Oncken archive of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches

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Oncken Archive Wustermark-Elstal

The Oncken Archive of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , or Oncken Archive for short , is located on the grounds of the Elstal Education Center in Wustermark / Brandenburg. Its main task is the collection and registration of material on the history of the German Baptists . The Oncken Archive , named after Johann Gerhard Oncken , the founder of the German Baptists, is supported by the Association of Evangelical Free Churches . The initiator of the archive was Hans Luckey . Until 1997 it was located in Hamburg-Horn .

The archive is looked after by a qualified archivist (FH) and by student assistants. The responsible management lies in the hands of the emeritus professor for church history Günter Balders .

Collections on the history of the German Baptists

Johann Gerhard Oncken - The Oncken archive was named after him.

The foundation of the Oncken archive is formed by the legacies of the founding fathers of the German Baptists, including Johann Gerhard Oncken, Julius Köbner and Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann . Sermon manuscripts, correspondence and personal notes by well-known Baptist personalities of the 19th and 20th centuries complete this basic stock.

Another section contains publications from the various epochs of German Baptism. These include a. Self-portraits, writings by opponents of the Baptists as well as neutral representations of Baptist teaching and practice. This department also includes the various evangelical free church periodicals, including the journals The Truth Witness and The Church .

The history of individual local congregations, diaconal, missionary and training and further education institutions is partially documented in a section of the Oncken archive. Among other things, an extensive collection of chronicles and commemorations is integrated here.

Sources on the history of the German Baptist foreign mission (focus: Cameroon ) as well as on the history of the European Baptist Mission Society are available in a further archive section.

Protocols from Evangelical Free Church governing bodies, conferences, council meetings, regional associations are also collected in the Oncken archive, as are the files from institutions of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and from works under the sponsoring care of the Federation . The theological theses of students at the Theological Seminary of the Free Church and the so-called vicariate theses are also available in the archive.

The Oncken archive also has an extensive photo, sound and film collection on the history of German Baptism. An oral history project is currently under construction .

Special collections

Six special collections are attached to the Oncken archive :

Baptism Documentation Series

Since 2011, editions of sources and material on the history of Baptism and the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches have been published in the Baptism Documentation series . The following volumes have been published so far:

  • Armin Weist: Baptist archival materials from the areas east of Oder and Neisse in genealogical and state archives . BoD, Norderstedt 2011. ISBN 978-3-8448-1208-4 .
  • Marc Schneider: The discussion in German Baptism about the 68 movement . BoD, Norderstedt 2012. ISBN 978-3-8482-2251-3 .
  • Heinz Szobries: Confessions of guilt from the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and other churches in Germany after 1945. Evidence of weakness and strength in standing up for one's own past. BoD, Norderstedt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-9120-5 .
  • Roland Fleischer: The dispute over the path of the Baptists in National Socialism. Jacob Köbberling's argument with Paul Schmidt at Oxford in 1937 and Velbert in 1946 . BoD, Norderstedt 2014. ISBN 978-3-7357-8618-0 . (A second revised and improved edition was published in 2016.)
  • Reinhard Assmann, Andreas Liese (ed.): Our way - God's way? The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany - a historical inventory. Study day Kassel 2014. Jota publications, Hammerbrücke 2015. ISBN 978-3-935707-79-4 . (This volume in the "Baptism Documentation" series was published in cooperation with the publisher jOTA Publications , which is close to the Brethren congregations .)
  • Reinhard Assmann, Andreas Liese (ed.): United in Christ - (re) united in the covenant. 25 years of merger of the two German unions of Evangelical Free Churches. Actors remember . jOTA publications, Muldenhammer 2016, ISBN 978-3-935707-85-5 .

Memberships in archive associations

The Oncken Archive is a member of the Association of Church Archives .

Literature (selection)

  • Hans-Volker Sadlack: Between Nauen and Spandau: the Oncken archive introduces itself . In: Archivbericht 6 (1999) / 11. P. 85ff.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A detailed overview of the holdings and structure of the Oncken archive can be found on the landeshauptarchiv-brandenburg.de ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ); Accessed November 20, 2009
  2. ^ Homepage of the Theological Seminary (FH) Wustermark-Elstal: Oncken-Archiv ( Memento from July 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on November 4, 2011
  3. ^ Oncken archive on the website of the Elstal Education Center ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed December 9, 2008
  4. ^ Oncken Foundation: A cross did not always hang in Baptist congregations
  5. ↑ Klaus Rösler: Dienel estate now in the Oncken archive , in: Journal Die Gemeinde. Believe. Together. Shape. dated December 17, 2008
  6. ^ List of members of the Association of Church Archives ( Memento of April 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed December 8, 2008