Johannes Witte

Johannes Witte (born February 15, 1877 in Silligsdorf , Regenwalde district , † August 7, 1945 in Berlin-Buch , full name: Johannes Friedrich Wilhelm Konrad Witte ) was a German Protestant theologian and missionary scholar.

Live and act

Witte was the son of Pastor Martin Konrad Friedrich Witte. After studying theology and ordination, he became pastor in the town of Zanow in the Schlawe district in 1903 . In 1909 he joined the General Evangelical Protestant Mission Association ( German East Asia Mission ) as an inspector and became director in 1915. In 1910/11 and 1924 he went on extensive study trips to China and Japan , which he reported on in several books.

In 1922 he completed his habilitation and was appointed private lecturer at the Berlin Friedrich Wilhelms University . In 1927 he was appointed associate professor and in 1930 succeeded Julius Richter as a full professor at the chair for the history of religion and missiology. Initially shaped by liberal theology , he turned to dialectical theology in the late 1920s , which did not prevent him from becoming a member of the NSDAP and at least temporarily also of the German Christians . Even before 1933, however, there were disputes with Jakob Wilhelm Hauer , which intensified during the National Socialist era . From May to September 1935, after Erich Seeberg's dismissal, Witte was interim dean of the Berlin theological faculty. During this time, Hauer and Bernhard Kummer denounced Witte as a former Freemason . Witte had belonged to the Christian-oriented Masonic Order until 1930 . The Witte case came about : he was urged to resign from the office of dean and prohibited from attending the mission conference in Brussels. In 1936 he was expelled from the NSDAP. Witte asked for a release and was given a year of convalescence . During this time he wrote revelation only in the Bible , a sharp reckoning with the neo-pagan aspect of the National Socialist worldview. In 1939 he finally retired due to illness at his own request .

Fonts

• East Asia and Europe. Tübingen: Mohr 1914
• Peoples' distress and international aid. Berlin: [General possibly protest. Missionsver.] 1916
• The book of Marco Polo as a source for the history of religion. Berlin: Hutten-Verl. 1916
• Japan and us. Berlin (: C. Marschner) 1916
• Out of mission life for work at home. Berlin: Hutten-Verl., 1920, 2nd edition.
• Count Keyserling's travel diary of a philosopher and Christianity. Berlin: Hutten-Verlag 1921
• The East Asian cultural religions. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1922
• The struggle of the world religions for the soul of humanity. Berlin W 57, Pallasstrasse 8/9: General. Ev.-Protestant. Mission Society 1922
• On volcanic soil. Berlin W 57, Pallasstr ​​8/9: General. Ev.-Protestant. Mission Society 1925
• Summer sunny days in Japan and China. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1925
• The evangelical world mission, a missionary reading book. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer, 1926 [ed. 1925]
• Buddhism and Christianity. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, [1926]
• Japan today. Berlin W. 57, Pallasstrasse. 8/9: General Evang.-Prot. Mission Society 1926
• The religions of East Asia. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1926
• Mê Ti. Leipzig: JC Hinrichs 1928
• The evangelical world mission. Giessen: A. Töpelmann 1928; Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1928, 2nd verb. Edition.
• Japan. Leipzig: JC Hinrichs 1928
• The Catholic world mission as an expression of the Church's life, as a factor for the Christianization of humanity. Berlin: Verlag d. Evang. Federal, 1929
• The hereafter in the faith of the peoples. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1929
• Buddhism in the past and present. Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer 1930
• D. Martin Luther as a true Christian and true German. Berlin: Verl. D. Evang. Federal 1934
• Our engagement with the German Faith Movement. Berlin: Verl. D. Evang. Federal 1934
• National neo-paganism. Berlin: Verl. D. Evang. Federal 1934
• The Heliand. Berlin: Verl. D. Evang. Federal, 1934
• How did Christianity come to the Germans? Gotha: Klotz 1934
• The world savior and appropriate Christianity. Berlin-Steglitz: Evang. Compression bandage f. Germany 1934
• Faith in German and in Christ. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1934; 1935, 3rd through Edition.
• Hauer's German faith and the Christ message. Berlin: Verl. D. Evang. Federal 1935
• The Christ message and the religions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1936
• Revelation only in the Bible. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1937

literature

• Werner Ustorf . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 8, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, Sp. 1665.
• Witte, Johannes. In: Hannelore Braun, Gertraud Grünzinger: Personal Lexicon on German Protestantism 1919–1949. Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-55761-2 , pp. 277f.
• Hartmut Ludwig: The Berlin Theological Faculty 1933-1945. In: Rüdiger Vom Bruch, Christoph Jahr, Rebecca Schaarschmidt (eds.): The Berlin University in the Nazi era. Volume II: Departments and Faculties. Franz Steiner Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-515-08658-7 , pp. 93-122, esp. 107ff

Individual evidence

1. ^ Scientific journal of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 34 (1985), p. 592.
2. ↑ Ludwig (Lit), p. 109.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Witte in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Johannes Witte  in the German Digital Library