Johann Heinrich Volkening

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Johann Heinrich Volkening (1796–1877) Contemporary pencil drawing by K. Ewald

Johann Heinrich Volkening (born May 10, 1796 in Hille , † July 25, 1877 in Holzhausen unterm Limberge , now part of Preußisch Oldendorf ) was a German Protestant theologian and a leading representative of the Pietist revival movement in Minden-Ravensberg .

Life

Origin and youth

Volkening came from a very religious family. He was the son of a wind miller . Already during his childhood he saw travel preachers of the Moravian Brethren , who preached and held Bible studies in his parents' house . Volkening's parents are among the quiet in the country . The revival movement towards the middle of the 19th century could build on such private communities or conventicles . "After decades of opposition and side by side, the great reconciliation took place between the conventicles and officials." King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ( Took office in 1840) had repealed his father's measures against the conventicles.

Education

Volkening house of the Lydia parish in Südlengern

After Volkening had passed the Abitur exams in Minden in 1816 , at the age of twenty he began to study in Jena under professors who believed in reason. There he got to know the 95 theses against the theological rationalism of the Kiel evangelical Lutheran pastor and theologian Claus Harms through a leaflet . In Jena he became a member of the original fraternity .

In 1818 Volkening moved to the University of Halle , where he became a member of the fraternity there, and in 1819 successfully completed his studies in theology , albeit unsatisfied with his belief in reason . After he had completed the necessary exams in Münster , he worked in Minden from 1820 as a teacher in a private pre-school for the grammar school and was also employed as an assistant preacher in the local Marienkirche . This made him known in the circle of conventicles. He held these positions until 1822, the year of his marriage.

Pastor

In 1822, Volkening was introduced as pastor of the Schnathorst parish near Lübbecke in Westphalia . He soon made a name for himself there with his sermons, and his services filled the church. The startling preacher soon became known beyond this rural community. In 1827 Volkening became pastor at the Apostle Church in Gütersloh , where he was also very popular with his sermons. Through his open criticism of public immorality and the lack of Sunday sanctification - he demanded z. B. a ban on rifle festivals - Volkening triggered several complaints at the consistory . His wife Elisabeth née supported him against all hostility. Jakobs, a Frisian from Koldenbüttel ; she was married to him in Hille before he took up his first job.

From 1838 to 1869, Volkening lived and worked as a pastor at St. Mary's Church in Jöllenbeck , now a district of Bielefeld . During this time, in 1856, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia offered him the position of general superintendent of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia . Volkening could not make up his mind to give up his parish office .

Retirement

Volkening's tomb in the cemetery in Bad Holzhausen

After his retirement in 1869, Volkening settled near his sons, initially in Petershagen , where his eldest son Bernhard Heinrich worked as a religion teacher at the seminary. From 1871 Volkening supported his second son Pastor Ernst August in Prussisch Ströhen in his official business. From there, Volkening was able to visit Pastor Kunsemüller in Wehdem . They were complementary friends for 50 years; Volkening had frequently visited him from Jöllenbeck in distant Oldendorf between 1832 and around 1850. Son Bernhard was introduced as a pastor in Holzhausen unterm Limberge in 1873, and Volkening moved there. He died here in 1877 at the age of over 80. Before that, in 1875 his son August was called to his neighborhood in Preußisch Oldendorf. Bernhard was superintendent of the parish of Lübbecke from 1883–1906 .

Note: The "family and heart friend of Volkening" Karl Ludwig Kunsemüller (1804–1879) was allowed to be a pastor in Hüllhorst in 1828 , from where he was transferred to Oldendorf in 1832 - dispensed from his canonical age by an excellent theological exam . He could be considered "as a personal center" "to a strong pole of the beginning second wave of awakening in Minden-Ravensberg". After a short period from the end of 1850 to 1852 in Elberfeld, he worked in the parish of Wehdem - from 1871 to 1879 as superintendent.

position

Volkening was a staunch Lutheran who saw the path of the Prussian Union as a betrayal of the Lutheran creed formulated in the Reformation . In his work he saw the promotion of mission as a major focus - both the outer mission (establishment of mission festivals in many Minden-Ravensberg congregations) and the inner mission (establishment of a large number of smaller and larger diaconal institutions in the course of the so-called awakening diakonia ) as well as the popular mission, in which music played a special role; His hymn book Kleine Missionharfe alone was published over 2 million times; many trumpet choirs were formed. As John Kuhlo as trombone General is known as Volkening as Pietistengeneral.

In the period that followed, strictness and security in one's own experience of faith in relation to traditional church life led congregations to disregard old church furnishings. However, assuming social responsibility will also have resulted in significant historical objects being sold. The revival movement was popular.

Works

  • Small missionary harp in church and folk tone for festive and extra-festive circles , Bertelsmann: Gütersloh 1852, 52nd edition 1892 ( digitized ), further editions up to the interwar period
  • The psalter. Furnished for singing in church, school and home , Minden 1862

Remembrance day

July 24th in the Evangelical Name Calendar .

swell

Dietrich August Rische (1819–1906), son-in-law and biographer of Volkenings
  1. ^ A b Ulrich Rottschäfer: Awakening and Diakonie in Minden-Ravensberg. The Pollertshof rescue center 1851–1930 . Minden History Association, Minden 1987.
  2. ^ Peter Kaupp (edit.): Stamm-Buch of the Jenaische Burschenschaft. The members of the original fraternity 1815-1819 (= treatises on student and higher education. Vol. 14). SH-Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89498-156-3 , p. 85.
  3. ^ August Dietrich Rische : Johann Heinrich Volkening . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1919, ed. from son B. Rische.
  4. ^ Christiane Althoff, Ingo Fiedler: Grave slabs in the tower of the St. Reinoldi Church. Contribution z. Business Dortmunds ud Grafschaft Mark, vol. 87.1996, Essen: 1997 pp. 181–207, here p. 187 f.
  5. ^ Robert Stupperich : The Protestant Church since 1803. In: Wilhelm Kohl, Westfälische Geschichte, Vol. 2, Düsseldorf: 1983 p. 393 f.
  6. ^ Johann Heinrich Volkening in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

literature

  • Julius Roessle: Johann Heinrich Volkening and the revival movement in Minden-Ravensberg. Giessen: Brunnen 1954

Web links

Commons : Johann Heinrich Volkening  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Volkening, Johann Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Hille
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1877
Place of death Prussian Oldendorf