Otto Zänker

Otto Ewald Paul Zänker (born June 29, 1876 in Herzkamp , North Rhine-Westphalia , † January 30, 1960 in Bielefeld ) was a German Evangelical Lutheran theologian.

Career

Zänker was born in the parish of Herzkamp as the son of a Protestant pastor. He attended high school in Barmen and studied Protestant theology in Erlangen , Greifswald and Halle from 1895 to 1898 and became a member of the Wingolf associations there . He later also became a member of the Münsterschen (1922) and the Breslauer Wingolf (1932). After the second theological exam, he supervised students at the Tholuck Konvikt in Halle for three years . In 1906 he received his licentiate at the University of Erlangen . From 1905 he worked as a clergyman of the Inner Mission in Godesberg and from 1908 pastor in Viersen. In 1912 he became director of studies at the Evangelical Preachers' Seminar in Soest and in 1914 consistorial councilor and first pastor in Münster.

In 1925 he was appointed general superintendent for the district of Upper Silesia in Breslau and in 1933 he was appointed bishop of the ecclesiastical province of Silesia . This was also the beginning of the church struggle, which was triggered by the work of the German Christians . In 1934 he joined the Lutheran Council , which was formed to profile the Lutheran position within the Confessing Church . In the following period he always emphasized the great importance of the Lutheran Confession for the Silesian church province and advocated the guest membership of his church province in the Luther Council . The church struggle in Silesia was fought out in 1935-1939, particularly in the field of examining theologians. Zänker, as chairman of the examination committee, expelled representatives of the German Christians from the committee for heresy in July 1935 and appointed new members and representatives of the Naumburg Synod . Despite the protest of the Evangelical Upper Church Council , Zänker did not give in.

In autumn 1937 he signed the declaration of the 96 Protestant church leaders against Alfred Rosenberg because of his writing Protestant Rome pilgrims .

When he also resisted Reich Church Minister Hanns Kerrl's ban on continuing to conduct examinations, he was given leave of absence. Brawler now gave in and partially reorganized the commission. However, when Zänker opposed a speech ban imposed by Kerrl on April 24, 1939, his forced retirement was enforced in 1941 because of his proximity to the Confessing Church. However, he continued to serve until his expulsion in January 1945. After the end of the war, as chairman of the Evangelical Johannes-Werk in Bielefeld, he created a meeting point for the expelled Silesian pastors and believers. He was also chairman of the community of Protestant Silesians and president of the Silesian Protestant Church Congress.

Honors

• 1953: Large Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany

Publications (selection)

• The primacy of the will over the intellect in Augustin , Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann 1907 (dissertation).
• Basics of Martin Kähler's Theology , in: Contributions to the Promotion of Christian Theology, ed. by A. Schlatter and W. Lütgert , Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann 1914.
• The divine revelation of the Bible. Lectures to introduce the Bible . Leipzig: Deichert 1920.
• Catholic and Protestant piety (= Protestant studies , volume 2). Berlin: Verlag des Evangelischen Bund 1926.
• Pastoral care for the educated , Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann 1930.
• The high priestly prayer of Jesus. Meditations on John 17 , Bielefeld: Bechau 1956.

literature

• Friedrich Andreae, Max Hippe [et al.]: Schlesische Lebensbilder. Breslau [et al.]: Korn [et al.], 1922-1968
• Gerhard Ehrenforth: The Silesian Church in the Church Struggle 1932–1945. –Göttingen; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968
• Gerhard Scheuermann: The Breslau Lexicon . Laumann-Verlag Dülmen, 1994; ISBN 3-87466-157-1 , pp. 1990-1992
• Geert Franzenburg:  brawler, Ewald Paul Otto. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 1581-1590.
• Wilhelm Rahe [ed. u. Collaborator.]: Otto Zänker (1876-1960). A contribution to the recent church history of Silesia and Rhineland-Westphalia , Ulm / Donau 1967, 139 pp.

Web links

• Otto Zänker in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nora Andrea Schulze (Ed.): Responsibility for the Church. Stenographic notes and transcripts from Regional Bishop Hans Meiser 1933-1955 . tape 3: 1937 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, p. 409 f .
2. ↑ S. Ehrenforth, pp. 145–154
3. ↑ Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze (Ed.): Ecumenical Yearbook 1936–1937 . Max Niehans, Zurich 1939, pp. 240–247.

predecessor	Office	successor
Theodor Nottebohm	General Superintendent Reg.Bez.e Breslau and Opole 1925–1935	he himself merged General Superintendentures to form the Provincial Bishopric
himself (Reg.Bez.e Breslau and Oppeln) and Martin Schian (Reg.Bez. Liegnitz)	Provincial Bishop of Silesia 1935–1941 / 1945	Vacancy Ernst Hornig from 1945/1946