Franz Eugen Schlachter (28 July 1859 – 12 January 1911) was a revivalist preacher, classical scholar and the translator of the German language Schlachter Bible. He was the son of Joseph Franz Schlachter, a business man from Mühlhausen/Alsace in France. At the time of his

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...

he visited the assembly (congregation) of Robert Pearsall Smith, the leader of the Holiness Movement, in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. At the same time he experienced conversion to

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. As his parents lacked money he left school to begin vocational training for a merchant. He continued to study

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

during this time. From 1878 to 1882 he studied at a seminary in Basel. In 1882 he began his service as a preacher of the Evangelische Gesellschaft of the

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

canton. In 1884 he was baptised by a preacher from the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde in Thun named Konrad Werndli. In the same year he travelled to Great Britain, to visit the assemblies of

Charles Haddon Spurgeon Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31st January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." ...

and American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody. He wrote many theological and biographical books about, among others, Herodes I (

Herod the Great Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...

), Resli, a little boy, and Moody. In 1888 he published a short pamphlet named "Brosamen von des Herrn Tisch". In the first part he wrote about the Bible and belief in Jesus Christ. In the second part he wrote about animals and nature. In the third part he described men of God such as Moody and the history of the church. The last part is a report on the political scene in Europe. The pamphlet was distributed to farms in the Emmental. In 1890 he founded a new assembly in Biel. Subsequently, he began his translation of the Bible, beginning with the book of Job in 1893. In 1905 the '' Miniaturbibel'' (Miniature Bible) was completed, named for its size (1 cm thick), small enough to carry in a pocket. The translation was faithful to the Greek and Hebrew transcripts. In 1907 he went to Bern to join the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde as a pastor. He was married to Maria, with whom he had four children. In 1911 he died in

of a

stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of Human, humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical t ...

illness. ''This article incorporates text from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of 19 December 2005''.

Literature

* R. Kocher: ''Gott allein die Ehre'', Buchhandlung der Evangelischen Gesellschaft, Bern 1931 * Rudolf Dellsperger, Markus Nägeli, Hansueli Ramser: ''Auf dein Wort'', Berchtold Haller Verlag, 1981 * ''Franz Eugen Schlachter'', ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Theologie der Gemeinschaftsbewegung im Kanton Bern - Akzessarbeit von Walter Wieland, evang. theol. Fakultät der Uni Bern, eingereicht bei Prof. D.A.Lind im Sommer Semester 1982, Edition Neues Leben, Lützelflühstr. Ch 3452 Grünenmatt * Gottfried Wüthrich: ''Franz Eugen Schlachter - sein Leben und Wirken'', Genf, 16. März 2002 Manuskriptdruck * Karl-Hermann Kauffmann: ''Franz Eugen Schlachter und die Heiligungsbewegung'', Biographie unter Bezugnahme auf das geistliche Umfeld Schlachters und mit einer kurzen Geschichte der Schlachter Bibel, ausführliche Fassung mit 100 Abbildungen. Gedenkschrift zum Jubiläum "100 Jahre Schlachter-Bibel". Eigenverlag Freie Brüdergemeinde Albstadt, 2005 * „Franz Eugen Schlachter“ ''Ein Besuch in London'', Broschüre, eine Zusammenfassung von drei Artikel aus „den Brosamen von des Herrn Tisch“, Freie Brüdergemeinde Albstadt, 2006 * Karl-Hermann Kauffmann: ''Franz Eugen Schlachter, ein Bibelübersetzer im Umfeld der Heiligungsbewegung'', Verlag Johannis, Lahr, 2007, *

External links

*
Schlachter und die FEG Bern

Schlachter-Bibel 2000 online

Schlachter - 2000
Informationen über die Schlachter-Bibel, den Übersetzer sowie die Möglichkeit, alle Bibelbücher der Ausgabe 2000 kostenfrei einzeln herunterzuladen (als

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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlachter, Franz Eugen 1859 births 1911 deaths 19th-century evangelicals 20th-century evangelicals Evangelical writers Swiss male writers Swiss non-fiction writers Swiss Protestant ministers Writers from Mulhouse