Paul Geyser

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Paul Geyser (born October 30, 1824 in Altstätten , Canton St. Gallen , † August 7, 1882 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal )) was a Swiss Reformed theologian in the Rhineland .

Life

The son of a carpenter first attended secondary school in Altstätten and then the teachers' seminar in Lausanne . Then he was a teacher at a private institute in St. Gallen and earned the money to attend the Aargau grammar school. In autumn 1843 he graduated from high school in Zurich , where he began to study theology, which he gave up in the spring of 1845 because the rationalistic theology of his time did not satisfy him.

Geyser went to Leipzig to study languages ​​there. However, due to lack of money, he soon returned to Switzerland and lived in poor conditions in Basel . Therefore, in the fall of 1847, he accepted the invitation of a friend in America who found him a teaching post there. But after a few months there was a break between Geyser and the school principal. Geyser was fired and from then on earned his living by mocking poems for newspapers. In great financial need he wanted to take his own life, but finally the desire arose in him to resume his theological studies at home. He earned the money for the crossing for three years through various work, for example he translated the Indiana state code into German.

In 1853 Geyser continued his theology studies in Basel - together with Friedrich von Bodelschwingh , who reports on Geyser: “Paul Geyser was forced to take quarters in a Basel student dormitory, where one could get food and accommodation for a small fee. Emaciated, in the poorest clothes and, to prevent the cold from falling asleep, without a warming stove, he often sat up until 3 a.m. and worked with a truly astonishing zeal, while during the day he gave lessons that earned him the bare minimum of board . "

In 1855, Geyser passed his exam and was ordained to the ministry . 3/4 year later he became a teacher at the school teachers' seminar in Schliers . After a short activity as vicar in Chur , however, the city ​​council forbade him to sit in the pulpit in 1856 because of two sermons, thereby depriving him of the right to work in a Swiss pastoral office in the future. Despite his difficult situation, Geyser turned down the professorship he had been offered in Geneva .

A Bremen merchant finally told him to be the pastor of the small in the Weser district located Reformed congregation Ringstedt to apply, and sent him at the same time the travel money for the guest sermon. On January 29, 1857, Geyser was actually elected pastor of Ringstedt against four competitors. From 1861 until his death he was pastor of the Reformed community in Elberfeld. In and around Elberfeld he was one of the great preachers of the revival and was so impressive as a champion of the Reformed faith that the memory of him has been preserved in the community for several generations. A large part of his estate is in the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland in Düsseldorf.

His witty and ironic essay The Lamentation of Balaam's Donkey from the seventh volume of his writings is still known today .

literature

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Paul Geyser. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 237-240.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Gottfried Dumermuth, Johannes Schärer: Pastor Paul Geyser. His personality and his writings , Buchdruckerei Jent u. Reinert, Bern 1883.
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein (Ed.): Album ministrorum of the Reformed Community of Elberfeld. Preachers and pastors since 1552, Bonn 2003 (SVRKG 163), pp. 144–150.
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein: Paul Geyser's clinical pastoral care. A conflict between town and parish in Elberfeld in 1876. Monthly for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland 51 (2002), pp. 217–238.
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein: Forty Sermons by Paul Geyser. Monthly booklet for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland 55 (2006), pp. 411–412.
  • Johannes Göhler: Pastor Paul Geyser in Ringstedt 1857-1861 , in: Jahrbuch der Männer vom Morgenstern No. 46, 1965, pages 123-139.
  • Hermann Klugkist Hesse: Paul Geyser, a witness of the living God in: Wilhelm A. Langenohl (Ed.): Jesu Gemeinde und das Wort, Neukirchen 1928, pp. 7–53.
  • Julius Roessle: Paul Geyser. A life struggling for the authority of the divine word , witnesses, etc. Certificates from d. Protestant church, bookstore of the educational association, Neukirchen 1954.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Paul writings Geysers , Volume 7, Book Shop of Education Association, Neukirchen (Kr. Moers) 1925
personal data
SURNAME Geyser, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION reformed clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Altstätten , Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1882
Place of death Elberfeld , Rhineland