Teufel, Eberhard (1884-1957)

Eberhard Teufel (1884-1957), a Lutheran minister and church historian, was educated in the Württemberg seminaries at Schöntal and Urach in 1898-1902, and at the University of Tübingen 1902-6, as a student of the church historian Karl Müller. In 1910 he studied the Moravian Brethren communities at Herrnhut and Niesky. He served in various rural pastorates in Württemberg, wrote a number of articles on the history of the Herrnhut free church, and published the first scholarly biography of Rothe, the pastor at Berthelsdorf, a position that was under the patronage of Zinzendorf, titled "Johann Andreas Rothe (1688-1758): Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengesichte des sächsischen Oberlausitz im 18. Jahrhundert," in Beiträge zur sächsischen Kirchengeschichte XXX (1917) and XXXI (1918), a total of 200 pages. He participated in the Festschrift for the 70th anniversary of Karl Müller (1922) with an article, "Luther und Luthertum im Urteil Sebastian Francks." For decades he did research on the Anabaptists and Spiritualists. One result of this was the valuable historiographical report, "Täufertum und Quäkertum im Lichte der neueren Forschung," which appeared in the Theologische Rundschau 1941-1948: XIII, 21-57, 103-127, 183-197; XIV, 27-52, 124-154; XV, 56-80; XVII, 161-181. He also wrote a number of articles on Anabaptist topics, among them, "Der Täuferprozess gegen Pfarrer Hechtlein in Schalkhausen bei Ansbach 1529-30" (Zeitschrift für bayerische Kirchengeschichte, 1949); "Religiöse Nebenströmungen der Reformation: Wiedertäufer und Schwenckfelder in der Reichsstadt Schwäbishgmünd und im Remstal," (manuscript in Goshen College Library); "Die Beschlagnahme und Verwaltung des Täufergutes durch den Fiskus im Herzogtum Württemberg im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert" (Theologische Zeitschrift VIII, 1952, 296-304). His only full-length book was a biography of Sebastian Franck, a favorite of his, "Landräumig," Sebastian Franck, ein Wanderer an Donau, Rhein und Neckar (Neustadt an der Aisch, 1954).

The task of organizing the papers left by the late Christian Hege, coeditor of the Mennonitisches Lexikon, led him into collaboration in the third volume of that work. He was appointed as successor to Walther Köhler after the latter's death in 1946, on the board of the Mennonitischer Geschichtsverein. He was the chief promoter of the renewed publication of the Anabaptist documents (begun in 1930), and was chosen secretary of the Täuferakten-Kommission that is composed of representatives of the Geschichtsverein and the Verein für Reformationsgeschichte. He had been assigned the task of editing the second volume of Württemberg Täuferakten, begun by G. Bossert, Jr., but died (27 June 1957) before he could complete the task. He contributed a number of articles to the Mennonite Encyclopedia. His residence in the last years was Fellbach, a suburb of Stuttgart, Germany.

Bibliography

Crous, Ernst. "Eberhard Teufel." Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter (1955): 32-36.

Author(s)	Harold S Bender
Date Published	1959

Cite This Article

MLA style

Bender, Harold S. "Teufel, Eberhard (1884-1957)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Teufel,_Eberhard_(1884-1957)&oldid=126608.

APA style

Bender, Harold S. (1959). Teufel, Eberhard (1884-1957). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Teufel,_Eberhard_(1884-1957)&oldid=126608.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 701. All rights reserved.

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