Theodor Schneller
Theodor Schneller (born September 25, 1856 in Jerusalem ; † April 16, 1935 ibid) was a German theologian who worked as a diaconalist in the Middle East.
resume
Theodor Schneller, eldest son of the teacher and missionary Johann Ludwig Schneller and his wife Magdalene, grew up in Jerusalem in the vicinity of the Syrian orphanage that his father had founded. He and his four siblings grew up among Arab boys. School education was given to them by their father. Theodor was sent to Germany with his brother Ludwig at the age of 13 ; from 1869 to 1873 they attended the Latin school in Schorndorf . After graduating from high school, he studied Protestant theology . Theodor married Johanna Allmendinger on August 8, 1887; in Fellbach the couple was married by Theodor's brother Ludwig.
From 1885 Theodor supported his father in running the Syrian orphanage. After his death he took over the management of the facility. On April 24, 1910, the foundation stone was laid for an orphanage in Nazareth, Galilee. It was financed by American donations that went back to a trip to America by his brother Ludwig in 1907/08. In 1927 it was completed and started operating.
After the end of the Ottoman Empire as a result of the First World War, Schneller was removed from office by the British Mandate Area Administration, which subordinated the house to the American Red Cross or the Near East Relief formed for this task until 1923. From 1920 to 1923 he left Palestine.
The British authorities allowed Theodor Schneller to re-run the facility in 1923. His eldest son, Hermann (1893–1993), also a theologian, stood by his father as an inspector. The younger son, Ernst , who had studied engineering, set up a workshop with the most modern and largest electric power station in the Middle East on the Schneller site, which the British Mandate Administration granted local rights and thus independence in civil law issues. Under Theodor's leadership, a teachers' college was set up in 1926 and the institution in Bir Salem was reopened in 1927 . The beginnings of the construction of a community settlement and the construction of a new girls' home in 1934 could be experienced more quickly. Since the Nazis came to power, donations and transfers from Germany to Palestine were prohibited. So it was now important that the Syrian orphanage also had American sponsors, for which his brother Ludwig's trip to the USA in 1908/1909 was mainly responsible.
Theodor Schneller died on April 16, 1935 in Jerusalem and was buried there, like his parents in Zion, in the Protestant cemetery of St. George's Anglican Cathedral.
The Theodor Schneller School in Amman, Jordan bears his name in honor of his commitment .
literature
- Siegfried Hanselmann: German Protestant Palestine Mission. Manual of their motives, history and results ; Erlangen: Verlag der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Mission, 1971; ISBN 3-87214-027-2
- Arno G. Krauss: In devout humility and love for the orphans - Theodor Schneller ; in: Evangelical Association for the Schneller Schools eV in the Evangelical Mission in Southern Germany eV (Ed.): Schneller. Magazine about Christian life in the Middle East ; 121 (2006), No. 3, pp. 22-23 .; Stuttgart 2006; ISSN 0947-5435
- Mitri Raheb (Mitr¯i Rã.hib) : The Reformation legacy among the Palestinians ; Gütersloh: Mohn, 1990; ISBN 3-579-00127-2
- Ludwig Schneller: Shapes of light on my way ; Chapter: Theodor Schneller, pp. 29–120; Leipzig: HG Wallmann, 1937
- Dominique Trimbur (ed.): Europeans in the Levant between politics, science and religion (19th – 20th centuries) ; French title: Des Européens au levant ; Munich: Oldenbourg, 2004; ISBN 3-486-57561-9 Online at perspectivia.net
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Faster, Theodor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German theologian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 25, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jerusalem |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 16, 1935 |
| Place of death | Jerusalem |