Association for Rhenish Church History
The Association for Rhenish Church History (VRKG) is an association founded in 1953 to research and maintain church history in the area of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . Originally strongly committed to denominational identity formation, he now works in cooperation with other regional and denominational historical associations with scientific claims.
Background and founding of the association
Predecessor clubs in the 19th century
The Bergisches Geschichtsverein was founded in 1863 to research the history of the former duchies of Jülich , Kleve and Berg . The composition of its board of directors and an active sponsorship in the Wuppertal bourgeoisie gave the association a Protestant character; it was the Protestant counterpart to the Catholic historical association for the Lower Rhine . Up until the First World War, the main focus of the journal of the Bergisches Geschichtsverein lay in the field of Protestant church history, especially the history of the Reformation.
The Rhenish Scientific Preachers' Association, founded on November 24, 1868, was more committed to theological science. Its main purpose was the scientific exchange between the Bonn theological faculty and interested theologians in the church service. The board of this strongly historically oriented association was composed equally of representatives of the Rhenish provincial church and the faculty of Bonn.
Evangelical church history magazines in the Rhineland before the First World War
The publication organ of the Rhenish Scientific Preachers 'Association, the theological works from the Rhenish Scientific Preachers' Association , which according to the statutes should also contain contributions to the history of the Rhenish church, has been a journal for the Protestant church history of the Rhineland since the beginning of the 20th century and contained extensive historical and scientific information Treatises. On the other hand, the monthly journals for Rhenish Church History, launched on the initiative of Pastor Wilhelm Rotscheidt in 1907, published smaller articles, source editions as well as biographical and community history essays. Both publication organs received regular financial support from the Rhenish Provincial Synod.
Institutionalization of the Rhenish church history during the Weimar Republic
On the initiative of the President of the Rhenish Provincial Synod, Walther Wolff , the provincial church office for the care of the Rhenish church history , associated with the parish of Diersfordt near Wesel, was founded on July 1, 1927 . The main task of the first incumbent, Heinrich Müller, was to summarize the often fragmented work on the Rhenish Protestant church history and in particular to coordinate the cooperation with the monthly bulletins for Rhenish church history and the provincial church archive , which had existed since 1853 . This happened through the establishment of the Working Group for Church History , which has met for annual specialist meetings since 1927 (with the exception of the years 1929, 1932 and 1935). In 1943 the monthly journals for Rhenish Church History had to cease publication due to the war. The Rhenish Scientific Preachers' Association and its theological work also did not survive World War II.
Foundation of the Association for Rhenish Church History after the Second World War
After the end of the Second World War and the constitution of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland as an independent regional church , Rhenish church history research was reorganized in the early 1950s. The working group for church history formed in 1927 continued to exist. Since the Rhenish Scientific Preachers' Association did not stand up again, the Association for Rhenish Church History was founded on April 8, 1953. Its publication organ was the monthly for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland , which has been appearing under a new name since 1952 (since 2013 Yearbook for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland ). The office of the association was located at the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . There was also an intensive content-related collaboration with this institution, particularly during the time of archive managers Walter Schmidt (until 1976) and Dietrich Meyer (1976-2000).
Club structure and main areas of activity
Board of Directors and Advisory Board
The association is run by a board elected for six years. An advisory board serves to promote the scientific work of the association and its promotional presentation to the outside world.
List of chairmen
- 1953–1955: Heinrich Müller (1880–1970), pastor, superintendent, 1927–1965 head of the Office for the Maintenance of Rhenish Church History
- 1955–1965: Wilhelm Classen (1903–1965), archivist, 1952–1965 head of the State Archives Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia , archivist in the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia
- 1966–1989: Helmut Dahm (1913–1996), archivist, 1965–1978 head of the State Archives Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia, archivist in the Ministry of Culture of North Rhine-Westphalia
- 1989–2008: Rudolf Mohr (1933–2013), pastor
- since 2008: Andreas Mühling (* 1961), Professor of Protestant Church History and Head of the Ecumenical Institute for Interreligious Dialogue at the University of Trier
Club activity
Annual meeting
The Association for Rhenish Church History holds an annual meeting during which the general assembly takes place. The annual conference has a historical framework topic, on which several specialist lectures will be given. The lectures will then be published in the Yearbook for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland .
Publications
Yearbook
The Association for Rhenish Church History publishes the yearbook for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland , which was published from 1952 to 2012 under the title Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland and continues the tradition of the monthly issues for Rhenish Church History published between 1907 and 1943 .
Series of publications
In the series of publications of the Association for Rhenish Church History (SVRKG), larger scientific monographs, source editions and conference contributions are published. The four-volume new Rhenish pastors' book and the five-volume handbook of Evangelical Church History in the Rhineland also appear in the series.
Small series
In the small series of the series of publications of the Association for Rhenish Church History, works are published that are too extensive for an article in the yearbook and too small for a separate volume in the series.
Facsimile edition
In the facsimile edition of the Association for Rhenish Church History, five early modern edification writings appeared in facsimile printing between 1987 and 2002.
Excursions
Since 2009, the Association for Rhenish Church History has been offering day excursions to sites of ecclesiastical history under the heading Historical forays through the Protestant Rhineland .
literature
- JF Gerhard Goeters : The association for Rhenish church history and the historical regional studies. In: Ders .: Studies on the history of the Lower Rhine Reformation. Edited by Dietrich Meyer (= series of publications by the Association for Rhenish Church History, Vol. 153). Cologne 2002, pp. 253-312.
- Hanns-Joachim Maßner: Twenty-five Years of the Association for Rhenish Church History eV Lecture, given on May 24, 1978 in Bad Kreuznach . In: Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland 27 (1978), pp. 312–316.