John Horsch | |
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Born | |
Died | October 7, 1941 73) | (aged
John Horsch (18 December 1867 in Giebelstadt - 7 October 1941 in Scottdale, Pennsylvania) was a German American Mennonite historian, writer, and editor.
John Horsch was born in Germany in Giebelstadt near Würzburg to Elder Jacob Horsch and his wife Barbara Landes. He married Christine Funck and was the father of three sons and a daughter, Elizabeth Horsch Bender, wife of Harold S. Bender. [1]
John Horsch studied for two years at the Bavarian State Agricultural School at Würzburg, graduating with a diploma in 1886. To avoid military service, he emigrated to the United States in 1887. He was employed by John F. Funk in the Mennonite Publishing Company, where he did much of the editorial work on German language publications from 1887 to 1895. He then served on the editorial staff of the Light and Hope Publishing Company in Cleveland, Ohio, before moving on to the Mennonite Publishing House in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, where he worked from 1908 to 1941. He worked as an editor and writer on history and theology for 55 years. He passed to his reward on October 7, 1941. [2]
Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in the 16th century. Anabaptists believe that baptism is valid only when candidates freely confess their faith in Christ and request to be baptized. Commonly referred to as believer's baptism, it is opposed to baptism of infants, who are not able to make a conscious decision to be baptized.
Menno Simons was a Roman Catholic priest from the Friesland region of the Low Countries who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and became an influential Anabaptist religious leader. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and it is from his name that his followers became known as Mennonites.
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Harold Stauffer Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary. His accomplishments include founding both the Mennonite Historical Library and The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He served as president of the American Society of Church History, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.
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Michael Sattler was a monk who left the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation to become one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement. He was particularly influential for his role in developing the Schleitheim Confession. His leadership has been seen as stabilizing and giving direction to the early Anabaptist movement after the first leaders had been scattered or martyred.
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