Jean Frdric Oberlin
| Jean-Frdric Oberlin | |
 | |
Portrait by J. Gottfried Gerhardt to 1800 | |
| Birth | 31 August 1740 Strasbourg |
|---|---|
| Deaths | 1June 1826 (86 years) Waldersbach |
| Occupation (s) | Pasteur |
| Training | Doctor of Philosophy |
Johann Friedrich Oberlin, Jean Frederic Oberlin French, born on 31 August 1740 at Strasbourg and died on 1June 1826 to Waldersbach , is a Protestant pastor Alsatian , Pietist and apostle of social progress.
Summary |
Son of Jean-Georges Oberlin (1701-1770), professor at the Protestant gymnasium at Strasbourg, and Mary Magdalene, born Feltz (1718-1787), Oberlin was educated at the Academy in his hometown. Carried by his tastes and exalted piety towards an ecclesiastical career, he studied theology and distinguished himself among his peers not only by his intelligence, his application and the purity of his morals, but also by a religious enthusiasm which meets rarely in a young man of his age. Having graduated in 1763 , the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, he entered as a tutor in the house of the surgeon Ziegenhagen, where he spent three years.
In 1766 , he was offered instead of just looking for pastor Waldersbach , a poor village in the upper valley of the Bruche , located in the county of Ban de la Roche , on the west side of the Field of Fire. From the seventeenth century, some pastors, convinced of the importance of their mission, as Jean Nicolas Marmet , Jean Georges Pelletier of Montbliard , and especially his predecessor, Jean Georges Stuber , had contributed to improving the welfare of the population deprived of this region. Stuber had managed to establish a suitable school, and thanks to his care, thanks to its methodical Alphabet to facilitate the art of spelling and reading in French, most of his parishioners read almost fluently, when he left this corner of land shared with the rest of Alsace, the privilege of enjoying full freedom of conscience, to go to serve the St. Thomas in Strasbourg.
The action of the Rev. Jean-Frederic Oberlin permanently changed the situation and destiny of these places and people. His work revolved around the following:
- the development of a weaving industry, encouraging home working. with the support of his friend Basel Jean-Luc Legrand , and the latter's son, Daniel Legrand ;
- development of agriculture through the introduction of new seeds and new farming techniques (soil amendments, irrigation, planting and grafting of fruit trees);
- construction of a road network to open up the Ban de la Roche;
- improved sanitation and housing;
- financing the training of individuals capable of useful professions to the public good, such as that of a midwife;
- implementation of preschool institutions with qualified women managers' conducting of childhood, this fact is unprecedented for the time. The first of these schools was directed Waldersbach by her maid, Louise Scheppler.
Arrived at Ban-de-la-Roche , it was found in five villages in his parish of 80 to 100 families abandoned by the early nineteenth century, towards the end of his ministry, there were 3 000 people.
It was during the famine years ( 1816 and 1817 ) that gave the measure of his genius.
From 20 January to 8 February 1778 , Oberlin housed Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz writer suffering from schizophrenia , this episode is recounted in the book by Georg Bchner Lenz.
Radiation
It maintains friendly relations and correspondence with a fairly wide range of people, such as:
- the Abb Grgoire
- the prefect of Adrien Lezay-Marnsia
- the writer Barbara Juliane von Krudener.
Posterity
In his honor, a town and a University of Ohio and a Japanese university bear his name. At Waldersbach an interesting interactive museum is dedicated to his work.
Notes
Bibliography
- Albert Amiet, Jean-Frederic Oberlin, Lausanne, religious Agency, 1927
- (In) Sarah Atkins, Memoirs of John Frederic Oberlin, pastor of Waldbach, In The Ban de la Roche, Compiled from authentic sources, Chiefly in French and German, Holdsworth and Ball, London, 1829, 352 p.
- (In) Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler, The Life of Jean Frederic Oberlin, pastor Of The Ban de la Roche, The Religious Tract Society, London, 1882
- Samuel Chappuis, Oberlin Life (John Frederick), pastor at Ban de La Roche, Lausanne, Related articles
External Links
- Muse Jean-Frdric Oberlin in Waldersbach
- Oberlin's Namesake: a multimedia presentation
- Inventory of the Oberlin in the Muse de Waldersbach (made by Christine Heider, archivist of the Alsace Region, 67 p.)
- "And the pastor created the educational toy" (article by Mendel Alexander, MCS Info, Universit Robert Schuman de Strasbourg )
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