Johann Gerhard Oncken

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Johann Gerhard Oncken

Johann Gerhard Oncken (born January 26, 1800 in Varel , Lower Saxony , † January 2, 1884 in Zurich ) is the founder of the German and continental European Baptist congregations . He grew up in simple circumstances and learned the trade of a businessman in England, where he met the Methodist revival movement. As a young man he returned to Germany, opened a Christian bookshop in Hamburg and began missionary work among seafarers. Even before he turned to Baptism, he started a Sunday school work with an Evangelical Lutheran pastor in the St. Georg district of Hamburg. It was one of the nuclei of the later of Johann Hinrich Wichern launched Inner Mission . In 1834 Oncken became a Baptist and in the following years one of the most important church founders in Europe in the 19th century.

Beginnings

Hotel Victoria in Varel

Johann Gerhard Oncken was born in the house of his grandfather, the wig maker Johannes Vaubel, in Varel, Lange Straße. The Hruschka office building now stands on the site of his birthplace. The mother Anna Elisabet Vaubel lived with her parents because the father of her son had left them and emigrated to England for political reasons . In a letter addressed to the pastor of the Lutheran congregation in Varels, Gerhard Oncken declared himself the child's father. Oncken grew up fatherless. Since his mother had to provide for a living, he was raised under the care of his grandparents. From an early age he worked in the restaurant Zum Weisse Roß (today: Hotel Victoria ) as a billiard boy and met the English businessman John Walker Anderson here. He took the bright boy with him as a trainee - first to Hamburg and later to Leith , a suburb of Edinburgh in Scotland . During his commercial apprenticeship, the young Oncken accompanied his teacher on many trips to England, the Netherlands and France .

In England, Oncken came into contact with so-called “awakened” circles, received “decisive impressions of Presbyterian and Methodist piety” for his later path and returned to Germany as a staunch Christian . Oncken took up residence in Hamburg and from 1823 worked as a scripture missionary for the British Bible Society Continental Society for Promoting the Gospel . He found his ecclesiastical home at first in the independent Anglo-German congregation, which gathered in the house of their pastor Matthews until the building of their church on St.

Missionary in Hamburg and Northwest Germany

Hamburg citizen oath , taken by Oncken

Oncken began missionary work among seafarers and children from disadvantaged families. In autumn 1824 he founded a Sunday school association with the Evangelical Lutheran Pastor Rautenberg , which opened a Sunday school on January 9, 1825 in the Hamburg district of St. Georg to teach the poorest children both the Christian faith and reading and writing. Oncken had met Sunday school work during his stay in England. The Sunday School in Hamburg became the nucleus of the children's church service and the Inner Mission founded by Johann Heinrich Wichern . Oncken also tried to set up a Sunday school in Bremen . He therefore applied to the Bremen Senate to “set up Sunday school for poor children in the manner of those that exist under the direction of the preacher Rautenberg at St. Georg in Hamburg [...]”. This application subsequently led to discussions in various committees and also triggered an exchange of letters between Bremen's Mayor Smidt and his Hamburg colleague Bartels . A negative decision by the Bremen Senate was issued on October 20, 1826. At the same time, the "Polizeydirection" was commissioned to "take care of the unfinished removal of the named [Oncken]". Obviously, this order was not followed. It is documented that Oncken preached on November 30th as well as on December 4th of the same year “in front of hundreds of Bremen residents”.

Another branch of his early missionary work was evangelistic literature work, also known as the mission of the scriptures . The starting point was the already mentioned British Continental Society , in whose service the young Oncken stood and which "wanted to counteract the rationalism prevailing in Europe through evangelistic preaching and scriptural missions". She cooperated with the Lower Saxony Tract Society founded by English citizens in Hamburg in 1820 , which Oncken joined after 1823 and whose secretary he was soon appointed. In this capacity he undertook many mission trips within northwest Germany, including to the Ottersberg office , to Bremen and East Frisia . Both his contacts, which he made on these trips, as well as the sermons he gave on the way and the scriptures that were distributed became the starting point for later Baptist church plantings that took place in north-west Germany after 1834.

Until 1828 Johann Gerhard Oncken, who was born in Varel, part of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg , was listed as a foreigner in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. His work as a scripture missionary in a society that was also foreign was therefore permanently at risk. The religious service meetings to which Oncken invited and which he led were already illegal under the law of the time. Through the mediation of Hinrich Christoph Schröder, an "elderly man of the tailoring trade", Oncken was given citizenship in Hamburg, completely surprisingly and despite some file notes from the police. On April 25, 1828, he was allowed to take the citizen's oath and thus received greater professional and personal freedom, which he also knew how to use for his missionary work.

In 1828 Oncken, now granted citizenship, founded a mail-order bookshop in Hamburg near the St. Michaelis Church . He ran it in collaboration with the Scottish Edinburgh Bible Society , which also gave the shop its name. The aim of the company was to supply those interested in Oncken's missionary trips with Christian literature and at the same time to intensify the mission of the scriptures. The mail order bookstore became the nucleus of the later Oncken publishing house .

The missionary activities of the young Oncken caused a sensation. In Hamburg "the new English faith" became the talk of the town and called the authorities, including the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs , to the scene. Oncken was interrogated there for the first time by the police as early as 1824. This was followed by "eighteen to 20 citations [...] which constantly challenged me to the barriers of the police". In the Kingdom of Hanover , too, there were a number of reports “relating to the unauthorized preaching of a missionary”.

Oncken becomes a Baptist

Steinwärder - place of baptism of the first Hamburg Baptists

Intensive study of the Bible gave Oncken the insight that a Christian church can only consist of those who have personally decided to follow Jesus Christ and are baptized on the basis of this decision. From then on, he considered the church's ties to the state to be unbiblical. With the questions he asked himself based on these findings, he turned in 1829 to Robert Haldane (1764–1842), co-founder of the Continental Society . Haldane advised him to baptize himself, referring to John Smyth , the English congregationalist and co-founder of the Baptist movement. But since the New Testament does not record an example of self-baptism, Oncken declined Haldane's advice. Oncken also refused to accept an offer from an English Baptist preacher to finance a trip to Great Britain and baptize him there. It is true that there was a baptismal circle in Hamburg that had formed around a gentleman from Lücken . The possibility of receiving the baptism of believers there was out of the question for Johann Gerhard Oncken. In contrast to Oncken, who was inclined to the Calvinist doctrine of election due to his church contacts in Scotland, the Lücken'sche circle represented the doctrine of universal reconciliation .

The fact that Oncken was finally baptized and subsequently joined the Baptist movement is due to a special circumstance. The American captain Calvin Tubbs , a member of the Sansom Street Baptist Church in Philadelphia , had to hibernate in the port of Hamburg in the fall of 1829 because of ice drifts and was accepted into the home of the Oncken family. During his stay, which lasted six months, he made internal contact with Oncken and introduced him to the doctrine and practice of the American Baptist Churches . After his return, Tubbs informed his parishioners about the talks that had been held in Hamburg. The news also reached Barnas Sears , a Baptist theology professor and clergyman who was planning to study at German universities. After his arrival in Germany, he contacted Oncken and the circle that had formed around him and baptized him and six other baptismal applicants, including Oncken's wife, at midnight on April 22, 1834 on the Elbe island of Steinwärder .

Foundation of the first German Baptist congregation

Oncken's mail order bookshop and first place of worship for the Hamburg community

On the day after the baptism, under the chairmanship of Professor Sears, the first German Baptist congregation was founded as a congregation of devoutly baptized Christians . Sears ordained Oncken as their elders and preachers. The community first met in Oncken's apartment, which was located above the aforementioned mail-order bookshop on Englische Planke 7. The young community received a certain protection from the then Hamburg police master Martin Hieronymus Hudtwalcker , who himself belonged to a group of awakened people. Among other things, he commented on the reports that were received against “Oncken und Consorten”: “When sects arise and are applauded, it is always a sure sign that the ruling church is in decline”.

By Oncken's proclamation in the Hamburg congregation in 1836, Julius Köbner was won over, a Jewish Christian of Danish descent who, as a preacher, song poet and author of numerous apologetic and practical theological writings, was of great importance for the further development of the congregation.

Further developments

Recognition of the Hamburg Baptist Congregation by the Senate (1858)
Oncken's entry in the Altona address book from 1880

The Hamburg congregation grew and, thanks to Oncken's tireless travel, became the starting point for further congregations to be founded. In 1837 a Berlin Baptist congregation was set up, headed by Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann . In the same year an Oldenburg community was founded and Carl Weichardt was appointed its head. In 1838 Oncken accepted an invitation to Stuttgart . A group of awakened Christians had formed there around Carl Schauffler , who among other things dealt with questions of the baptism of believers and a church concept based on the New Testament. After several baptisms, Oncken completed the foundation of the congregation within a week, which a few years later, however, distanced itself from the work of Oncken due to teaching disputes. At the end of August 1840 a church was planted in Jever , where Oncken had already carried out the first baptisms in 1837. From it emerged Anton Friedrich Remmers and Johann Ludwig Hinrichs , who made significant contributions to the spread of the Baptist movement in the early days of Baptism. Even Johann Heinrich Ludwig Pielstick , who later Oncken should be successors in the leadership of the Hamburg community, came from the municipality of friesländischen residential city . The Baptist Congregation Ihr , founded in 1846, developed into a special mission center . She became the mother of all older East Frisian congregations and was at the same time the nucleus of Dutch Baptism . Oncken's behalf, the Berlin elder Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann ensured the spread of Baptism in Prussia .

From Hamburg, 25 branches had been planted in Germany by the revolutionary year 1848 . Five other parishes were created mainly through Julius Köbner's activity in Denmark. In the Netherlands and Sweden , too, there were initial approaches to church building at this point. After their formation, each of the new congregations set up preaching stations in their geographical area, which in the following period often developed into independent congregations. The colporteurs employed by Oncken are of particular importance for the spread of early Baptism . The writings they distributed brought awakening and Baptist ideas to the most remote corners of Germany. Their work proved particularly effective where there was a lack of church presence. Oncken also turned his attention to traveling journeyman craftsmen who found their way into the Hamburg community over the years. He offered them a short theological training and sent them as missionaries. Three of the many examples are the journeyman carpenter Johann Carl Cramer , the blacksmith Johann Pieter de Neui and the aforementioned bookbinder Anton Friedrich Remmers. In the first ten years of the German Baptist movement, 80% of the baptized came from the artisan class.

The spread of the Baptist movement within Germany and Denmark did not happen without massive persecution by state and church authorities. This included bans on assembly, fines and imprisonment for prohibited “religious assemblies, baptisms and giving the Lord's Supper”. For this reason, Oncken had to begin a four-week prison term in Winserbaum prison in May 1840 . In March of the following year, the "Anabaptist Johann G. Oncken zu Hamburg" was given an entry and transit ban for the Kingdom of Hanover . In order for the local police stations to be able to identify Oncken, a “Signalement from the citizen Johann Gerhard Oncken” was added to the order. In addition to the name, this profile contained the following information: “Agent of the Edinburgh Bible Society; native of Varel; admitted to Hamburg on June 25, 1840; Age: 39 years; Stature: medium; Hair: black brown; Forehead: free; Eyes: blue-gray; Nose: proportioned; Mouth: proportioned; Chin: round; Face: oval; Face color: healthy; special characteristics: none “. After 1848 the situation of the young movement improved. In a report to the Boston Baptist Committee , Oncken was delighted to praise the political upheaval associated with the 1848 revolution: “The changes that have now occurred in relation to the opportunities for truth spread are indescribable when you consider how it is in this one Relationship looked like before the huge political movements [...]; and I can only praise the goodness of our almighty King who made me live to see such things. ”It was not until 1858 that the Hamburg Baptist community received its official recognition by the Hamburg Senate.

In January 1849, the first conference of the representatives of the congregations of baptized Christians in Germany and Denmark took place in Hamburg, chaired by Onckens . It was the basis for the founding of the later German Baptist Union and today's Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany as well as for the establishment of regional associations, the so-called unions.

Oncken as a Baptist church founder in continental Europe

Almost all continental European Baptist churches have their roots in Oncken's pioneering work. It is true that the first Baptist church worldwide was founded in Amsterdam in 1609 ; However, under Thomas Helwys it became the nucleus of English and later - under Roger Williams - of American Baptism. The members who remained in the Netherlands went under John Smyth in the already existing religious community of the Mennonites . On the other hand, recent research shows that a small Baptist missionary work already existed before Oncken in northern France . In this context, a community was founded in Nomain in 1821 . It must have existed as late as 1830/31, since during those years both English and American Baptists offered support to the young congregation.

Even if the Hamburg congregation was not the first on the European mainland in view of the exceptions mentioned, it can nevertheless be described as “the most important and most missionary [Baptist congregation] of the 19th century”. Her missionary work, initiated by Oncken and organized with talent, as well as his numerous missionary trips led to the fact that the Baptist movement spread outside Germany in different ways. Just five years after his baptism, Oncken and Köbner founded the first Danish Baptist church in Copenhagen . In 1841 the municipality of Memel was constituted . Further milestones in the spread of continental Baptism were the following church planting and missionary beginnings (selection): 1845 in the Netherlands, 1847 in Sweden , 1848 in Hungary , 1849 in Switzerland , 1856 in Finland and Romania , 1858 in Poland , 1860 in Norway and in Latvia , 1864 in Ukraine , 1867 in Georgia , 1869 in Austria , 1873 in Azerbaijan , 1875 in Serbia , 1877 in Belarus , 1880 in Bulgaria and 1883 in Croatia . In 1884, the year Oncken died, Baptist missionary work began in Estonia . At the end of his life, the seven parishioners who founded the Hamburg congregation in 1834 had grown to around 32,000 Baptists, who gathered in 165 congregations scattered across Europe. Most of these congregations became the starting point for new congregations to be founded, so that the statistics from 1905 showed 50,580 members for Central Europe alone.

Oncken's mission concept did not stop at the establishment of “churches of believers”. He wanted "Churches of Missionaries". His well-known motto therefore included the frequently quoted exclamation: “Every Baptist is a missionary!” Nevertheless, Oncken was not only a missionary in his undertakings, but also a collector of Christians who were close to the Baptist ecclesiology and the resulting understanding of baptism. He knew how to integrate individual awakened people and communities of confessional circles into the young Baptist movement.

The so-called Hamburg dispute

Oncken's successor in Hamburg: Johann Heinrich Ludwig Pielstick

There was a major crisis within the young Baptist movement in 1871 when the Altona station community officially applied to the Hamburg mother community to be released into self-employment. They wanted to remain under the umbrella of the federation founded in 1849, but independent of the previous main community. At the conference in 1849 the organizational relationship between Hamburg and the currently 50 mission congregations was discussed. Oncken's position on this question can be summed up in a sentence by Hermann Gieselbusch: "For him [Oncken] there was only one German congregation, the one founded in Hamburg, all the others were mission stations and classified as daughter congregations of Hamburg." The Altona application led initially to a dispute within the Hamburg community that was not free from personal attacks against its founder. As a result of the conflict, Oncken wrote an open letter to all German communities, which was followed by a statement by his opponents. Julius Köbner and Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann, Oncken's employees from the early days, voted for Altona and thus against its "elder". This spread the Hamburg dispute to the entire federal community. On the one hand, Oncken's concept of a centrally controlled German congregation, already described, was discussed, and on the other hand, the congregational principle of the autonomous congregation, which is linked in a network with other autonomous congregations. In a certain way, Oncken represented “central episcopal structures, while Köbner advocated a democratically organized community”. Several attempts at arbitration followed. It was not until 1876 that a peace agreement was reached within the federal community. Oncken was absent from the conference due to illness. In 1879 the Federal Conference of German Baptists decided that “Hamburg should no longer be the capital of the Federation” - “a regulation that practically resulted in a condemnation of the Oncken Party”.

Oncken got sidelined by the arguments described. Strong contrasts arose between him and other leading figures. A reconciliation between Köbner and Oncken was not to come until April 1880. A peace agreement with Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann was concluded a short time later, probably through Köbner's mediation. In 1882, two years before Oncken's death, the Hamburg community considered voting out Oncken, who was "decrepit and absent from Hamburg," as the community elder. It was then decided, however, to make him an honorary elder because of his services and to transfer the regular office of elder into other hands. Oncken's successor as the elder of the Hamburg congregation was the merchant Johann Heinrich Ludwig Pielstick, who came from Jever and who had worked alongside Oncken as a “co-elder” for many years.

Oncken's family

Sarah Oncken, b. man
Oncken's daughter Sarah Agnes and husband Wallace Lovejoy

Oncken married Sarah Mann on May 19, 1828 in London's Old Church Saint Pancras, who was born in London on January 11, 1806 . She came from a wealthy family. Their extensive dowry enabled the young couple to acquire a house at Hamburg's Erste Neumannstrasse 1. Sarah Mann developed breast cancer and died on July 8, 1845. The marriage resulted in eight children, one of whom was born dead and three died in childhood. Another child, the son Philipp, was killed in a fire accident after Sarah Oncken died.

Two years after the death of his first wife, Oncken married Ann Dodgshun (née Savill), William Dodgshun's widow from Yorkshire and mother of one son. William Dodgshun was a deacon of the English parish at Johannisbollwerk and a partner in a company based in Hamburg. He owned a house at Neuen Kamp 5. After his marriage, Oncken moved into the Dodgshun house with his children. Ann Oncken had severe gout. She died after 26 years of marriage on March 26, 1873. The relationship with her remained childless.

A year and a half later, Oncken married for the third time. Jane Clark, whom he married on December 24, 1874, was 23 years younger than her husband. Like her predecessors, she came from England and was a member of London's Spurgeon congregation before her wedding. Jane Clark's sister Sarah Kölliker lived with her family in Zurich . That was probably one of the reasons why Johann Gerhard and Jane Oncken spent the last years together in the Zwingli town. Her house was on Gärtnerstrasse. Jane Oncken outlived her husband by 36 years and died on January 1, 1916 in Kempraten near Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland).

To a certain extent, the traces of the Oncken children can also be followed. Margaret Anna was born on April 20, 1829. She married the widowed Baptist preacher and close Oncken employee Carl Schauffler . Paul Gerhard Oncken, born on October 15, 1831, was considered to be Oncken's problem child. He became a Prussian officer and married Julia, daughter of the Scottish nobleman Sir David Stuart from Aberdeen . After completing his officer career, Paul Gerhard worked as a businessman in Leith , where he died in 1888. Oncken had a special relationship with his son William, whom his parents had given the middle name Sears in memory of their Baptist Barnas Sears . William Sears was married to a daughter of the Baptist preacher Philipp Bickel and proved to be a supporter of the work his father had started. He died in 1922. Sarah Agnes, Oncken's youngest child, was married to an American doctor named Lovejoy. From this connection came Arthur Oncken Lovejoy , who made a name for himself as a historian and philosopher. Sarah Agnes died in Boston on April 26, 1875 of a sedative overdose. It could not be determined whether it was taken accidentally or with suicidal intent.

Last years of life and death

Contemporary depiction of the accident in Norwalk
Oncken's grave of honor in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg
Oncken Church Hamburg

Not only the consequences of the Hamburg dispute, but also a number of physical ailments cast a shadow on Oncken's old age. During a trip through the United States , Oncken narrowly escaped death in a railway accident in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1853 , but suffered serious injuries. Constant headaches were the consequences of this accident and stayed with him until the end of his life. He also suffered from neck and vocal cord disorders. In 1855 a liver disease occurred. As a result, he was often forced to undergo spa treatments. In this context, he visited the island of Helgoland, which at that time still belonged to the United Kingdom , more frequently in the 1860s . Several minor strokes hit him in the 1870s, so that Oncken finally decided in 1879 to live in Switzerland, which is more climate-friendly. The official business in Hamburg took over step by step the already mentioned fellow elder Pielstick.

Johann Gerhard Oncken died on January 2, 1884 in Zurich. He was transferred to Hamburg and initially buried in the cemetery of the Reformed community. Julius Köbner headed the funeral service. Exactly four weeks later he also died - of pneumonia that he contracted at Oncken's funeral.

Today Oncken's grave is in the Ohlsdorf cemetery and is maintained there as an honorary grave by the city of Hamburg. On the tombstone you can find the so-called "triad" from Ephesians 4: 5: One Lord, one faith, one baptism as well as that verse from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles , which "characterizes the self-image of the German Baptists in Oncken's time" : But they remained steadfast in the apostles' teaching and in community and in breaking bread and in prayer.

Appreciations

Street sign in Varel

Several cities have named streets after him, for example his hometown Varel, Delmenhorst , Ingolstadt and Wustermark-Elstal . The central archive of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , the Oncken Archive , also bears his name. A church building, the Evangelical Free Church Oncken Church in Hamburg, Grindelallee, was also dedicated to him. A memorial plaque on the successor building on the property of the birth house was unveiled on the occasion of the 200th birthday of Johann Gerhard Oncken. There is also a notice board in the Vareler Café Victoria, where the young Oncken worked as the billiards marqueer. Under the heading: "From billiard boy to church founder", Oncken's biographical data are shown here. His hometown Varel calls him "one of their most important sons".

Publications (selection)

  • Johann Gerhard Oncken: Short biblical lessons in forty sections in which all questions are answered by words of the Holy Scriptures for the youth in families and schools . edited by JG Oncken. printed by Friedrich Hermann Nestler, Hamburg 1825.
    • Johann Gerhard Oncken: The catechism of the young JG Oncken 1825 . edited and provided with an introduction by Ralf Dziewas. Special edition on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the opening of the first Sunday School in Germany in January 2000 and the 200th birthday of JG Oncken. WDL-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-932356-09-8 .
  • Brief outline of Friedrich Adolph Lampens̕ Secret of the Gnadenbund , Hamburg 1831
  • About the value of the apocrypha , Hamburg [1833]
  • A threefold cord, teaching, promise, prayer: in proverbs of the holy scriptures, for every day in the year , Hamburg 1834, 1835
  • Revival of religion in Denmark. Including an account of the rise and present state of the Baptist churches in that kingdom , London 1841
  • Four-part German, English and French melodies to Julius Köbner's "Faithful Voice of the Lord's Church (together with Julius Köbner), Hamburg 1850
  • Light and law. A collection of sermons and speeches , Cassel 1901

literature

  • Henry C. Vedder: A Brief History of the Baptists. Hamburg 1896, pp. 137-141.
  • Joseph Lehmann : History of the German Baptists ( available online )
    • First part: Education, expansion and persecution of the communities until the onset of real religious freedom in 1848. Hamburg 1896
    • Second part: Work, struggles and expansion of the communities in Germany and surrounding countries from 1848–1870. Cassel 1900
  • Hans Luckey : Johann Gerhard Oncken , Kassel 1956
  • Rudolf Donat: How the work began. Formation of the German Baptist Churches. Kassel 1958
  • Otto Eggenberger: Article Oncken, Johann Gerhard (1800–1884). In: Religion Past and Present. Short dictionary for theology and religious studies , Volume IV, Tübingen 1960 (3rd completely revised edition; Ed. Hans Freiherr von Campenhausen et al.), P. 1631.
  • Günter Balders : Theurer Bruder Oncken - The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents , Kassel 1978, ISBN 3-7893-7871-2 .
  • Wilhelm Kuck: The streets of Varel and their history. Varel 1991, p. 81.
  • Günter Balders:  Oncken, Johann Gerhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 537 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ian M. Randall: The Holy Ordinace was Administered. Johann Gerhard Oncken and German Baptists. In: Communities of Conviction. Baptist Beginnings in Europe (Ian M. Randall), Schwarzenfeld 2009, ISBN 978-3-937896-78-6 , pp. 45-58.
  • Dietmar Lütz (Ed.): The Bible is to blame for it ... (JG Oncken). 175 years of Baptism on the European continent. Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86682-125-5 .

Web links

Commons : Johann Gerhard Oncken  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Otto Eggenberger: Article Oncken, Johann Gerhard (1800-1884). In: RGG³, Volume IV, p. 1631.
  3. ^ Henry Clay Vedder: A Brief History of the Baptists. Hamburg 1896, p. 137.
  4. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 25.
  5. ^ Regina Bohl: The Sunday School in the Hamburg suburb of St. Georg. In: Journal of the Association for Hamburg History , No. 67 (1981), p. 138.
  6. ^ Wittheit-Protocoll de 1826, Oct. 11. quoted from Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 28.
  7. ↑ Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 30.
  8. ↑ Oncken's diary notes from December 1st and 5th, 1826; reprinted by Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, pp. 30–32.
  9. ↑ Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 28.
  10. ↑ Joseph Lehmann: History of the German Baptists. First part, Hamburg 1896, p. 26.
  11. ↑ See Margarete Jelten: Unter Gottes Dachziegel. Beginnings of Baptism in Northwest Germany. Bremerhaven 1984, pp. 17-38.
  12. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 32f.
  13. ↑ The bookstore, on the upper floor of which Oncken also lived, was on Englische Planke 7. See: Günter Balders: Theurer Bruder Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 37.
  14. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 Years of Baptist Congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 21.
  15. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 20.
  16. ↑ From the memoirs of Johann Gerhard Oncken; quoted from Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 22.
  17. ^ For example, by the Evangelical Lutheran pastor Gebhardt ( Grasberg ); see Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 23.
  18. ↑ Wayne Allan Detzler: Article Johann Gerhard Oncken's Long Road to Toleration. In: JETS , 36/2 (June 1998), p. 229. (PDF; 2.1 MB); accessed on November 29, 2011.
  19. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 39.
  20. ^ Richard B. Cook: Distinguished Men Among Early Delaware Baptists , 1880; see there the section Captain Calvin Tubbs ; accessed on November 29, 2011.
  21. ↑ Wayne Allan Detzler: Article Johann Gerhard Oncken's Long Road to Toleration. In: JETS , 36/2 (June 1998), pp. 229f.
  22. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 Years of Baptist Congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 21.
  23. ↑ Quoted from Günter Balders: Theurer Bruder Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 49.
  24. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 22f.
  25. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist congregations in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 23.
  26. ↑ Heinz Buttjes: 150 years of Baptists in Jever. Jever 1990, p. 5.
  27. ↑ Margarete Jelten: Under God's roof tiles. Beginnings of Baptism in Northwest Germany. Bremerhaven 1984, pp. 165-167.
  28. ↑ Menno Smid: East Frisian Church History. Leer 1974, pp. 540ff.
  29. ^ Günter Balders: Brief history of the German Baptists. In: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. 150 years of Baptist churches in Germany (Ed. Günter Balders), Wuppertal and Kassel ² 1985, p. 24.
  30. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 59f.
  31. ↑ Quoted from Gregor Helms, Karl Söhlke u. a .: 150 years of Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Bremen and around , Bremen 1995, p. 33.
  32. ↑ Joseph Lehmann: History of the German Baptists , Part Two: Work, Struggle and Expansion of the Congregations in Germany and Surrounding Countries from 1848-1870. Cassel 1900, p. 1.
  33. ^ A book of minutes printed in Hamburg in 1849 reports on the negotiations and re-edited as a facsimile in 1982: Protocols of the conference negotiations in Hamburg in 1849 by the members of the congregations of baptized Christians in Germany and Denmark. Wuppertal / Kassel 1982, ISBN 3-7893-7882-8 .
  34. ↑ Compare with Lothar Nittnaus: Hamburg - the first Baptist congregation on the continent? In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, pp. 34–36.
  35. ^ Lothar Nittnaus: Hamburg - the first Baptist church on the continent? In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 36.
  36. ↑ Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 157.
  37. ↑ Compare Ian M. Randall: Communities of Conviction. Baptist Beginnings in Europe. Schwarzenfeld 2009, p. 195ff. ( Time Line ).
  38. ↑ Joost Reinke: Everything has its time , in: Dietmar Lütz (Ed.): The Bible is to blame for it ... (JG Oncken). 175 years of Baptism on the European continent. Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86682-125-5 , p. 47.
  39. ↑ JG Lehmann (Ed.): Statistics 1905 of the Federation of Baptist Congregations in Germany (incorporated in Hamburg) and in the appendix the statistics of Baptist congregations in the Balkan states, in Austria-Hungary, in the Netherlands, Switzerland and in South Africa , Kassel 1906, P. 16. - The Russian and Scandinavian membership numbers are no longer mentioned in the 1905 statistics. The local community federations had already become very independent in organizational terms.
  40. ^ Ian M. Randall: Communities of Conviction. Baptist Beginnings in Europe. Schwarzenfeld 2009, p. 58.
  41. ↑ Ian M. Randall, Communities of Conviction , Schwarzenfeld 2009, p. 59. - This motto goes back to a conversation that Oncken had with the Scottish clergyman Dr. Guthrie led. Guthrie asked him in this conversation how many missionaries Oncken had in Germany. Oncken's answer was: 7000! Guthrie replied in amazement that he had asked the number of missionaries rather than the number of members. Oncken replied: I know, but we consider every member a missionary ( but we consider every member as a missionary ). - See Günter Balders: Theurer Bruder Oncken , Wuppertal / Kassel 1978, p. 92.
  42. ↑ One example of this are Oncken's contacts with Mennonite circles in Eastern Europe; compare the Anabaptist story: Abraham Unger and the Mennonite Brethren Congregation  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on December 5, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.taeufergeschichte.net  
  43. ↑ For details of the Hamburg – Altona dispute see Günter Balders: Theurer Bruder Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, pp. 138–151.
  44. ↑ Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 155f.
  45. ^ Association of Friends of Christian Books eV (Ed.): To the community. Selected writings by Julius Köbner. Selection and introductions by Hermann Giselbusch , Berlin 1927, p. XII.
  46. ↑ Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 156.
  47. ^ Association of Friends of Christian Books eV (Ed.): To the community. Selected writings by Julius Köbner. Selection and introductions by Hermann Giselbusch , Berlin 1927, p. XX.
  48. ↑ Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 157.
  49. ↑ Hermann Giselbusch, quoted from Erhard Rockel: Mensch, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 157.
  50. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 151.
  51. ^ So Johann Heinrich Ludwig Pielstick in a letter to Hamburg Senator Grossmann; quoted from Erhard Rockel: Man, Oncken! In: The Bible is to blame. 175 years of Baptism on the European continent (Ed. Dietmar Lütz), Hamburg 2009, p. 158.
  52. ^ Family Search: England Marriages, 1538–1973 for Johann Gerhard Oncken ; Accessed December 31, 2011.
  53. ↑ He died on July 23, 1850. - For this and the following information see Hans Luckey: Johann Gerhard Oncken and the beginnings of German Baptism , Kassel 1934, pp. 289f.
  54. ^ Günter Balders:  Oncken, Johann Gerhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 537 f. ( Digitized version ).
  55. ↑ Ann Savill and William Dodgshun married on September 21, 1817 in Batley / England. See: Family Search: England Marriages, 1538–1973 for Ann Savill ; Accessed January 1, 2012.
  56. ↑ Compare to this chapter also Karla Schwarz: Sarah, Ann and Jane Oncken , in: Dietmar Lütz (Ed.): The Bible is to blame for it ... (JG Oncken). 175 years of Baptism on the European continent. Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86682-125-5 , pp. 148-151.
  57. ↑ Philipp B. Dematteis, Leemon B. McHenry (ed.): American Philosophers Before 1950 , Vol. 270 in the Dictionary of Literary Biography series , Detroit, New York a. a. 2003, p. 213, column II.
  58. ↑ Compare Oncken's letter of condolence to the Jeverschen elder Anton Friedrich Remmers:  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 306 kB) “As far as I'm concerned, I am still very suffering, incapable of any activity, and the time of my departure cannot be far off. The last bitter goblet that the revolters in the Hamburg parish gave me was too bitter for me. May the Lord not count it to the poor people who prepare (it) for me on that great day when we will be held accountable. "@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.baptisten-jever.de  
  59. ^ Josef Lehmann: History of the German Baptists , 2nd volume, Cassel 1900, p. 157ff.
  60. ↑ Joost Reinke: Everything has its time , in: Dietmar Lütz (Ed.): The Bible is to blame for it ... (JG Oncken). 175 years of Baptism on the European continent. Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86682-125-5 , pp. 45f.
  61. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 162.
  62. ^ Günter Balders: Dear Brother Oncken. The life of Johann Gerhard Oncken in pictures and documents. Wuppertal and Kassel 1978, p. 167.
  63. ^ Wilhelm Kuck: The streets of Varel and their history Varel 1991, p. 81.
  64. ^ "Lexicon of Hamburg writers up to the present", Volume 5, Maack - Pauli, 1842, page 605
  65. ^ "Complete lexicon of books: containing all books printed by ... up to the end of the year ...", Part 8, 1833-1840, LZ 1842, page 331
personal data
SURNAME Oncken, Johann Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baptist pastor, founder of the German and continental European Baptist congregations
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH Varel , Lower Saxony
DATE OF DEATH January 2, 1884
Place of death Zurich