Wilhelm Oesch

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Wilhelm Martin Johannes Oesch (born November 9, 1896 in Westcliffe, Colorado , † January 18, 1982 in Oberursel ) was a German-American Lutheran theologian and university professor.

Life

Oesch was born as the son of a pastor of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod who had emigrated from Germany . After finishing school in Missouri , he attended college in Milwaukee . He then studied theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis . Due to his good knowledge of German, after his ordination in 1922, he became pastor of the Immanuels congregation in Stuttgart , which belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church . In 1923 he became chairman of the Lutheran Youth Association. In 1934 the Missouri Synod sent him to London to look after two German-English congregations. Here he began to publish the magazine "The Crucible". When World War II broke out in September 1939, Oesch was in Germany and was not allowed to return to London. Therefore he took over the vacancy representation in the communities Groß Oesingen and Lachendorf and later also in Hamburg . After his family was bombed there, they lived temporarily in Hörpel . In the post-war period, Oesch u. a. with Hans Kirsten and Matthias Schulz involved in the unification negotiations between the Lutheran confessional churches in Germany, which were provisionally concluded in the “unification sentences” between the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church and the Old Lutheran Church . In 1948 Oesch was appointed to the chair for systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological College in Oberursel, where he stayed until his retirement in 1968. His duties as a lecturer in Oberursel included the editing of the "Lutheran Rundblick" (today: Lutheran Theology and Church ) from 1953 to 1975. He also maintained good relations with the Lutheran churches in the USA and Australia . For his efforts to unify the Lutheran Church of Australia , he received an honorary doctorate from the Concordia Seminary in Adelaide . He also campaigned for a meeting of the Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Synod , which has not yet been crowned with success.

Oesch was married twice. His first wife Gertrud Michael died early. In 1933 he married Erna Wittmann.

Fonts

  • Do the World Church Conferences go to Canterbury? (= The word they should let go! Time issues in the light of the Bible, booklet 4) . Zwickau [1937].
  • The doctrine of inspiration and its application to prehistory , in: Fuldaer Hefte. Writings of the Theological Convention of the Augsburg Confession . Edited by Friedrich Huebner , Berlin 1960.
  • Memorandum Inter Nos. Presenting a Series of Observations on the Present State of American Lutheranism of the Synodical Conference and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod . Oberursel 1960.
  • An unexpected plea. Since 1977: Addenda ad Formulam Concordiae! Oberursel 1981.
  • Solus Christ, sola scriptura. Principles of Lutheran theology . Edited by Dieter Oesch, Groß Oesingen 1996.

literature

  • Hans Kirsten : Unity in faith and teaching. The Path of the Lutheran Free Churches in Germany after the War, Volume 1: The Teaching Cleansing 1945–1949 . Groß Oesingen 1980.
  • Christoph Baumann: Wilhelm Oesch , in: Faculty of the Lutheran Theological University of Oberursel (ed.): Lutheran Theological University of Oberursel 1948–1998. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary . Oberursel 1998, p. 89f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Oesch, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oesch, Wilhelm Martin Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American Lutheran theologian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Westcliffe, Colorado
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1982
Place of death Oberursel