A. Teaching

The Missionseminary Hermannsburg is located in a rural village in the centre of a large natural resort called “Lüneburg Heide”. This name is derived from the traditional, prevailing plant “heather”, “Heide”, in German. Still today many spots of this fascinating scenery are preserved in the vicinity. All major cities in Northern Germany are easy to reach, Hannover and Bremen (1 hrs driving), Hamburg (1,5 hrs driving).

The Missionseminary is part of the mission agency in Lower Saxony (“Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionswerk in Niedersachsen” ELM), carried by the regional Lutheran Churches in Hannover, Braunschweig and Schaumburg-Lippe. The Missionseminary started teaching in 1849 educating Lutheran missionaries and pastors for Africa, India and both Americas. Today it offers a 6 or 7 years program for missionaries, who may serve in one of the regional protestant Churches after 9 years service abroad. Church examinations are combined with a BA in Mission and Theology of the University of Birmingham/ UK and an MTh from the School of Mission and Theology in Stavanger/ Norway. A partnership mainly based on missionary education and research has come into being with these academic institutions. Autumn 2009 a MA in intercultural Theology will be inaugurated in cooperation with the Georgia-Augusta-University Göttingen.  Students of Theology may do their exams in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, required for examination in the Churches, on our Campus. A library with approximately 100.000 volumes is located on the Campus. Participants of the Summer School live and learn together with the students on the same Campus, where also the big mission festival will take place. Around 1500 people interested in global mission gather on a weekend around 24th of June (Day of John the Baptist) to celebrate this festival.

A fine Chapel is also located on the Campus, where morning and evening devotions and the Eucharist will be held.

Lecturers:

Dr. Christoph vom Brocke, Hermannsburg (Lecturer New Testament)
Prof. Dr. Andrea Fröchtling, Hermannsburg (Practical Theology)
Prof. Dr. Germann, Halle (Church Law)
Rev. Helmut Grimmsman (mission-secretary for Asia)
Rev. Martina Helmer-Pham Xuan, Hermannsburg (Director of Ev.-Luth. Mission)
Barbara Janocha MA, Hannover (Science of Religion)
Dr. Volker Keding, Hermannsburg (Lecturer Systematic Theology)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kunz-Lübcke, Hermannsburg (Old Testament)
Prof. Dr. Dr. Frieder Ludwig, Hermannsburg (Science of Religion/ Missiology)
Henning Otte, Berlin/ Bergen (Member of Parliament)
Dr. Jobst Reller, Hermannsburg (Lecturer Church History)
Rev. Dr. Gunther Schendel, Oldenstadt (Pastor)
Rev. Dieter Schütte, Hermannsburg (former missionary in Southern Africa)

B. Excursions and Trips

Excursions and trips focus on the topic of the Summer School, on spiritual experience and interesting sights.

Excursion 1 “Hermannsburg” (Sunday)

Together with students and friends from the mission we will tour the village of Hermannsburg in the afternoon in order to get to know the place, its facilities and its history, where the local Pastor Ludwig Harms (1808-1865) started the mission in 1849. We will visit the three Lutheran Churches belonging to two different Church bodies, but also the Catholic Church, and collect first impressions about congregational life.

Excursion 2 “Verden and Bremen” (Wednesday)

After having studied concepts of State and Church relations in the medieval ages we will have a one day trip to two former bishoprics in Verden and Bremen (9th century). We will see what “Dome capitula” were in former times. We will see two medieval cathedrals representing the spiritual and imperial intentions of those who sat on the thrones of the bishops. While Verden still is not more than a rural city, the former bishopric Bremen developed as one of the biggest harbours in Germany. It’s one of the smallest states in the Federal Republic of Germany, representing not only a see but also a proud history of citizens and merchants forming the famous merchant federation “Hansa”.

Excursion 3 “Former Concentration Camp” (Friday)

As the average population was small in the “Lüneburger Heide”, camps for prisoners of war were located there both in World War I and II. One in Bergen-Belsen served as concentration camp also from 1943-1945. As it was the first one to be liberated by British troops in April 1945 pictures showing the hell, torture and suffering of Nazi victims went around the world. Lutheran Churches in Germany had to learn the lesson that governments need Churches as critical, sometimes prophetical partners in spite of Rom 13. Today Bergen-Belsen comprises two cemeteries and a large exhibition on this period of racially motivated crime.

Excursion 4 “Shaping Protestant kingdoms: Celle” (Sunday)

Hermannsburg is situated in the former country of the Guelph Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, forming the Kingdom of Hannover and united with Great Britain most of the 18th century. Celle is the former residence of the Duke. A picturesque timber-frame city with up to 500 years old buildings is preserved. The central Church and the chapel in the castle display, how Lutheran dukes understood themselves in the 16th and 17th century. We will be guided through these sights and have time to enjoy the pretty old town on our own hand.

Excursion 5 “Shaping protestant cities and duchies: Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel” (Tuesday)

The famous Duke of Braunschweig Heinrich “der Löwe” (engl. „lion“) made the city of Braunschweig to be the capital of an empire covering large parts of Northern and Southern Germany. This empire did not last long because of conflicts with the German king and emperor. But the impressive cathedral with his tomb in Braunschweig tells something about his understanding as Christian leader still today. In the afternoon we will see the city of Wolfenbüttel where the Dukes used to reside later. Wolfenbüttel is a picturesque little city, world famous for its old “Herzog August” library. Herzog August established the library in the 17th century, influenced by Pietist responsibility for education and development. Later on famous poets from the time of enlightenment like Gotthold Ephraim Lessing lived and worked here. Many famous old manuscripts and books are stored there today. The library symbolizes in itself a period in Church History when Christian Churches served as state institutions for moral and practical education of the nation.
Hopefully we will have the opportunity to visit the Church Campus of the Ev.-Luth. Church in Braunschweig, have Lunch there and may talk with someone from the Church board.

Excursion 6 “Wittenberg and the Lutheran Reformation” (Thursday – Sunday)

In 2017 Luther’s reformation will celebrate its 500. birthday on 31st Oct 1517, when Luther fixed the 95 theses on indulgences on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. We will see the “black monastery”, where Luther lived both as monk and later with his family. Today there is a large exhibit on Luther and the German reformation. Recently Luther’s garbage whole has been excavated providing new insights in everyday life of the Luther family. We will see the Philipp Melanchthon and the Lucas Cranach house. Cranach was the famous painter who propagated the Wittenberg reformation by painting thousands of biblical and ecclesiastical pictures. Melanchthon was the most famous co-worker of Luther, more diplomatic and open to the academic world. Both the church in the castle and in the old town, where Luther used to preach for his friend and confessor Johannes Bugenhagen, will be visited. Johannes Bugenhagen is one of the most influential organizers of the new Lutheran Church Bodies in the 16th century.

Hopefully we will meet someone, who is able to present something from his experience as Christian in the former GDR. Some time will be open for individual activity. What about visiting the little museum on everyday life in the former GDR?

One night is spent in Halle, where August Hermann Francke created the famous foundation with its orphanage and promoted the first Lutheran overseas mission in India, established in 1706 by the Danish king. The building of the foundation is impressive, we will have a look at the collections from India. Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, one of the fathers of Lutheranism in the USA, was inspired here. The other day we will see the house where Luther grew up in Mansfeld and the city where he was born and died: Eisleben. Later on we travel to Erfurt, where Luther studied and entered the monastery of the St. Augustine eremites. We will see both the monastery and St. Mary’s cathedral where Luther was ordained. On our way back to Hermannsburg we will see one of the most famous Luther-sights, the Wartburg in Eisenach where Luther was imprisoned as squire “Junker Jörg” for his own protection in 1521/22. The first edition of his translation on the New Testament was designed in this time.

Excursion 7 “Berlin-Air-Lift-Monument Faßberg” (Monday)

The little town of Faßberg came into being in 1935 when the Nazi-government built an air range for military purposes. After World War II allied forces used the airport, lifted thousands of tons of coal and food to supply the people in West Berlin with every day needs. Communication with West Berlin was blocked in 1948/49 by Soviet troops.

Excursion 8 “Berlin” (Wednesday)

Berlin – former capital of Prussia, capital of Germany again is worth several visits. We will have a one-day trip there, climb the sky-deck in the German parliament, the former “Reichstag” and have a phantastic view on this amazing city. We will meet the local member of parliament and discuss the Church’s role in Germany from a politicians perspective. We will tour the centre of Berlin and visit the most famous sights. Hopefully we will see the Bonhoeffer Memorial where Bonhoeffer lived together with his parents.