Theophil Funk

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Theophil Funk (born December 11, 1912 in Budapest , † January 1, 1983 in Dresden ) was a German Methodist theologian and pastor .

Life

Theophil Funk was a son of Pastor Martin Funk, who was born with his wife Martha. Scharpff looked after a Methodist congregation in Budapest. After attending school and obtaining his university entrance qualification , he studied theology, history and English in Leipzig from 1931 . He also attended lectures in Tübingen and Heidelberg with a grant from the Gustav Adolf Foundation .

He got his first job as a pastor in Ellefeld in the Vogtland . He did an internship at Richmond College , England . When he was given another assignment in a Methodist community in Linz , he came into conflict with the Gestapo because the National Socialist occupiers followed the activities of the Methodists who operate worldwide with suspicion. Then he switched to academic activity again by doing his dissertation on " The Beginnings of Lay Work in Methodism " at the University of Heidelberg . In 1940 he became a Doctor of Theology doctorate . Although he had been drafted into the armed forces, he managed to be ordained pastor of his church. After the liberation from National Socialism and his return to his family, which has now been founded, he worked as a clergyman in the communities of Markneukirchen , Greiz and Langenwetzendorf . His bishop called him youth secretary, and later student secretary of the Methodist Church. After the separation of the East German from the West German Methodist congregations through the division of Germany , his church set up its own training facility in Bad Klosterlausnitz, Thuringia .

With the beginning of the training in September 1952 Funk became one of the first lecturers. He taught the subjects of the New Testament and Church history , including the history of Methodism and the ancient languages ​​of Greek , Hebrew and Latin . In 1961 he received a call to the Methodist Church of the Redeemer in Plauen . After he had worked there for years, a new appointment was made to the Emmaus community in Dresden . Here, however, he soon had to retire from the full-time service due to progressive illness. It has been handed down from this time that he let his fellow believers pray at his sick bed that he would like to be given time to participate in the community service - a request that, by his own admission, enabled him to continue ten years of hard work in the church. Even with this limited health he led z. B. the commission for full-time church workers.

Funk had been a member of the Christian Peace Conference (CFK) since 1959 and attended the 1st and 2nd All-Christian Peace Meetings in Prague in 1961 and 1964 . As a member of the GDR regional committee, he was in charge of the study commission on peace and ecumenism . In 1962 he became a member of the ecumenical commission of the international CFK and took part in its 1963 meeting in Sagorsk near Moscow . In the 1960s he had also visited the Methodist sister church in Hungary several times , where he could preach in the local language.

Theophil Funk was married to Lisbeth born in 1941. Geipel.

Publications

  • Ernst Gebhardt , the gospel singer, Stuttgart: Christian publishing house, 1969
  • Be a letter of Christ, Berlin: Evangelische Versandbuchhandlung Ekelmann, 1968
  • The beginnings of lay collaboration in Methodism, Bremen: Anker-Verl., 1941

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.gbz-emmaus.de/geschichte.php  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.gbz-emmaus.de  

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Funk, Theophil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Evangelical Methodist theologian
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1983
Place of death Dresden