# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1858_S199
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

199

Münkel on Prof. Baumgarten's Dismissal.
(From the "Verden Zeitblatt" of March 13.)

Mecklenburg: The Removal from Office of Professor Baumgarten.
Professor Baumgarten, one of the clergymen driven out of Schleswig,
found a refuge in Rostock and soon gathered, through his lectures, a
considerable following among the students, since he knew how to
stimulate and hold his hearers. In wider circles he has become
favorably known especially through his Acts of the Apostles. All the
more striking, to those who do not know this man's further development,
have been the recent steps taken against him, to which the Mecklenburg
government has felt compelled. The first of these steps was that
Baumgarten, by a grand-ducal rescript of November 1, 1856, was removed
from his position on the examination commission for candidates in
theology. How justified the step was, Baumgarten showed in his own
written defense. He had given a candidate, for discussion, the theme of
Queen Athaliah, and had declared to the examination records "that the
theme has a further purpose in view besides this, namely the winning
of a scriptural doctrine concerning the justification of a violent
revolution." At first it was hoped that Baumgarten would turn back from
this, to say the least, highly ambiguous and dangerous course; but after
the appearance of his defense it was recognized that Baumgarten's case
would require still more serious measures.

In April 1857 the ministry issued a rescript to the consistory in
Rostock, with the charge of examining the doctrine of Professor
Baumgarten on the basis of his published writings, since he had, upon
taking office, sworn an oath to teach in accordance with the symbolical
books and the church order, without any innovation. The consistory
discharged this charge in September 1857 and submitted a comprehensive
document, signed by Wiggers, Krabbe, and Meyer, which has since
appeared from the Stiller publishing house in Schwerin (under the
title: Documents, etc.). Whoever knows Baumgarten's writings, especially
his "Night Visions of the Prophet Zechariah," will know that it is no
small labor to fight one's way through the bombast of lofty words and
find firm footing where the glittering waves of witty effusions play
their teasing game. All the more commendable is the great caution and
circumspection of the opinion, which has, in the main, adequately
discharged its task and provides firm points of reference for judging
Baumgarten's teaching.

Professor Baumgarten confesses in his "Protestant Warning" to
"having had an unforgettable hour, whose darkness and terror he could
not even attempt to describe." One is tempted, here, to think of what is
commonly called a struggle of repentance.