Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser

Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser (born June 13, 1926 in Siegen , † June 25, 2010 in Münster ) was a German Protestant theologian , church historian , university professor and specialist in Calvin research as well as Prussian and Westphalian territorial church history.

Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser (1997)

biography

Neuser, a son of the Evangelical Reformed pastor , and later state Superintendent of Lippe Church Wilhelm Neuser , studied after the Abitur Protestant Theology at the Georg-August-University of Goettingen , University of Basel and at the Theological Seminary Bethel . In 1951 he passed his first church service examination and then entered the vicariate . After completion of the Vicariate took place his promotion to Theologiae Doctor with a dissertation about Philipp Melanchthon .

In 1960 he completed his habilitation at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . In the following years he was initially a lecturer and adjunct professor before he was appointed professor at the Evangelical Theological Faculty. In 1983 he was also appointed head of the Institute for Westphalian Church History. Even after his retirement in 1991 he held this position until 2002. In addition, between 1986 and 1987 he was dean of the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University.

During his activities in research and teaching, Neuser was an expert on Calvinism and the person of John Calvin as well as the history of theology and the church , with particular attention to the history of the territorial churches of Prussia and Westphalia. In addition to his academic work, he was first deputy chairman of the Association for Westphalian Church History and for many years a member of the working group for ecclesiastical research of the Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU). He was also secretary and member of the Presidium of the Congress for Calvin Research for several years.

Honors

1996 his 70th birthday was the occasion of a commemorative publication of Jürgen Kampmann , entitled From the land of the synods. Festschrift for WH Neuser's 70th birthday published .

For his services he was awarded an honorary doctorate of Doctor of Divinity (DD) from the Asia United Theological University in Seoul in 1998. In 2005 he also received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein .

Publications

• The approach of Philipp Melanchthon's theology. Publishing house of the bookstore of the educational association, Neukirchen 1957.
• The Reformation turning point at Zwingli. Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1967, ISBN 978-3-7887-0484-1 .
• Calvin (Göschen Collection; Vol. 3005). de Gruyter, Berlin 1971.
• Evangelical church history of Westphalia in plan . Luther, Bielefeld 2002.
• Johann Calvin. Early life and work 1509–1541 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-525-56915-3 .

literature

• Obituary. In memory of Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser (1926–2010). In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History. Vol. 106 (2010), pp. 15-17.

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser  in the German Digital Library
• Dedicated church historian. Prof. Dr. Wilhelm H. Neuser died at the age of 84 (press release of the University of Münster on July 2, 2010)