Walter Küppers

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Walter Johann Küppers (born May 5, 1872 in Bonn ; † 1951 there ) was an old Catholic , later a Protestant clergyman.

Life

Walter Küppers was the son of a teacher and teacher seminar leader in Siegburg, Ignaz Küppers (1840-1925), who was one of the founders of the Old Catholic Church in Germany. He studied theology and philosophy a. a. in Bern. There he was awarded a doctorate in 1895 with a dissertation on "John Locke and Scholasticism". phil. PhD. In the same year he was ordained a clergyman of the Old Catholic Church. From March 22, 1903 to October 1925, he was pastor of the small Old Catholic parish in Königsberg , founded in 1872 , which included all of East Prussia , West Prussia and Danzig . He could not stop the rapid shrinking process of his community - in 1925 it had only forty members. In 1925 Kueppers joined the Evangelical Church and was accepted into its parish service.

Küppers was impressed by Charles Taze Russell's script studies . He was also in closer contact with pietistic circles. In order to avoid a conflict with his church leadership, he published many times under the pseudonym "Johannes Walther".

His fixation on the theme of the end times is characteristic . He believed he could more precisely specify the date of the return of Christ , calculated by Russell as 1914 (March 21, 1912). He did not join the Bible Students , but borrowed numerous from Russell.

After his prophecy had turned out to be inaccurate, Küppers was unable to criticize himself. At the urging of the church leadership, he responded with a declaration that he would no longer publicly represent his idiosyncratic theses. In the years 1915 to 1917, however, he again published numerous articles - mainly in the magazine Altkatholisches Volksblatt . In doing so, he radicalized his standpoint, in keeping with the spirit of the time, towards a German nationalist escalation.

Küppers was with Olga Küppers, geb. Textor, married. The couple had five children. One son, Werner Küppers (1905–1980), also became a theologian and until 1971 was director of the seminar for old Catholic theology at the University of Bonn . One of Küppers' son-in-law was the orientalist Rudi Paret .

Fonts

  • John Locke and the Scholastic , Berlin: Hermann, 1895 (44 pp.).
  • In the fight with the theological guild . A piece of life, Gr. Lichterfelde-Berlin: E. Runge in Komm., [1903] (47 pages).
  • On God's miraculous path . The story of my vocation, Königsberg: Klucke in Komm., 1911.
  • How God keeps his word , Königsberg i.Pr .: Klucke, 1911.
  • The last four centuries in the light of the Bible , Königsberg i.Pr. : Klucke, 1911.
  • A look back at March 21, 1912 , Königsberg i.Pr .: Masuhr., 1916 (12 pages).
  • Dear Siblings [circular collection], Königsberg, 1913.
  • Review and Outlook , Königsberg i./Pr .: Klucke, 1920 (24 pages).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Darmstadt registry office : marriage register . No. 66/1903.
  2. ↑ For him see Günter Eßer:  Walter Küppers. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 30, Bautz, Nordhausen 2009, ISBN 978-3-88309-478-6 , Sp. 846-856.
personal data
SURNAME Küppers, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Küppers, Walther Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Old Catholic pastor, Bible researcher
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH 1951
Place of death Bonn