Elstal Theological University

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Elstal Theological University
logo
motto Biblically founded, scientifically reflected, community-based
founding 1880 (as seminary of the German Baptists in Hamburg-Horn)
Sponsorship Association of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany
place Wustermark-Elstal
state Brandenburg
country Germany
Rector Michael Kisskalt
Students 65 Status: WS 2015/16
Professors 8 (2017)
Website www.th-elstal.de

The Elstal Theological University is the theological training center of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany . It was founded in 1880 in Hamburg-Horn as a seminary for the German Baptists and in 1997 relocated to Wustermark-Elstal near Berlin. The Central Oncken Archive of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches is closely connected to the university .

history

Students and teachers around 1865; sitting v. Left to right: Julius Braun, Johann Gerhard Oncken , Julius Köbner
Hamburg-Horn seminary around 1888
Memorial plaque at the former location of the Theological Seminary in Hamburg-Horn, Rennbahnstraße 115
Theological Seminar Elstal (FH)
Student apartments on the campus of the Theological Seminary

The history of the preachers' seminary, founded in 1880, begins in 1849, when the first federal conference of German Baptist congregations decided to train so-called “mission workers”.

Hamburg, Böhmkenstrasse

In September 1849 the first course began with five students. The conditions and contents of a mission worker course, the end of February 1859 began the reported mission students Eduard Scheve in his diary: The 18 students of the course lived in a small garden shed on the property of the Baptist Church at the Hamburg Böhmkenstraße, with two had to share a bed each. The classroom on the first floor of the building also served as a breakfast and supper canteen. At noon they ate in a nearby dining-house. Josef Lehmann was responsible for teaching church history and "various other subjects". Johann Gerhard Oncken gave an introduction to the Gospel of Matthew in his garden house in Hamburg-Altona “from 10 am to 12 noon”. His son Gerhard Oncken taught the English language and Jakob Braun taught sheet music and singing. A teacher named Hund taught the German language and other general subjects. On September 18, 1859, the course was concluded with a ceremony. Of the 18 students ordained 12 Oncken, 5 had to complete another probationary period, and one returned to his shoemaking profession.

The Baptist Church on Böhmkenstrasse was extended in 1870, creating two classrooms and ten bedrooms. The preachers' and later theological seminary was legally founded in 1880.

Hamburg Horn

In September 1888 the seminar moved to a new building in Hamburg-Horn at Rennbahnstrasse 115 after the German-American August Rauschenbusch had suggested the construction of a seminar building in 1868 . The property was a gift from the American industrialist John D. Rockefeller . There were now 44 students and the two-year mission worker training had been converted into a four-year course.

In 1915, after two years of construction, a new teaching building opened its doors. Just one year later the seminar had to close due to the war. Only in January 1919 could it start teaching again. Official final exams were introduced in 1926. In September of the same year, the duration of the course was extended to five years. The first two were mainly used for learning the ancient languages ​​( Hebrew and Greek ) and for introducing theological sciences, the next three for studying theology.

In March 1935 the first seminar building (see picture) had to give way to the construction of the motorway. Two more buildings were erected to replace it: the student dormitory and the auditorium. The inauguration took place in 1936. In the summer semester of 1940, a Slavic-language course was set up for Baptist students from parts of Eastern Europe occupied by Germans . 11 students took part.

In 1941, 1942 and 1943, several bombs hit the seminar building in air raids. Between July 25 and 29, 1943, the Allies launched a major attack on Hamburg. The building was totally destroyed.

Wiedenest

In September 1943 the Theological Seminary moved its teaching work to the Bible School of the Brethren in Wiedenest . The Gestapo closed the Wiedenest facility in 1944; the students and Bible students were drafted as workers in the defense industry in Bergneustadt.

New beginning in Hamburg

In 1948 the seminar returned to Hamburg-Horn. With the support of the British Baptist Union, the war damage was repaired. The theological seminar was in the service of international understanding and invited to international student conferences. Close cooperation developed between the Protestant Faculty of the University of Hamburg and the Theological Seminary.

In 1959 a theological seminar was opened for the GDR . Eight students and two full-time teachers began teaching on October 14, 1959 in the small town of Buckow in a building belonging to the Diakoniewerk Bethel .

At the end of the 1960s, students from the USSR were given the opportunity to begin a theological advanced course at the Hamburg Seminary; during the Cold War it was an extraordinary event.

Merging of the Hamburg and Buckow seminars

After German reunification , the separate free-church congregational federations were also united, including the theological seminars Buckow and Hamburg-Horn, which made it necessary to expand the space available.

Wustermark-Elstal

After many years of deliberation, the Association of Evangelical Free Churches decided to buy up the Kirschstein settlement in Elstal , convert it into an education center and then finally move there in 1997. The old Hamburg seminar buildings on Rennbahnstrasse were demolished; a new discount store was created in their place .

Former logo of the Elstal Theological Seminary (University of Applied Sciences)

From the beginning of the 1997 winter semester until the end of the 2015 winter semester, the institution was called the Theological Seminar Elstal . On October 1, 2003, it was officially recognized as a university of applied sciences . The accreditation by the Science Council , initially limited to five years, took place at its meeting from July 11th to 13th, 2007. According to the accreditation rules of the Science Council, the limitation is currently the highest possible duration for "newly established universities". According to the Science Council, the Elstal Theological Seminar "primarily trains pastoral staff for its own church"; the “theological work” is “focused on the requirements of free church parish practice”. At its meeting on January 28, 2013, the Science Council reaccredited the Elstal Theological Seminary for a further five years and initiated an extension of the accreditation to ten years if the Elstal Theological Seminary fulfills the requirements specified in the accreditation notification within three years.

On October 22, 2015, the Brandenburg Minister for Science, Research and Culture, Sabine Kunst, presented the Elstal institution with a certificate of unlimited state recognition as the first private university in the state. This recognition had been preceded by a lengthy process since 2007.

Since the winter semester 2010/11 there has been a new master’s course in “Free Church Diakonia”. This is intended to prepare students who already have a professional bachelor's degree in the social sciences for diaconal service in free church communities.

After renewed recognition by the Science Council as a university of applied sciences, the training facility of the Free Church was renamed to its current name in April 2015 in consultation with its Presidium. The Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg in Potsdam has approved this decision.

Education

subjects

Duration of studies and degrees

Students can acquire a bachelor's degree in Protestant theology within six semesters . Building on this, a four-semester master’s course in Protestant theology can be completed. The acquisition of the master’s degree is one of the prerequisites for becoming a pastor of the BEFG. In addition, a four-semester master’s degree in free church diakonia is offered, which, together with a social science bachelor’s degree, enables you to work as an ordained deacon in the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches and other free churches.

tuition fee

The tuition fees are 250 euros per semester. For students from Evangelical Free Churches, the BEFG covers these costs as a scholarship. In addition, all students in the BA and MA courses are required to purchase the BVG semester ticket. The semester ticket costs around 115 euros per semester (as of winter semester 2010/11).

Study requirements

Requirements for the Baptist preaching office (around 1900)
  • For the acquisition of theological expertise: Fachhochschul- or Hochschulreife or Mittelreife plus completed vocational training with at least two years of professional experience in accordance with Section 8 (3) BbgHG.
  • For the acquisition of professional competence: Voluntary or full-time work in a local church of the BEFG or another Christian denomination to which the applicant belongs.
  • To acquire personal and social skills: An admissions committee assesses whether it expects a successful course of study based on an admissions interview, which usually takes place during an applicant meeting.

Living

The Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany offers living space on campus. It is fundamentally part of the study concept that the students should live on campus.

Statistical

Development of student numbers

year Number of students Remarks
1880 07th Mission and Preacher School
WS 1895 44 33 of the 44 students are in the so-called “1. Class ”- the highest number of beginners in the history of the theological seminary.
1912 72 The seminar building no longer offers enough space; a neighboring villa is also rented.
1916 10 Most of the students were drafted into the military. The seminar is closed in July 1916 until the end of the war.
1936 26th The old seminar building has to give way to the construction of the Reichsautobahn . A new seminar building with a dormitory for 34 seminarians is being built some distance from the motorway, but on the same property.
1942 06th Most of the students were drafted into the armed forces. The seminar building is badly damaged by bombing.
1943 18th The seminar building is completely destroyed by an air raid. Teaching will continue at the Wiedenest Bible School in Oberbergischen.
1948 43 Resumption of teaching in Hamburg
1952 69
1959 78 The Theological Seminary of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR opens its doors in Buckow . Three seminarians from the GDR start their studies there.
1975 79 For the first time, there are two female seminarians among the students.
1979 55
1991 89 The Buckow Theological Seminary is closed after the reunification of the two Evangelical Free Churches. The Buckow seminarians move to Hamburg.
2007 89 The proportion of female students in 2007 was around 40 percent.
2009 99
2010 88 Due to the departure of a very large final semester, the number of students fell to 88 in the winter semester 2010/11.
2012 64
2013 70

More statistical facts

  • Between 1998 and 2007, around 15 percent of applicants were rejected by the admissions committee.
  • The supervisory ratio in the bachelor's program (lecturer / student) is 1: 5, in the master’s program 1: 3.
  • The library comprises around 75,000 volumes. The book inventory grows annually by 1,000 to 5,000 books. Approx. 110 journals are available.

management

Philipp Bickel, first head of the theological seminar
Eduard Schütz

In the first decades of its existence, the responsible management of the theological seminary lay exclusively with the seminary department of the Union of Baptists , also known as the school commission . The chairmen of this department were:

The seminar department existed as a link until the restructuring of the church governing bodies of the BEFG in 2002. In 1914, the office of the seminar director for on-site management tasks was introduced. Holder of this office:

Lecturers (selected)

Lecturers of this seminar and the Ewersbach University of Applied Sciences jointly publish a theological journal founded in 1977: Theological Conversation. Free church contributions to theology.

August Rauschenbusch

Interdisciplinary

Old testament

  • Martin Metzger (1953–1957: Scientific unskilled worker , 1957–1970: Lecturer in the Old Testament; 1970–1974: part-time lecturer in the Old Testament)
  • Winfried Eisenblätter (1966–1967: teaching assistant; 1974–1991: lecturer for the Old Testament)

New Testament

dogmatics

Church history

Practical theology

Siegfried Liebschner (1976)
  • Joseph Lehmann (after 1857: auxiliary teacher at the Mission School Hamburg; from 1883 to 1907: lecturer in homiletics at the seminary of the German Baptists in Hamburg)
  • Carl Schneider (1922-1937); Lecturer in practical theology
  • Dorothea Nowak (1970–1988), lecturer in practical theology
  • Siegfried Liebschner (1971–2001), lecturer in practical theology
  • Jörg Swoboda (1981–1991 at the Buckow Theological Seminary), lecturer in practical theology
  • Eckhard Schaefer (1985–1988), lecturer in practical theology

Well-known former students

The following list of former students is sorted alphabetically.

Institute for Diaconal Studies and Social Theology

On November 9, 2011, an Institute for Diaconal Studies and Social Theology (IDuS) was ceremoniously opened within the University of Applied Sciences . The tasks of the institute include research projects on the subject of diakonia in health care as well as theological reflection on the political design of a just society. The Peter Dienel Research Center is also affiliated to the facility, which is headed by Ralf Dziewas . It was named after the Baptist theologian and sociologist Peter Dienel, who died in 2006. He is considered to be the inventor of the public participation process planning cell . His entire written estate is in a special collection in the Oncken archive , which is located on the premises of the Elstal University of Applied Sciences.

literature

General

  • Theological seminar: Festschrift 125 Years of Theological Seminar , Supplement 6 to the Theological Discussion, Kassel 2005 , ISSN  1431-200X
  • Edwin Brandt: A free church alternative. Theological training at the Elstal Education Center. In: Evangelical Theology Mitteilungen 6 (2000), no. 1, ISSN  1438-3233
  • Stefan Duhr: The libraries of free church theological seminars in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1990: shown at the libraries of the theological seminars in Friedensau near Magdeburg and Buckow near Berlin. Master's thesis at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Philosophical Faculty I, Institute for Library and Information Science, 2006f. [2]
  • Evangelische Versandbuchhandlung O. Ekelmann (Ed.): The harvest is big - 25 years of the theological seminar of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches in the GDR. Berlin [East] 1983.
  • Günter Balders (Hrsg.): Festschrift 100 Years Theological Seminar 1880–1980. Wuppertal / Kassel 1980, ISBN 3-7893-7874-7 .
  • Federation of Evangelical Free Churches (Ed.): Festschrift to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the seminary of the Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists) in Germany. Hamburg-Horn 1955.
  • Winfried Gutzeit: Education instead of the military. In: Forum. Das Brandenburger Wirtschaftsmagazin, vol. 8 (2007), ISSN  1615-7699 , no . 11, p. 18 ( online, in the document p. 15 ).

Special

  • Klaus Rösler, Ralf Dziewas: Recognize and alleviate hardships. New Diakonik lecturer: A congregation without diakonia is not credible. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 19, September 2, 2007, pp. 12-13 ( ZDB -ID: 1157992-4). Interview with the new Diakonik professor Ralf Dziewas.
  • NN, Uwe Swarat: Promoting basic ecumenical research. Uwe Swarat heads the German Ecumenical Study Committee. In: The community. The magazine of the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches, No. 6/7, March 18, 2007, pp. 12-13.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.th-elstal.de/haben/kollegium/prof-dr-michael-kisskalt/
  2. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Number of students by type of university, state and university, WS 2015/16, p.94 , accessed on January 28, 2017
  3. ↑ Eduard Scheve (revised and re-edited by Günter Balders ): Trust in the Lord. Wuppertal / Kassel 1979, ISBN 3-7893-7119-X , p. 30 ff.
  4. ^ Author of the first history of the German Baptists
  5. ^ Announcement about the accreditation by the ThS Elstal ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), special info
    letter in July 07 (PDF; 268 kB)     Statement of the Science Council on the accreditation of July 13, 2007
    Press release of the Science Council on the accreditation of July 16 2007
  6. ↑ Guide to institutional accreditation , p. 12 f. The theological seminary was not previously active as a university .
  7. ↑ See statement of the Science Council (PDF; 834 kB), p. 26.
  8. ↑ Drs. 2844-13, p. 13 http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/2844-13.pdf
  9. ^ Association of Evangelical Free Churches: Unlimited state recognition. Theological University of Elstal: Minister Sabine Kunst brings the decision personally ; accessed on November 5, 2015
  10. ↑ New master's degree at the Elstal Theological Seminar (FH) ( Memento from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at www.baptisten.de
  11. ^ Training students to become ambassadors of God's love , idea.de, report from April 7, 2015.
  12. ↑ Apartments ( Memento from July 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on www.theologisches-seminar-elstal.de
  13. ↑ Source: Günter Balders: Festschrift , pp. 101–154; Statistics material from the Theological Seminar Elstal , Michael Rohde: Courageously preaching about resurrection and judgment - semester opening with 23 new students. In: Infobrief 03/2009, pp. 1–2, here p. 2 (PDF; 445 kB)
  14. ↑ Training for practice ( memento of June 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Infobrief 1/2011 (pdf), p. 1, read on May 9, 2011.
  15. ↑ Source: Statistical material from the Elstal Theological Seminar
  16. ^ Homepage Theological Conversation.
  17. ^ Homepage of the Theological Seminary Elstal (FH): Ceremonial opening of the Institute for Diaconal Studies and Social Theology ( Memento of November 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); viewed on November 10, 2011 at www.theologisches-seminar-elstal.de
  18. ↑ ISSN according to [1] ; ZDB ID: 1473905-7
  19. ↑ Edwin Peter Brandt: A free church alternative. ( Memento from August 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 29.1 ″  N , 13 ° 0 ′ 11.1 ″  E

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