Paul Jacobs (pastor)

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Paul Jacobs, 1945

Paul Jacobs (born October 24, 1908 in Elberfeld , † August 27, 1968 in Münster ) was a German pastor and professor of dogmatics , ethics and Calvin research.

Life

Paul Jacobs, the son of a businessman, grew up in Elberfeld, was baptized there in the Reformed community and began studying at the theological school in Elberfeld under Otto Weber .

From Elberfeld, Jacobs showed solidarity with Karl Barth at the beginning of the church struggle. Although individual students were threatened with concentration camps by the Secret State Police, 201 students had expressed their solidarity with their teacher Karl Barth and signed a declaration of protest when charges were brought against Barth on December 7, 1934 for refusing to take an oath on Adolf Hitler . Paul Jacobs and other fellow students signed a letter to Barth, with which a brush print with a statement was sent to Barth even before the publication of the article “On the demand of the oath” in the Reformed Church newspaper on December 16, 1934 .

Jacobs continued his studies in Tübingen (with Adolf Schlatter and Karl Heim ), in Zurich ( Emil Brunner ) and Amsterdam. He received his doctorate from Brunner with the thesis Predestination and Responsibility with Calvin as a doctor of theology.

From 1936 to 1951 he was a pastor in deserts . He was also a parish priest in Bad Salzuflen in 1940/1945 .

Just like his predecessor in Wüsten, Pastor Wilhelm Böke, he was hostile to the National Socialist state. But while Böke, who belonged to the Confessing Church , was arrested and sentenced, Jacobs acted more cautiously. His sermons were not clearly directed against Nazi ideology and therefore offered the state no means of taking action against him.

On March 25, 1944, he attended the funeral of four Australian crew members from a crashed English bomber in the desert cemetery and spoke an Our Father at the grave. Such a blessing of members of the enemy air force was undesirable and risky at the time, but had no negative consequences for Pastor Jacobs.

In 1948 he became professor for Reformed Theology at the University of Münster .

Services

In various writings Jacobs dealt with the question of how the works of Johannes Calvin should be interpreted today and which new discoveries in philosophy, psychology and the natural sciences require a change in Christian teaching .

In the work Theology of Reformed Confessions in Fundamentals , Jacobs writes that the Lutheran confessions (with the exception of the concord formula ) existed as early as 1555, most of the Reformed, of which there are around 60, were only written after 1555. On p. 135 of his work he writes “To present the basic features of the theology of Reformed confessions is a first undertaking in the 400-year history of the Reformed Church.” He explains why such a theology is necessary in order to form a communion between Reformed and Lutheran churches come, and thus paves the way for the 1973 Leuenberg Agreement .

In addition to his professorship in Münster, he took on other tasks: Member of the synod of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwest Germany , activity in the moderamen of the Reformed Federation , member of the executive committee of the Reformed World Federation , participation in the theological committee of the Westphalian regional church. In 1950, the leadership of the Lippe regional church appointed Jacobs a volunteer employee in the Detmold regional church office and awarded him the title of councilor .

In 1966 he traveled to South Africa and reported on his conclusions, Albert Schweitzer also questioned him on the matter.

In the last years of his life he made himself available for the office of chairman of the student union at the University of Münster.

From 1959 to 1968 he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation .

Jacobs believed that the time was ripe for the theological differences between the churches to be resolved. He also said this when discussing the book Die Kirche by Hans Küng : “If the question was already raised in the book about Kiing's justification, how far this explanation, so welcomed by the Protestant side, was recognized as Catholic, this is all the more so from apply to this book about the Church. This ecclesiology is almost a purely evangelical book. "

He deals with the confessional movement No Other Gospel . This movement turns to a theological science that sees itself as historical-critical research. Immature conclusions had been drawn, with everything being explained as relative. For some young theology students this means turning away from theological studies, for others a certain hypocrisy in the pulpit, for a third the obligation to speak with supposed honesty about the relativity of the gospel in the sermon, for a fourth it is only existential Interpretation of the Gospel, a shortening of the behavior of people for one another out of love. Jacobs says what concerns the tension between the movement “No Other Gospel” and historical-critical research: this tension should be affirmed and maintained.

Fonts

  • Predestination and responsibility with Calvin. Buchh. of the educational association, Neukirchen 1937 (reprint Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1982).
  • (Ed.): Reformed Confessions and Church Orders in German translation. Buchh. of the Educational Association, Neukirchen [1949].
  • Will and change. The basic lines of the theology of Johann Heinrich August Ebrard (= studies on the history of dogma and systematic theology; vol. 7). Zwingli-Verlag, Zurich 1955.
  • The Reformed Church. In: Helmut Lamparter (Ed.): And their network tore. Quell-Verlag der Evang. Gesellschaft, Stuttgart 1957, pp. 281-315.
  • The presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper according to the Reformed understanding and the Roman Catholic counter-image. In: Fritz Viering (ed.): Presence of Christ. Contribution to the Lord's Supper discussion in the Evang. Church in Germany. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1959, pp. 23–33.
  • Basic lines of Christian ethics. Luther-Verlag, Witten 1959.
  • Theology of Reformed Confessions in Fundamentals. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen 1959.
  • Church, denomination, ecumenism. In: Walter Herrenbrück (Ed. :) Festschrift for Professor D. Dr. Wilhelm Niesel, moderator of the Reformed Covenant, on his 70th birthday. Neukirchener Verlag des Erziehungsverein, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973, ISBN 3-7887-0355-5 .
  • The Reformed Churches in Germany. History and present. In: Karl Halaski (Ed.): The Reformed Churches. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-7715-0164-4 , pp. 118-143.

literature

  • Hans Prolingheuer : The Karl Barth Case 1934-1935. Chronograph of an eviction. Neukirchener Verlag, 1977, ISBN 3-7887-0761-5 .
  • Hannelore Braun, Gertraud Grünzinger: Personal Lexicon on German Protestantism 1919-1949. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006, ISBN 3-525-55761-2 , p. 122.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Udo Smidt : Address. In: Commemoration for Paul Jacobs † August 27, 1968, on January 15, 1969 at the University of Münster. Pp. 14-18.
  2. ↑ Hans Prolingheuer: The Karl Barth case 1934-1935. Chronograph of an eviction. Neukirchener Verlag, 1977, pp. 78-89.
  3. ^ Wilhelm H. Neuser : Commemorative speech. In: Commemoration for Paul Jacobs † August 27, 1968, on January 15, 1969 at the University of Münster. Pp. 7-13.
  4. ↑ Paul Jacobs: Predestination and Responsibility in Calvin. 2. unchangeable Edition. Knowledge Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1968. (reprograph. Reprint of the 1st edition. Neukirchen 1937)
  5. ^ Erwin Schubert: Church and school chronicle of the community Wüsten . Published by the Wüsten Evangelical Church Community, 2nd edition. 1994, p. 51.
  6. ^ Paul Jacobs: Black and White. The problem of the existence of the South African Union. In: Karl Halaski (ed.): Reformed church newspaper. Volume 107, 1966, pp. 59-62.
  7. ↑ Franz Hesse : Address by the dean of the Evangelical Theological Faculty. In: Commemoration for Paul Jacobs † August 27, 1968, on January 15, 1969 at the University of Münster. P. 14.
  8. ^ Paul Jacobs: The Church. A catholic voice. In: Reformed Church Newspaper. 108, 1967, pp. 202-204.
  9. ^ Paul Jacobs: No other gospel - in theological view. In: Reformed Church Newspaper. 108, 1967, pp. 138-140.
personal data
SURNAME Jacobs, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German reformed pastor and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1968
Place of death Muenster