Paul Jaeger (theologian)

Paul Martin Jaeger (born October 5, 1869 in Wennungen , † February 20, 1963 in Nussloch ) was a German Protestant theologian .

Life

Jaeger was the son of a Protestant pastor and grew up in modest circumstances. From 1881 he attended the alumni of the monastery high school Our Dear Women in Magdeburg . His teacher there, the theologian Wilhelm Bornemann , brought him close to the work of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher and thereby strongly influenced his own thinking. After obtaining his university certificate in 1888, he studied Protestant theology at the University of Halle .

After the first theological exam in 1892, Jaeger took up a position in Frankfurt a. M. as assistant editor at Martin Rade , editor of the liberal Protestant magazine Die Christliche Welt . Until she was hired in 1941, Jaeger published numerous articles and book reviews, but also religious texts and stories in this magazine. Jaeger was not only in close contact with Rade, but also with Friedrich Naumann , the champion of the " social question " in the Evangelical Church.

Jaeger lived in Folkestone, England, until the spring of 1895 and took the opportunity to get to know the country. In December 1895 he completed his studies in Magdeburg with the second theological exam. He took up a position as private tutor in the Mark Brandenburg ; he also translated the writings of Thomas Carlyle .

Jaeger took up his first pastor in 1898 as an assistant preacher in Ichtershausen, Thuringia . From 1899 he was pastor in Seebergen near Gotha . After marrying a woman from Baden , he applied to the Baden regional church for a parish office. After working as vicar in Freiburg im Breisgau for a year , he went to Karlsruhe for four years , where he made contacts with working-class groups and reported on their situation in various publications.

From 1910 he was pastor at the Freiburg Ludwigskirche ; In 1934 he retired. During his time in Freiburg he developed an extensive writing activity. He used his ability to bring the theology and everyday life of his parishioners together. In his work Evangelical Simplicity from 1937 he tried to put the Christian message into simple words.

Jaeger was a member of the Evangelical-Social Congress and the Church-Liberal Association of Baden and tried to work socially reformist. As a theologian, Jaeger based his view on the concept of “ children of God ”, which must be the basis of human life.

After 1933 he developed into a staunch supporter of the Volkisch - National Socialist worldview. He joined the German Christians and in 1939 declared his willingness to work at the institute for the research and elimination of the Jewish influence on German church life . During the Second World War , Jaeger took on numerous vacation and sick leave replacements. Because of his National Socialist commitment, the Baden regional church forbade him to pursue pastoral activities after the end of the war. Since then he has worked as a writer and wrote numerous religious texts well into old age.

Works

• Thomas Carlyle. Memoirs , 2 volumes; trans. from the English by PJ, 1897/1901
• To overcome the doubt. Life questions , 1906
• Liberal worldview. Confessions and Question Marks , 1909
• Finding God and Overcoming , Contemplation of the Sick , 1911
• Light trails. On the hike in the foggy country , 1911
• On road. Hikes to the Eternal Spring , 1911
• Confession and Freedom. A word on peace , 1914 (1926 ² : Evangelical freedom )
• “I don't believe death…” Silent thoughts on the passing of our loved ones , 1914
• My joy. A confirmation booklet for girls , 1914
• Paths to Inner Freedom. "Kant and the Workers" and other lectures in the working group , 1914
• Our emperor. January 27, 1915, Ceremonial Sermon , 1915
• My defense and weapon. A foreword , 1916
• Two questions of fate. 1. On the fate of values, 2. On the value of fate , 1916
• Inside. For understanding on the question of the hereafter , 1917 (1926 ² : Inside and Beyond )
• About the meaning of life. Letters to a confirmand , 1919
• Questions of God. Three folk high school lectures: Atheism - Theism - Christian Theism , 1921
• From the academic festival service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German Empire. Sermon , 1921
• Undiscovered. A little book about infinite closeness , 1922
• Joy beforehand. Medical observations , 1922
• Mainland. Paths to Reality , 1922
• Mainland II. Ways to Christ , 1923
• Do we have to become catholic? An evangelical answer , 1923
• From the bottom of joy. Speeches and essays , 1923
• Providence. Contributions to the question of fate , 1923
• Evangelical freedom. Collected sheets from the opinion struggle of the present , 1926 ² (extended version of Confession and Freedom , 1914 ¹ )
• Hunch and certainty , 1927
• Christmas Preludes , 1929
• The beautiful morning light. Christmas Stories , 1929
• Christ sun. Christmas story , 1930
• Home lights. Advent stories , 1931
• In the workers' discussion club ; in: Cross and Laurel. Karl Hesselbacher on his 60th birthday , 1931
• God's emergency light. A guide for the joyless , 1932
• The saving hour. Advent stories , 1934
• From the inexhaustible light. Christmas Stories , 1935
• The spilled word. Stories about Christmas and Everyday Life , 1936
• Sunny working day. The meaning of the Ascension , 1936
• Evangelical simplicity. Letters to a railroad worker and to a Swabian housewife , 1937
• On God's secret loom , 2 volumes; 1937/1938
• Biblical Crisis , 1940 (special print from: Der deutsche Christ , 1940)
• Confidence , 1940
• The starry sky ; Experienced the Bible. Testimonials and experiences 8; 1943
• Wölflein's home call , 1960
• The commandment to be happy , 1961
• The permanent location , 1961
• Like a child. A Christmas story , 1961
• More light. From the joy of God , 1962
• Our Father - Devotional Booklet , 1962
• Advent prelude with old doctor , no year
• Of the imperishable being. Christmas story , undated
• RGG ¹ and RGG ² : Article Balfour , Germanisierung des Christianentums , Hilty , Oeser , Rade , Steffensen

As a co-author and editor

• Together with others: morning devotions for the whole year, performed by the friends of the ChW ; 1908
• Ed .: Manly and free. Sermons from Dr. Adolf Hasenclever , 1910
• Goethe's religion ; in: Karl Bornhausen, Paul Jaeger: The religion of Schiller and Goethe. Two lectures ; 1910
• Emmy Oeser, Salomon Schlatter (ed.): Correspondence between Hermann Oeser and Dora Schlatter ; Introduction: Paul Jaeger; 1920

literature

• Hans stamp: Paul Jaeger ; in: ChW 38 (1924), pp. 882-889
• Georg Weiß: Paul Jaeger ; in: MPTh 22 (1926), pp. 3-14
• Heinrich Neu: Pastors' book of the Protestant Church of Baden from the Reformation to the present, part 2 ; 1939, 294 f.
• Johannes Rathje : The world of free Protestantism. A contribution to the German-Protestant intellectual history , 1952
• Albrecht Wolfinger: Nekrolog Paul Jaeger ; in: Chronicle of the Evangelical Church in Baden 1963 ; in: Badische Heimat. Ekkhardt, Jahrbuch für das Badner Land 33 (1964), pp. 181-183
• Parishes of the Ludwigskirche: The Ludwigskirche in Freiburg i. Br. A Chronicle 1829-1979 ; 1979; Pp. 15-19
• Traugott Mayer: Church in the school. Ev. Religious instruction in Baden between 1918-1945 ; 1980
• Ernst Schulin: History of the Ev. Parish Freiburg 1807-1982 ; 1983; Pp. 20-25
• Brigitte Haug: Paul Jaeger and the Church-Liberal Association ; 1987 (unpublished seminar paper, University of Heidelberg)
• Rainer Witt:  Paul Jaeger (theologian). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 1436-1440.

Web links

• Literature by and about Paul Jaeger in the catalog of the German National Library