The growing Baptist movement in Europe (Episode 2/12) 1859-1884 Next episode in mid-May
Julius Koebner (1806-1884) Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann (1799-1882)

The growing Baptist movement in Europe (Episode 2/12) 1859-1884 Next episode in mid-May
Julius Koebner (1806-1884) Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann (1799-1882)
Also, the second twenty-five years of German Baptists were still dominated in many respects from the generation of the founder. Besides Johann Gerhard Oncken are Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann. (1799-1882) and Julius Koebner (1806-1884) to name as "ordering brothers" of the Federal The Berlin Lehmann came in 1837 on the Lutheran Pietism and the environment of the Moravian Church for Baptism. Energetic and sent Lehman sat one against the repression with which the State handicapped for decades the communities. Lehmann, one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany. Koebner was the son of a Danish rabbi and came to the church in 1836, after he was ten years previously converted to Christianity. He composed many songs, treatises and seals are due to, but also the first German translation of the book "moment" of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, in his questioning of the existing Christianity Koebner similarities with the Baptist saw criticism on state church. The cooperation of the "cloverleaf" Oncken Lehmann Koebner broke in 1871 in "Hamburger dispute": In Altona had against the will Oncken an independent municipality constituted. Oncken claimed the authority of a common elders of all federal communities. In league sat down with Lehmann and Koebner support the principle of autonomy of the local church. Until 1876, there was a reconciliation. Municipalities carefully monitored the lifestyle of the members. Exclusion was due to "absence from the meeting" or "Sabbath sacrilege" not uncommon - the intense community life and the strict Sunday observance gave the rhythm of family life. Leisure activities such as theater, dance and playing cards were frowned upon. Science, art and culture for its own sake were not considered desirable goods. On the other hand, the community was just the place where many talents were awakened and encouraged, provided they could contribute something to the benefit of the community. The music was a great course. People from disadvantaged backgrounds were eager to readers to be able to stand on their faith and answer questions. Perhaps more than the organizational structure of the Federal singing and reading to identity and cohesion of the Baptists of the individual local church also have contributed. The shared songs accompanied the parishioners for a lifetime, joining the generations. The printed in large editions tracts and devotional books translated in the communities accents in teaching and piety. That later came journals (since 1879 appeared the "witness to the truth", the forerunner of the "community"), by the Federal community to a small Baptist "public part" was. Much of what was then read in the churches, is now forgotten, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly. Some titles in the long term proved to as "classics" such as the sermons of the Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon Star in London, in 1867 even went to the inauguration of the new Hamburg Chapel to Germany. From the early writings of the German Baptists protrudes a small text, Julius Koebner "manifesto of free primitive Christianity" from the revolution in 1848. Koebner spoke there, what was in English and American Baptists of course always been, namely that Freikirchentum always has to do with the realization of a free society. In the liberal spirit of the German Baptist Köbnerschen manifesto appeared in the second half of the 19th Century. Into the background, especially in light of new freedoms that brought the Constitution of the German Empire of 1871 The recommencement of the Oncken Verlag in Kassel in 1878 and the opening of the preachers' seminary in Hamburg 1880, signs of this new age.
Episode 3/12 around mid-May