Wilhelm (William) Nast (15 June 1807– 16 May 1899) was a German-born

religious leader Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

and editor. He founded the German Methodist Church of the United States. In addition, he was the grandfather of

Condé Montrose Nast Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to t ...

Biography

Nast was born on 15 June 1807 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, capital of the German

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...

, with the original forename Wilhelm. He was educated at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

with a view to entering the ministry, but preferred literary pursuits, and after his graduation was connected with the

press Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of ''The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, California ...

. Nast emigrated to the United States in 1828, taught at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, and subsequently became a professor in

Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...

, Ohio. He united with the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

in 1835, was licensed to preach, and at the conference of that body in 1837 was appointed to establish a German mission in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. He proved so successful in that enterprise that in the course of twenty years German Methodist churches were established in almost every state in the Union, and in various parts of Germany,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Beyond this Nast served as the first President of

German Wallace College The history of Baldwin Wallace University dates back to 1828, when co-founder John Baldwin (educator), John Baldwin settled in present-day Berea, Ohio. His founding eventually established Baldwin–Wallace College. This founding of present-day B ...

which eventually became

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio, United States. Established in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin, it merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace ...

He died in Cincinnati on 16 May 1899.

Publications

After 1859 he edited the German publications of the Methodist church, and after 1840 was in charge of the ''Christian Apologist'', the organ of his branch. He translated a large number of religious works into German, and was the author of ''Christological Meditations'' (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1858); a commentary on the New Testament in German (1860); the ''Gospel Records'' (1866); ''Christologische Betrachtungen'' (1866); and ''Das Christenthum und seine Gegensätze'' (1883).

External links

Nast's Biography: http://archives.gcah.org/bitstream/handle/10516/6506/MH-2001-April-Daniel.pdf

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nast, William American Methodist clergy University of Tübingen alumni Kenyon College faculty United States Military Academy faculty German emigrants to the United States 1807 births 1899 deaths 19th-century Methodists 19th-century American clergy Clergy from Stuttgart