Johann Jakob Weitbrecht (missionary)

Johann Jakob Weitbrecht

Johann Jakob Weitbrecht (born April 2, 1802 in Schorndorf , † March 1, 1852 in Calcutta ) was a German Protestant missionary .

Live and act

Weitbrecht came from the Schorndorfer branch of the Württemberg Weitbrecht family and was the son of the coppersmith and mayor Konrad Weitbrecht (1757-1819) and Sabine Barbara Pfander (1767-1808). Originally, at the request of his father, he was also supposed to become a coppersmith, but instead began an apprenticeship as a baker and found his first job in Stuttgart . There he came into contact with pastor Ludwig Hofacker , who fascinated him and encouraged him to study theology .

Weitbrecht joined the Basel Mission House in 1825 while studying theology at the University of Basel . In 1828 he went to England and contacted the Church Missionary Society (CMS), which had an Anglo-Saxon evangelical character and was responsible for sending out missionaries. His ordination took place here in 1830 . In order to also acquire medical knowledge, he also took part in lectures in medicine.

His plan to be used in Abyssinia could not be fulfilled, instead he was sent to the East Indies in the autumn of the same year to support the missionary Wilhelm Dürr (1790-1862) who lived there. Weitbrecht, here called John James , quickly learned the Bengali language , preached in the villages and baptized locals. He received financial and logistical support from the ruling Rajas there , but soon gave up further donations in order not to become dependent. In the meantime he kept returning to England for a few weeks to recover from the stressful climate of East India . But he was always drawn back to Bengal . In 1834, after a flood disaster, he built an orphanage for girls and in 1847 had a Protestant missionary church built in Calcutta. Knowing the importance of the unity of the church for mission, he worked in the spirit of an ecumenical partnership with all mission societies that are also active here. In addition, he wrote several essays on Indian missionary work.

Johann Jakob Weitbrecht died of cholera in the spring of 1852 . He was married to the missionary widow Martha Higgs, b. Edwards (1808-1888). Together they had five sons and three daughters, four of whom died early. The daughter Emily Elisabeth Helene (1838–1899) later married the theology professor Theodor Christlieb and the youngest son, Herbert Udny Weitbrecht , continued his father's work as a missionary.

Works (selection)

• The Protestant Missions in India , 1844
• Protestant Mission in Bengal , London 1844
• Lectures of India , Ed .: Caleb Wright, Boston, 1848, in the Library of Congress
• India and its inhabitants , Ed .: Caleb Wright, Boston 1850, in the Library of Congress and reprinted 1858 .

literature

• Karl Friedrich Ledderhose:  Weitbrecht, Joh. Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 615-618.
• Martha Weitbrecht, b. Edwards: Memoir of the Rev. John James Weitbrecht ; James Nisbet & Co., London, 1854 google online
• Johann Dettloff Prochnow: Life and work of JJ Weitbrecht , 1861
• Wilhelm Schlatter: History of the Basel Mission 1815-1915 , Vol., 2, 1916
• Karl Heinz Voigt:  Weitbrecht, Johann Jakob. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 695-697.