Julius Richter (theologian)

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Julius Werner Richter (born February 19, 1862 in Groß- Ballerstedt in the Altmark , † March 27, 1940 in Berlin-Steglitz ) was a German theologian and missiologist .

Life

Born in the rectory in Groß-Ballerstedt, Julius Richter lost both parents at an early age, his father Pastor Adolph Ferdinand Julius Richter (1830–1872) and his mother Antonie, nee. Keuffel (1838–1882), and was educated in the orphanage of the Francke Foundations in Halle. After graduating from high school, he studied Protestant theology in Halle, Leipzig and Berlin from 1881 to 1884 . He was particularly interested in ancient oriental languages ​​(Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic and the hieroglyphs). After completing his studies, he went to Bad Boll as a private tutor to Pastor Christoph Blumhardt , who became important for his future life. The saying of the father Johann Christoph Blumhardt “That Jesus will win is eternally agreed! His is the whole world ”was formative for his love for world mission. After the first theological exam in 1885, he took over pastoral duties at the Domstift Berlin (1886–1887); in Pröttlin (1887–1890) as clergyman at the village church and the branch churches; in Rheinsberg (1890–1896) and in Schwanebeck (1896–1912). From his first marriage to Martha, born in Berlin in 1888. Vollert, (1861-1908), the children came Elisabeth (nee Heimbach, 1889-1977), Martin (1893-1978), the Chairman of the Gustav-Adolf-Werk of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg was and at the same time pastor in Potsdam-Babelsberg in the Bethlehem Church, and Johanna (1897–1984). From the second marriage between Julius Richter and Martha, geb. Höttermann, (1891–1957), had four children (Hans-Joachim, 1915–1945; Karl-Heinz, 1917–1940; Eberhard, 1920–1980; Ursula, married Kirchner, 1926–1976).

Julius Richter received an honorary theological doctorate from the Faculty of Theology in Berlin in 1908 and from the Faculty of Theology in Edinburgh in 1910. In 1913 he completed his habilitation as a private lecturer at Berlin University . The following year he was appointed Extraordinary and 1920 as Full Professor of Missiology appointed. Julius Richter was chairman of the Brandenburg Mission Conference and deputy chairman of the German Evangelical Mission Committee , the Society for Mission Studies and from 1900 to 1940 a member of the Berlin Mission Committee . From 1897 he was a member of the Continental Mission Conference and in 1924 he became a member of the International Mission Council founded in 1921 .

He had published the AMZ from 1910 and the NAMZ in 1924 . Two years after his participation in the world conference of the International Mission Council in Tambaram (1938) he died in his homeland, leaving a great legacy behind.

Services

Julius Richter was one of the most important German missiologists and pioneers of ecumenism . His great achievement was in missionary historiography . Encouraged by his godfather Julius Schlunk , treasurer of the Berlin Mission , he already dealt scientifically and as a writer with the mission in the pastoral office and wrote his first book in 1892: The Evangelical Mission in Nyassalande . In 30 books and many articles he described the development of mission and the church on all continents.

Numerous mission conferences and lecture series also took him abroad. This travel activity on four continents made him one of the most famous ecumenical personalities of his time. On the German side, he was one of the organizers of the first World Mission Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, which was attended by 1,200 delegates. With John Raleigh Mott (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 1946) he headed the continuation committee in Edinburgh, the later International Mission Council. Together with Nathan Söderblom (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 1930) he prepared the World Conference on Practical Christianity in Stockholm in 1925, in Jerusalem in 1928 and in Northfield (Massachusetts) in 1935 . In 1932 he gave a month-long series of lectures at the American University of Cairo . In 1937 he had received a visiting theological professorship for one semester in New York. His wife Martha Richter accompanied him to America, where their son Hans Joachim was studying theology at the same time.

Fonts (selection)

author

  • The evangelical mission in Nyassalande , 1892
  • The dispute over the Mosquito coast . In: Journal of the Society for Geography , vol. 30 (1895), pp. 498–501.
  • German Mission in South India. Stories and descriptions from a missionary study trip through East India , C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh, 1902.
  • General Evangelical Mission History , 5 volumes, 1906–1932.
  • World mission and theological work , postdoctoral thesis for a chair in missiology at the University of Berlin by Julius Richter. Gütersloh, C. Bertelsmann 1913
  • Ev. Mission Studies , 2 volumes, 1920.
  • The Indian Religions , Gebrüder Paetel / Rösl & Cie., Berlin, Munich, 1922.
  • The religions of the peoples , Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich, 1923.
  • History of the Berlin Mission Society 1824–1924 , 1924.
  • Paganism as a Mission Problem , 1928.
  • The letters of the Apostle Paul as missionary letters , 1929.
  • Experiences and encounters in four continents , Brunnen-Verlag Gießen and Basel, 1936.
  • The Church's Service to Humanity Today , 1936.
  • The German Evangelical World Mission in words and pictures. In connection with the evangelical mission societies. Ludwig Liebel publishing house, Nuremberg, 1939
  • German ev. Mission fields , 1940.

editor

  • The book of the German world mission , Leopold Klotz Verlag, Gotha, 1935.
  • The evangelical missions , 1894 ff.
  • Mission Conferences Yearbook , 1911–1927.

Associate Editor

  • General Mission Journal , 1911–1923.
  • New General Mission Journal (NAMZ) , 1924–1939.
  • General Mission Studies , 1924-1940.

swell

  • Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon, Volume VIII, Verlag Traugott Bautz, 1994.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Berlin Mission celebrates the 100th birthday of Prof. Richter in: Zeitung Neue Zeit , February 23, 1962, p. 6 ["The jubilee's son, Pastor Dr. Martin Richter / Babelsberg ..."]
  2. ↑ parish almanac for the ecclesiastical province of Berlin-Brandenburg . Ed. Evangelisches Konsistorium Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin 1956, pp. 196 and 382; DNB 010127313
  3. ^ Karl Rennstich, "Julius Richter", in: BBKL 8, Sp. 251f.
  4. ^ Message from Richter's letter of February 13, 1937 from New York to Mission Inspector Walter Braun in the archive of the Berliner Missionswerk , signature BMW bmw 1/2935
personal data
SURNAME Judge, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richter, Julius Werner (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German missiologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Groß- Ballerstedt , Altmark
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1940
Place of death Berlin-Steglitz