Nathan Homer Knorr
Nathan Homer Knorr (born April 23, 1905 in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania , † June 8, 1977 ) was the American successor of Joseph Franklin Rutherford as President of the Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society of Pennsylvania of Jehovah's Witnesses .
Life
Knorr grew up as the son of Donel Ellsworth and Estella Blass Knorr in Allentown, Pennsylvania and was raised as a member of a Reformed Church . At the age of 16 he became interested in the Jehovah's Witnesses (former name: Bible Students). He resigned from the Reformed Church in 1922, was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness in 1923, and in the same year began working at the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in New York. From 1932 he headed the printing company there. In 1940 he became vice president of the Watch Tower Society.
On January 13, 1942, after Rutherford's death, he was elected to succeed him as President of the Watch Tower Society. In the early years of his tenure, in particular, he was known for frequent trips visiting groups of Jehovah's Witnesses around the world.
Various organizational changes were made to the Jehovah's Witnesses during Knorr's tenure , which still shape the face of this religious community today. In 1943, for example, the Theocratic Ministry School (then known as the “Theocratic Ministry Course”) was introduced as a weekly course to help individual Jehovah's Witnesses express their faith to others on their own. In the same year a school for missionaries was opened under the name "Watchtower Bible School Gilead". Further training courses were later added for Jehovah's Witnesses with specific roles within the religious organization (such as elders, ministerial servants, general pioneers).
In 1946 he initiated work on the New World Translation , which has been used by Jehovah's Witnesses since its publication. During Knorr's tenure, some teachings also emerged, such as the rejection of blood transfusions , some of which are still followed by Jehovah's Witnesses today.
In the early 1970s, the leadership of the local congregations was reformed. From then on, the church leadership was exercised by a college of equal “elders”, the so-called body of elders. In the course of the next few years, this principle was also transferred to the management at the national and global levels. During his tenure, the first steps were taken to separate the spiritual direction of Jehovah's Witnesses from the administrative direction of the various organizations; this development came to an end in 2000 when the last members of the "Governing Body" of Jehovah's Witnesses gave up their offices in the Watchtower Society.
On January 31, 1953, he married Audrey Mock. Knorr died of a brain tumor in 1977. An obituary appeared in The Watchtower of September 1, 1977, p. 544.
literature
- Jehovah's Witness. Herald of the Kingdom of God. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 1993. pp. 90-109.
- Jan Onofrio: Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary. Somerset, St. Clair Shores, 1999 (3rd ed.). P. 652.
Web links
Individual evidence
William Henry Conley (1881-1884) | Charles Taze Russell (1884-1916) | Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1917–1942) | Nathan Homer Knorr (1942–1977) | Frederick William Franz (1977–1992) | Milton George Henschel (1992-2000) | Don Alden Adams (2000-2014) | Robert Ciranko (since 2014)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Knorr, Nathan Homer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American official of Jehovah's Witnesses |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 23, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bethlehem , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 8, 1977 |