Martin Fischer (theologian)

Martin Fischer (born August 9, 1911 in Magdeburg , † March 3, 1982 in Berlin ) was a German Protestant theologian.

Life

Fischer studied Protestant theology at the Universities of Greifswald , Berlin and Halle and during this time he joined the Confessing Church (BK). After the illegal vicariate in the BK in 1935, he became travel secretary of the German Christian Student Union , and in 1937 he was also head of the student office of the provisional church leadership of the Confessing Church. After the end of the Second World War , he advocated the re-establishment of the Church University Berlin-Zehlendorf, which was banned by the National Socialists in 1935 . Fischer took over the office of Ephorus and the lectureship in practical theology , which was converted into a professorship in 1950 . His academic students include Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt , Ernst Lange , Yorick Spiegel and Wolfgang Grünberg .

Fischer, who had been part of the church leadership of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg since 1967 , gave up his professorship in 1970 and moved to the church chancellery of the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU) as clergyman vice-president . When, in 1972, joint management of the EKU in the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR was no longer possible, in 1972 Fischer took over the presidency of the church chancellery for the west. In 1976 he retired, but remained in the church leadership of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg until 1979.

Work and meaning

Grave of Martin Fischer in the Zehlendorf cemetery in Berlin

Together with Martin Albertz , Heinrich Vogel , Helmut Gollwitzer and others, Fischer worked to preserve the legacy of the Confessing Church in the reconstruction of German Protestantism. He was involved in founding and supporting the Protestant student community. After the death of Hans Joachim Iwand in 1960, he took over the editing of the Göttingen Sermon Meditations .

Fischer was awarded an honorary theological doctorate by the Evangelical Theological Faculty of Tübingen and the Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves .

Martin Fischer died in Berlin in 1982 at the age of 70. His grave is in the Zehlendorf cemetery . (Field 015-443)

Publications (selection)

• Sermons . House u. School, Berlin 1949. +
• The Christian Public Responsibility Today . Lettner-Verlag, Berlin 1952.
• The preacher's challenge today . Bechauf, Bielefeld 1953
• Authorities. Gustav W. Heinemann on his 60th birthday on July 23, 1959 . Vogt, Berlin 1959.
• Waymarks. Contributions to the struggle for our way . Lettner-Verlag, Berlin 1959. ² 1961.
• Reflections on the Word and Way of the Church . Lettner-Verlag, Berlin 1963.

As editor

• Justification preached. 15 sermons on Galatians 2: 16–21 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1965.
• History in shapes . Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1975.

literature

• Peter C. Bloth : Speech for Martin Fischer on the occasion of his 60th birthday on August 9, 1971 . In: Theologia Viatorum XI (1966/1972), pp. 273-295.
• Wolfgang Erk, Yorick Spiegel (ed.): Theology and church leadership. Dedicated to Martin Fischer on the occasion of his 65th birthday . Kaiser, Munich 1976 (including: Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt: “A reverberation on Germany”. Martin Fischer's political theology . Pp. 35–57).
• Peter C. Bloth:  Fischer, Martin . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 3, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2000, Sp. 149.
• Birgit Weyel : Easter as the theme of the Göttingen sermon meditations. A homiletic analysis of text and reality in preaching work . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999. pp. 126–159.
• Wolfgang Grünberg: Practical theology in the context of the political. Notes on the Berlin situation in the 1960s . In: Pastoraltheologische Informations, 30 (2010), pp. 5-19.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 673.