Otto Hof

Otto Hof (born February 13, 1902 in Frankfurt am Main , † January 12, 1980 in Freiburg ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian.

Life

Hof studied Protestant theology in Erlangen and Leipzig . He became a member of the Erlanger and Leipziger Wingolf . After the vicariate he first became a pastor in the community of Friedrichstal (Baden), which was shaped by Pietism . While his sermon was initially entirely determined by the revival piety of the community, he soon began to confront the German Christians . For several years he was the editor of the Kirchlich-Positiven Blätter , most of whose central theological articles he wrote himself. He became a member of the Baden Confessional Community and participated in the State Brothers Council .

In 1937 he became pastor of the Freiburg Christ Church and in 1941 also Freiburg student pastor . In 1942 he also became a pastor in a reserve hospital.

Moved by the pogroms against Jews in 1938 and his involvement in the Confessing Church , he took part in the Freiburg Council , a discussion group with Freiburg university professors and pastors of the Confessing Church.

In 1946 Hof was appointed district dean for the southern Baden parish . He participated in the constitutional committee of the regional synod and played an essential part in a new, creed-oriented basic order. Along with regional bishop Julius Bender and Otto Friedrich, he was one of those who wanted to make the regional church of Baden more Lutheran.

In 1949 Hof was appointed honorary professor at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, where he held lectures until 1970, largely on the theology of Martin Luther .

In 1953 he was appointed senior church councilor and was area officer for central Baden . In 1967 he retired, but worked at the Freiburg Oberseminar and on the board of directors of the Nonnenweier Diakonissenhaus until 1972.

The University of Heidelberg awarded Hof an honorary theological doctorate in 1950 .

Fonts (selection)

• The Heidelberg Preachers' Seminar until its reorganization (1867), especially the structuring of the relationship between church and seminary , Karlsruhe 1932.
• Biblical Doctrine. The most important teaching pieces of the Christian faith presented for the community , Karlsruhe 1940.
• Man according to the evangelical doctrine , in: Universitas. Journal for Science, Art and Literature 1 (1946), pp. 401-418.
• Luther on tribulation and contestation (Confessing Lutheran Church, volume 5), Neuendettelsau 1951.
• as publisher: Service Church. Festschrift for Regional Bishop D. Julius Bender on his 70th birthday on August 30, 1963 , Karlsruhe 1963.
• Scripture interpretation and doctrine of justification. Essays on Luther's theology . With a foreword by Edmund Schlink , Karlsruhe 1982.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Vademecum Wingolfiticum 1978
2. ^ Hendrik Stössel: Church leadership to Barmen. The model of the Evangelical Church in Baden . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999, p. 67 .

literature

• Karl Lehmann : Otto Hof in memory. In: Freiburger Universitätsblätter, No. 68 (September 1980), p. 6f.
• Hans Bornhäuser : Memory of a teacher ... on the death of Oberkirchenrat Prof. Otto Hof . In: Aufbruch, Evangelische Kirchen-Zeitung 1980, No. 4, p. 9.
• The 'Freiburg Circle'. Resistance and post-war planning 1933-1945. Catalog of an exhibition with an introduction by Ernst Schulin , ed. by Dagmar Rübsam and Hans Schadek . Freiburg 1990.
• Hans-Georg Dietrich: The Protestant parish Freiburg 1933-1945 in the encounter with National Socialism. Aspects of a difficult twelfth . In: Schau-ins-Land 110 (1991), pp. 213-255.
• Günther Wendt : Hof, Otto, Oberkirchenrat . In: Bernd Ottnad (Hrsg.): Baden-Württembergische Biographien . Vol. I, Stuttgart 1994, pp. 150f.
• Gerd Schmoll: Held in God's word. The Evangelical Church Community of Freiburg 1807–2007 . Freiburg 2006, p. 232f.

Web links

• Estate directory in the university archive of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
• Otto Hof in LEO BW regional studies