Hermann Otto Erich Sasse (17 July 1895 – 9 August 1976) was a German
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
pastor, theologian, and author. He was considered one of the foremost
confessional Lutheran
Confessional Lutheranism is a name used by Lutherans to designate those who believe in the doctrines taught in the '' Book of Concord'' of 1580 (the Lutheran confessional documents) in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfuln ...
theologians of the 20th century.
Sasse was born on 17 July 1895 in
Sonnewalde
Sonnewalde is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 8 km northwest of Finsterwalde.
History
From 1815 to 1947, Sonnewalde was part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. From 1952 to 199 ...
,
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia (; ; ; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusa ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, to Hermann Sasse, a pharmacist, and his wife Maria, née Berger. In 1913, he began reading theology and ancient
philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
at the
University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
. He was a German infantryman in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, in which he was one of only six men in his battalion to survive the
trench warfare
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from a ...
in
Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
.
Sasse began his career under the influence of the
theological liberalism
Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...
of his teachers, such as
Adolf Harnack
Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...
. He was ordained on 13 June 1920 in St Matthew's Church in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and thereafter served several parishes in
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
, He took the
licentiate in theology in 1923. He spent a year (1925-1926) as an exchange student at
Hartford Theological Seminary
The Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly Hartford Seminary) is a private theological university in Hartford, Connecticut.
History
Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connectic ...
in the United States, where he earned a master's degree. Sasse returned to Germany to take up a teaching position at
University of Erlangen
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
.
He married Charlotte Margarete Naumann on 11 September 1928 at St. Nicolai's Church in
Oranienburg
Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.
Geography
Oranienburg is on the banks of the River Havel, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.
Division of the town
Oranienburg consists of ni ...
, Germany. They had three children together. During the Depression, he was a (pastor with social duties) among factory workers in Berlin.
During this period, he became an active participant in the
ecumenical
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
movement. He attended the first world conference of the
Faith and Order Movement
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...
in
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, Switzerland in 1927 as a delegate and translator. He also attended the
Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments
The Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments, generally known as the Geneva Conference or World Disarmament Conference, was an international conference of states held in Geneva, Switzerland, between February 1932 and November 1934 ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
in 1932.
In the early 1930s, he emerged as a vocal critic of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
and Germany's new chancellor,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, as part of the
Confessing Church Movement led by
Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He opposed the Nazi regime during the late 1930s, and was sent to a concentration camp for his affiliation with the Confes ...
. While he did not sign the 1934
Barmen Declaration
__NOTOC__
The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen 1934 (German: ''Die Barmer Theologische Erklärung'') was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian movement. In the view of the de ...
, he did author, with
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the s ...
and others, the first draft of the lesser known Bethel Confession of 1933, which addressed the treatment of Jews. However, he left the Confessing Church in 1934 because he believed it was improperly taking church authority for itself.
In 1933, he became a professor of church history at the
University of Erlangen
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
. The Nazi government took away his passport in 1935, but he was able to continue working throughout the Nazi era because he was a popular lecturer and the dean of the faculty was able to protect him.
In 1948, he opposed the formation of the
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...
, in part because he distrusted state-supported university faculties of theology. As a result, he joined the Lutheran Free Church.
In 1949, Sasse emigrated to
Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
, South Australia, where he served on the faculty of
Immanuel Seminary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia. He was heavily involved in the effort merging that body with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia to create the
Lutheran Church of Australia
The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia in 1966 ...
in 1966.
Sasse remained involved in Lutheranism throughout the world. He was known in the United States as "Mr. Lutheran" and regularly corresponded with Lutheran leaders there and elsewhere. A noted conservative voice in Lutheranism, his theological research focused on Scripture as Word of God and on the
Eucharist
The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
. He was involved with the Australian Roman Catholic-Lutheran dialogue from its beginnings.
Sasse retired from teaching in 1969. The
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...
appointed him to the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...
. He died in a fire at his home in North Adelaide on 9 August 1976 and was buried in
Centennial Park Cemetery
Centennial Park Cemetery is a large, cemetery in the southern Adelaide suburb of Pasadena, South Australia, located on Goodwood Road. It is the largest cemetery in the southern suburbs and one of the largest in the Adelaide metropolitan area ...
.
Selected bibliography
Sasse published 479 works during his lifetime.
Some of the more notable ones are:
* ''This Is My Body: Luther's Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar.'' (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2001)
* ''The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters of Hermann Sasse: 1941-1976'' (Concordia Publishing House, 2003)
* ''The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters of Hermann Sasse: 1927-1939'' (Concordia Publishing House, 2002)
* ''Christ and His Church: Essays by Hermann Sasse: Vol. 1, Union and Confession'' (Office of the President LCMS 1997)
References
*
Werner Klän Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
(Hg.): ''Der Theologe Hermann Sasse (1895–1976). Einblicke in seine internationale Wirkung als Exeget, Kirchenhistoriker, Systematiker und Ökumeniker'', Oberurseler Hefte Ergänzungsband 24, Göttingen 2020,
External links
Hermann Sasse and the Liturgical Movementby John T. Pless
(Confessional Lutherans Australia)
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071020080652/http://messiahkenosha.org/beliefs/sasse.htm Church and Lord's Supper by Hermann SasseWe Are Not Ashamed of Their Ardent Struggle by Hermann Sasse*
*
History and content of the 1933 Bethel Confession
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasse, Hermann
1895 births
1976 deaths
People from Elbe-Elster
People from the Province of Brandenburg
German Lutheran theologians
German emigrants to Australia
Australian Lutheran clergy
Australian Christian theologians
20th-century German Protestant theologians
German male non-fiction writers
Hartford Seminary alumni
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany