Werner O. Packull

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Werner Otto Packull (born July 14, 1941 in Arklitten , East Prussia ; † April 27, 2018 in Waterloo , Ontario ) was a Canadian historian and church historian of German descent . Packull was Professor of History at Renision College and Conrad Grebel College at Waterloo University .

Life

Family and education

His family originally came from East Prussia. Packull's father was missing on the Eastern Front in January 1943 during the Second World War . In the spring of 1945 his mother fled with him and his two siblings from the Red Army by ship via Königsberg to Denmark .

In 1949 the family settled in Rheinfelden . Packull was able to finish primary school and began training as a mill builder and fitter in 1954. In 1957 the family emigrated to Guelph in the Canadian province of Ontario. For six years he attended the Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta .

Professional background

He later attended the University of Guelph , but at the same time supported his family financially as a worker in a factory. In 1969 he was able to finish his studies with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Theology at Emmanuel Bible College. A year later, Packull received a Masters in History from Waterloo University in Ontario. His supervisor at Waterloo University was Kenneth Davis , who introduced him to Anabaptism , which from then on became his research focus.

He enrolled as a PhD student in history at Queens University in Kingston . There he attended lectures by James M. Stayer, who was only a few years his senior, on the history of the Reformation . After Packull's death, Stayer wrote an obituary for him, which was published in The Mennonite Quarterly Review , and a short biography for the Mennonite Lexicon . 1974 doctorate Packull for doctor of philosophy at Queen's University with a dissertation on the influence of medieval mysticism to the South German-Austrian Anabaptist movement.

Packull himself now taught as a professor at church colleges, from 1972 to 1983 at Renision College and from 1983 to 2002 at Conrad Grebel College, which were associated with the University of Waterloo. During this time he investigated the beginnings of the Hutterite movement , but also made significant contributions to the research of North German and Dutch Anabaptism as well as biographies from this period about Melchior Hoffman , Anneken Jans and Melchior Rinck, among others . He wrote some biographical contributions for the Theologische Realenzyklopädie and as a co-author for the Archive for Reformation History .

Marriage and offspring

In 2002 Werner Packull retired . He died in Waterloo on April 27, 2018, at the age of 76. Packull had been married to Karin Fiebig since August 1964. His wife was originally from West Prussia and they met in Guelph. The couple had a son.

Publications (selection)

  • Mysticism and the early South German-Austrian Anabaptist movement, 1525-1531. Herald Press, Scottdale 1977, ISBN 9780836111309 .
  • Radical reformers. as co-author, Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 9783406067839 .
  • Rereading Anabaptist beginnings. CMBC Publications, Winnipeg 1991, ISBN 9780920718452 .
  • The beginnings of Anabaptism in Tyrol. Verlag Hermann Nachhaben, Weimar 1994.
  • Hutterite Beginnings. Communitarian Experiments During the Reformation. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore / London 1999, ISBN 9780801862564 .
  • The Hutterites in Tyrol. Early Anabaptism in Switzerland, Tyrol and Moravia. Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck 2000, ISBN 9783703003516 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Packull, Werner O.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Packull, Werner Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian historian and church historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Arklitten
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 2018
Place of death Waterloo , Ontario