Braunschweig and its distance from the ruling National Socialism. This experience shaped his focus on the congregation as a basic organizational form of Protestant church existence in the people's church. After military service , imprisonment, high school diploma and nursing service at the Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel , he studied Protestant theology in Göttingen , Heidelberg and Basel a . a. with Gerhard von Rad and Karl Barth . In 1956 he was given a church history work on the pre-Reformation and Reformation church constitution in the Principality of Braunschweig Wolfenbüttel with Rudolf Smend sr. and Hermann Dörries did his doctorate in Göttingen . In the parish parish in Winnigstedt in the Evangelical Lutheran regional church in Braunschweig from 1957 to 1963 he initiated, among other things, a youth exchange between the regional church and the diocese of Gothenburg in Sweden. He achieved nationwide and international impact in his work in the church office of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) in Hanover from 1963 until he retired in 1992, most recently as senior church councilor in the “congregation” department. The pastoral committee also produced publications on fundamental questions, family planning and birth control .

As the secretary of church commissions that worked out texts in dialogue and test procedures, he brought the Evangelical Adult Catechism (1st edition Gütersloh 1975, 8th edition 2010 with more than 300,000 copies sold) as well as the manual for religious communities, free churches, special communities, sects, ideological communities , New religions (1st edition in book form Gütersloh 1978, revised 2015) at the end. Both works are still available in revised versions. For the Evangelical Adult Catechism, which was translated into Korean, a short version was created on Reller's initiative as Evangelical Congregation Catechism (1st edition 1979, 5th edition 1994), which combined theological core content with introductory and reflective texts along with pictures and prayers and into Danish and English was translated. Work aids were developed. A confirmation book was published together with Hans Reimer. Reller consciously took up the catechisms of Martin Luther.

Together with a group of pastors and interested laypeople, Reller organized faith courses or weekends with the Protestant community catechism in Protestant communities throughout Germany, in which special attention was paid to the thematic work in discussions in table groups. Conferences supervised by Reller on new methods in pastoral care and spirituality built bridges between scientific theology and evangelical church groups. In the parish committee of the VELKD, Reller developed the so-called “missionary double strategy”, which describes projects of missionary congregation building as an intermingling of low-threshold “opening” and higher-threshold “condensing” measures. Own publications from the work of this committee, e.g. B. to the four-year pre- or main confirmation lesson , parallel to the attendance of the 4th or 8th grade with youngsters in the meantime, the so-called Hoya model, named after the north German small town , solved a variety of further considerations on forms of confirmation instruction out. In 1984 the committee sponsored the missionary project “New Beginnings”, which was carried out ecumenically in cities based on the Finnish model. In 1986, the Synod of the VELKD among other things founded on Rellers initiative, the community college VELKD first in Celle , since 2008 in Neudietendorf retrain in projects of community development and assist in Thuringia to lay and full-time.

Programs for community development from American Lutheran churches such as Caring Community or Word and Witness appeared in German versions: Gottesdienst Leben, or Word and Answer. Together with the practical theologian Manfred Seitz , Reller, as the responsible speaker in the meetings of the pastoral college of the VELKD, promoted not only the theological cooperation of pastors from Lutheran German regional churches, but also contacts with the Scandinavian Lutheran churches in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. In 1973 Reller initiated a German-Scandinavian consultation of the Lutheran World Federation on the subject of "School reform and religious instruction" in Nyborg Strand / Denmark, which formulated joint recommendations for the educational task of the church in religious instruction in schools and in adult education, including those on the establishment of church institutes for professional advice and training and pastoral care in schools and for teachers.

In retirement, Reller founded the parents and children publishing house in Gera . First, he transferred a family education program to accompany baptized children from 1 to 6 years of age, called "Tripp-Trapp", from Norway to Germany. The program, in which subscriptions are purchased, is offered today by the Society for Inner and Outer Mission in the spirit of the Lutheran Church in Neuendettelsau. Reller later brought supplementary books such as u. a. the family prayer book , distribution booklets, baptismal candles, Easter gardens until the publisher was liquidated in 2010 . The hope of initiating a baptismal movement had not been fulfilled. Reller also translated works by the Swedish perceptual psychologist Hjalmar Sundén into German.

From 1956 until her death in 2008 he was with the qualified librarian Almut Reller, geb. Frerichs, married. The marriage had six children. His second marriage was to the bookseller Ursula Nahrgang-Reller.

Fonts (selection)

• Pre-Reformation and Reformation church constitution in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . Göttingen 1959.
• with Hansjörg Bräumer , Adolf Sperl: Pastoral care in the field of tension. Bible Orientation - Group Dynamics? In: To the point . tape 16 . Hanover 1979.
• with Manfred Seitz (Ed.): Challenge: Religious Experience. On the relationship between evangelical piety and meditation and mysticism . Göttingen 1980.
• as editor with Karin Lorenz: Alternative: Faith. Missionary forms of work in the national church today . Gütersloh 1985.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} What are you actually good for, Herr Theologe, Die neue Furche 1951, p. 68f
2. ^ Church history (time table) , in: Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon II, Göttingen 1958 (1st edition), Sp. 662–730, printed in: Kurt Dietrich Schmidt / Gerhard Ruhbach: Tables for Church History , Göttingen 1999 , p. 91ff.
3. ^ Literature: Pre-Reformation and Reformation Church Constitution in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
4. ↑ Trumpet work of the ev.-luth. Regional Church of Hanover (publisher), weekly devotions 1961, 1965, 1967, 1968
5. Jump up ↑ Braunschweig , Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon I, Göttingen 1956 (1st edition), Sp. 567-570
6. Jump up ↑ Christian renewal and regional churches. Thoughts on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Braunschweig Evangelical Lutheran Church , Yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 1968, pp. 11-17
7. Jump up ↑ Church and Youth , Four Centuries Lutheran Church in Braunschweig. Festschrift for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation of the Braunschweig Evangelical Lutheran regional church in 1968, Wolfenbüttel 1968, pp. 59–78
8. ↑ The mission of a school and its image of man. From the history of the Holzmindener Gymnasium, the former Amelungsborn monastery school, yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 1964, pp. 29–48
9. ↑ The dispute between Duke Heinrich d. J. and Duke Julius von Braunschweig-Lüneburg in the years 1553–1568 , Yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 1969, pp. 91–106
10. ^ The effects of the University of Helmstedt on pastors and parishes in Lower Saxony , yearbook of the Society for Lower Saxony Church History 1976, pp. 35–52
11. ↑ Engelbrecht, Hans penitential preacher . In: New German Biography . tape 4 , 1959, pp. 511 .
12. ↑ The Superintendency. Episcopal service in the church district in the past and present , in: Festival of the church district assembly Herzberg am Harz on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Herzberg superintendent on May 14, 1966, Herzberg 1966, pp. 9-18
13. ↑ University, Church, Young Generation, Lutherische Monatshefte 1968, pp. 234–240
14. ↑ The draft of the Leuenberg Agreement in conversation , dialog 3/1972, fixed edition for the 60th birthday of Bishop Gerhard Heintze, pp. 48–57
15. ↑ with Hans Jörg Bräumer, Adolf Sperl: Pastoral care in the field of tension .
16. ↑ Annoying life. Tasks of protecting life in the age of emergency indication, a pastoral orientation aid . In: Horst Reller and Hans Christian Knuth (eds.): Gütersloher Taschenbücher Siebenstern . 3. revised Edition. tape 380 . Gütersloh 1986.
17. ^ Christian faith in God in transition. Notes on Gustaf Aulén's book "The Drama and the Symbols" , Lutherische Monatshefte 1967, pp. 94–98
18. ↑ To reinterpret reality. What can an adult catechism do today? , Lutherische Monatshefte 1970, pp. 637–639
19. ↑ with Fulbert Steffensky: breakthrough to the middle. The "New Book of Faith" - A milestone for dialogue? , Lutherische Monatshefte 1973, pp. 572–576
20. ↑ with Manfred Seitz / Wolfgang Huber / Cord Cordes: Information about faith. A workbook as a catechism for adults, Lutherische Monatshefte 1975, pp. 254-258
21. ↑ The "Evangelical Adult Catechism" as theological assurance in our time , in: Luther 1976, pp. 77–93, revised in: Lutherische Kirche in der Welt 1976, pp. 20–54
22. ↑ sects, ecumenism lexicon. Churches - Religions - Movements, pp. 1081-1084
23. ↑ Menneskeliv og kristendom. Catekismus for voksne, Köbenhavn 1981
24. ^ Evangelical Catechism . Minneapolis 1982.
25. ↑ with Hermann Müller: Seeing pictures help. Pictures help to understand. Suggestions about the use of the photos in the Evangelical Catechism (EGK) , Gütersloh o. J.
26. ↑ Evangelical Adult Catechism. Workbook 2, Gütersloh 1976
27. ↑ Hartmut Jetter / Horst Reller / Ludwig Schmidt / Dietrich Steinwede (eds.): Tell about faith. Reader on the Evangelical Catechism, Gütersloh 1981
28. ↑ with Hans Reimer (ed.): Discovering life. A book for confirmands, Gütersloh 1981
29. ↑ catechism , ecumenism lexicon. Churches - Religions - Movements, Sp. 612f
30. ↑ Martin Luther. The Large and Small Catechisms , selected and edited by Kurt Aland and Hermann Kunst, with a foreword by Karlheinz Stoll and an introduction by Horst Reller, Göttingen 2003 (3rd edition)
31. ↑ "For there the Holy Spirit himself preaches ..." On Luther's Catechism Meditation, Herrenalber Texte 49 1983, pp. 66–78
32. ↑ Literature: Pastoral care in the field of tension. Bible Orientation - Group Dynamics?
33. ↑ Pastoral care American , Lutherische Monatshefte 1970, pp. 411f
34. ↑ Models for pastoral care training and pastoral care practice, in: Elisabeth Baden / Hermann Klemm / Hans Schmidt / Hugo Schnell / Waldemar Wilken: Zeitgerechte Seelsorge , Berlin 1971, pp. 100-133
35. ^ Lutheran mysticism and social criticism in the 17th century - a sermon by Joachim Lütkemann to the regents (1655), in literature: Challenge: Religious experience. On the relationship between evangelical piety and meditation and mysticism, pp. 126–139
36. ↑ On Developing Church Membership. Aspects of a dual missionary strategy presented by the Committee on Congregational Life in the VELKD . In: Lutherisches Kirchenamt der VELKD (Ed.): Texts from the VELKD . tape 21 . Hanover 1983.
37. ↑ Literature: Alternative: Belief. Missionary forms of work in the national church today
38. ↑ Calling to faith in a post-Christian society. Interim assessment of the dual missionary strategy, in: Hermann v. Loewenich / Horst Reller: Experiences on the road. Community develop in east and west, Gütersloh 1991, pp. 24–48, 150f.
39. ↑ Horst Reller: Learning to teach. Parents give pre-confirmation lessons . Gütersloh 1987.
40. ↑ Otto Diehn / Ben Jakob / Gerhard Köhnlein: New beginnings. Christians invite you to talk. A missionary project opens doors, Gütersloh 1988.
41. ↑ Hälsningsord, Prästmötet i Skara 1984: Människan i 80-talet, Skara 1984, pp. 54f
42. ↑ Ecumenism and Mission in Scandinavia , Lutherische Monatshefte 1969, pp. 380–384
43. ↑ Scandinavia: A haven of tradition. The church constitutions ignore secularism , Lutherische Monatshefte 1970, pp. 335–338
44. ↑ Our unknown neighbor. The Danish Lutheran People's Church , Lutherische Monatshefte 1968, pp. 79–82, printed in: Konvent kirchlicher Arbeiter, Kiel 1968, pp. 65f
45. ↑ Sweden's contribution to ecumenism. Nathan Söderblom as a pioneer of ecclesiastical unity, Lutherische Monatshefte 1966, pp. 232–237
46. ↑ Deeper Swedish-German cooperation? , Lutherische Monatshefte 1969, p. 366f
47. ^ Theology as a department of the philosophical faculties. The reforms in Sweden , Lutheran monthly books 1971, p. 55f
48. ↑ Will everything stay the same in Sweden? , Lutherische Monatshefte 1973, pp. 392–395
49. ↑ Without the heavy hand of the state. In Sweden, the separation of church and state in sight , Lutherische Monatshefte 1972, pp. 224–226
50. ↑ The Authority of the Bible. The theses of the Norwegian Pastors' Emergency Association , Lutherische Monatshefte 1966, pp. 85–88
51. ↑ Norway: Critique of Ecumenism , Lutherische Monatshefte 1971, p. 207
52. ↑ A critical partner. Objectives of Catholicism in Scandinavia , Lutheran monthly books 1974, pp. 503–505
53. ↑ School without religion? Religious education and school reform in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway and Sweden . In: Horst Reller (Hrsg.): Radikal Mitte series of writings for Christian education and culture . tape 14 . Berlin 1975.
54. ↑ On the church baptism proclamation today , Lutherische Kirche in der Welt 1996, pp. 151–160
55. ↑ Horst Reller: "tripp trapp" experiences with a family education program for children of preschool age and their parents . In: Evangelische Akademie Baden (Ed.): If your child asks you ... Educational competence and religious education in the family. Herrenalber protocols . tape 112 . Karlsruhe 1996, p. 71-84 .
56. ^ Gottfried Hänisch / Dietrich Peters / Gudrun Reller: Family prayer book. "Give him a call" . Gera 1998.
57. ^ Hjalmar Sundén: Psychology of religion. Problems and Methods . Stuttgart 1982.
58. ↑ Hjalmar Sundén: The Christ meditations Dag Hammarskjölds in "Signs on the way" . 1967.
59. ^ Hjalmar Sundén: The roles offered by religions . Gütersloh 1975.
60. ↑ Hjalmar Sundén: The treasure in the field. When the forgotten God suddenly reports back . Gera 2004.
61. ↑ Berndt Gustafsson: Partisans for Christ. Church in front of communication barriers in modern society, Hamburg 1974
62. ↑ Ingmar Ström: Come and see. A book for confirmands , Gütersloh 1971 (3rd edition)