Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS UNION (GUSTAV-ADOLF...
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: GUI-HAN
del.icio.us it!
|
GUSTAVUS See also:ADOLPHUS See also:UNION (GUSTAV-ADOLF-STIFTUNG, GUSTAV-ADOLF-VEREIN, EVANGELISCHER VEREIN DER GUSTAVADOLF-STIFTUNG) , a society formed of members of the Evangelical See also:Protestant churches of See also:Germany, which has for its See also:object the aid of feeble See also:sister churches, especially in See also:Roman See also:Catholic countries. The project of forming such a society was first broached in connexion with the bicentennial celebration of the See also:battle of Liitzen on the 6th of See also:November 1832; a proposal to collect funds for a See also:monument to Gustavus Adolphus having been agreed to, it was suggested by See also:Superintendent Grossmann that the best memorial to the See also:great See also:champion of Protestantism would be the formation of a union for propagating his ideas. For some years the society was limited in its See also:area and its operations, being practically confined to See also:Leipzig and See also:Dresden, but at the See also:Reformation festival in 1841 it received a new impulse through the See also:energy and eloquence of Karl See also:Zimmermann (1803–1877), See also:court preacher at See also:Darmstadt, and in 1843 a See also:general See also:meeting was held at Frankforton-the-See also:Main, where no fewer than twenty-nine See also:branch associations belonging to all parts of Germany except See also:Bavaria and See also:Austria were represented. The want of a See also:positive creed tended to make many of the stricter Protestant churchmen doubtful of the usefulness of the union, and the stricter See also:Lutherans have always held aloof from it. On the other See also:hand, its negative attitude in relation to Roman Catholicism secured for it the sympathy of the masses. At a general See also:convention held in See also:Berlin in See also:September 1846 a keen dispute arose about the See also:admission of the See also:Konigsberg delegate, See also:Julius Rupp (1809–1884), who in 1845 had been deprived for publicly repudiating the Athanasian Creed and became one of the founders of the " See also:Free Congregations "; and at one See also:time it seemed likely that the society would be completely broken up. Amid the See also:political revolutions of the See also:year 1848 the whole See also:movement See also:fell into stagnation; but in 1849 another general convention (the seventh), held at See also:Breslau, showed that, although the society had lost both in membership and income, it was still possessed of considerable vitality. From that date the Gustav-Adolf-Verein has been more definitely " evangelical " in its See also:tone than formerly; and under the direction of Karl Zimmermann it greatly increased both in See also:numbers and in See also:wealth. It has built over 2000 churches and assisted with some two million pounds over 5000 different communities. Apart from its See also:influence in maintaining Protestantism in hostile areas, there can be no doubt that the union has had a great effect in helping the various Protestant churches of Germany to realize the number and importance of their See also:common interests. See K. Zimmermann, Geschichte See also:des Gustav-Adolf-Vereins (Darmstadt, 1877). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] GUSLA, or GUSLI |
[next] GUSTAVUS I |