![]() | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(February 2021) |
Verbi Dei minister (Minister of the Word of God), also verbi divini minister (Minister of the Divine Word), is a Latin religious title abbreviated V.D.M., denoting a minister or pastor within some Lutheran and Reformed churches. The expression dates from the Second Helvetic Confessions of 1562, where the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger formulated a credo that came to spread throughout German speaking countries. [1] In the 2017 reader on the Reformation Jubilee, the Evangelical Church in Germany suggests that the reform theology of Martin Luther is not complete until Luther states that God's forgiveness and justification works through the Word of God, thus making the pastor a verbi divini minister. [2]
In the Church of Sweden, Verbi divini minister is a formal designation of the ordained ministry, and is mentioned as the primary expression of his or her ministry. [3] In the Calvinistic tradition, the academic study of theology as a means of furthering the preaching ministry has been given a prominent position. Therefore, in Calvin's Switzerland there are to this day pastors of both sexes that are called "verbi divini ministeri". [4]
The term Verbi Dei Minister was typically appended as a post-nominal honorific style to a person's full name to denote his status as a Christian minister. [5] [6] [7] The title was mostly used by Protestant ministers. It was very common in usage in the 18th and early 19th century but seems to have fallen out of use as the pre-nominal honorific style "Reverend" grew more common. Yet, there are also examples where both are used such as the 1751 letter from Samuel Davies to Mr. Bellamy on the state of religion among the Protestant dissenters of Virginia where Davies' name is styled, "Reverend Mr. Samuel Davies, V.D.M." [8]
The Ledger stone for Olof Parlin in the Gloria Dei Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania provides one example of the use of this title in reference to the date that he was ordained. It says, "Stop, traveller, who art thyself mortal, and drop a tear upon this receptacle of corruption. Here lies quietly and in peace, after a happy death, a man conspicuous in erudition, taught of God, the most reverend, most learned OLOF PARLIN, Provost of the Swedish-Lutheran churches which are collected by God in North America, and placed as most worthy pastor over that in Wicacoa. He was born in Sweden, A. D., 1716, ordained minister of the Divine Word, A. D., 1745, came to America in 1750, was married in 1751, and died December 22, 1757." [9]
Another example is found in this inscription from a Church record book. It says, "This is to certify that the Rev Winslow Paige A.M., V.D.M. became the pastor of the united congregation of the Reformed Dutch Church in the towns of Broome, Windham and Blenheim on the 1st day of April 1820" [10] The A.M. is the Latin abbreviation indicating that he holds a Master of Arts degree and the V.D.M. means he was an ordained minister.
A third example of its usage is found in a letter from the Consistory of the Dutch Reformed Church in Raritan, New Jersey, to General George Washington in 1779. The letter closes, "by order of the Consistory, Jacob R Hardenburgh, V.D.M." [11]
A fourth example of its usage and explanation of meaning is found in a biographical sketch for a man named Robert Hamilton of Adams County, Ohio. It says, "On the twentieth of July, 1825, Mr Hamilton was married to Nancy Ellison, daughter of John Ellison. She was the sister of the late William Ellison, of Manchester. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev William Williamson, who signed his name to the certificate V.D.M., (Verbi Dei Minister), which was the fashion at that time, which translated is "Of the Word of God, Minister." [12]
Other examples are the title page of an 1849 autobiography of Ashbel Green [13] and the 1767 center stone of the lintel at the Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church in Salem County, New Jersey. [14]
The Protestant Church in Germany, formerly known in English as the Evangelical Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestant regional Churches in Germany, collectively encompassing the vast majority of the country's Protestants. In 2022, the EKD had a membership of 19,153,000 members, or 22.7% of the German population. It constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world. Church offices managing the federation are located in Herrenhausen, Hanover, Lower Saxony. Many of its members consider themselves Lutherans.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia was a Lutheran member church of the umbrella Protestant Church in Germany. The seat of the church was in Eisenach. The church covered those parts of the state of Thuringia that were not part of the former Province of Saxony. It was the largest Protestant denomination in this area.
The Pomeranian Evangelical Church was a Protestant regional church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Hither Pomerania. The Pomeranian Evangelical Church was based on the teachings brought forward by Martin Luther and other Reformators during the Reformation. It combined Lutheran and Reformed traditions. The seat of the church was Greifswald, the bishop's preaching venue was the former Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Greifswald.
The Gustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW) is a society under the roof of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) which has for its object the aid of feeble sister churches and congregations. It is responsible for the taking care of the diaspora work of the EKD, in cooperation with the EKD itself, its member churches and congregations. The organization started with a focus on the diaspora, but has separate branches internationally in the meanwhile. The organization in Austria is still called the Gustav-Adolf-Verein, which was the original name in Germany as well. Further terms used for the GAW in the past include Gustavus Adolphus Union, Gustav-Adolf-Stiftung and Evangelischer Verein der Gustav-Adolf-Stiftung.
The Prussian Union of Churches was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Prussia. Although not the first of its kind, the Prussian Union was the first to occur in a major German state.
Reinhart Hummel was a German theologian and long-term leader of the Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW). The EZW is a subdivision of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Located in Berlin, it professes to function as a centralized research, documentation and information center on new religious movements. Hummel is also the author of many books about new religious movements.
Friedrich "Fritz" von Bodelschwingh, also known as Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Younger, was a German pastor, theologian and public health advocate. His father was Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder, founder of the v. Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten Bethel charitable foundations.
Wolfgang Huber is a prominent German theologian and ethicist. Huber served as bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia until November 2009. Huber succeeded Manfred Kock as Chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in November 2003 and was succeeded by Bishop Margot Käßmann, the first woman in that position, in October 2009.
Friedrich Karl Otto Dibelius was a German bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, a self-described anti-Semite and up to 1934 a conservative, who became a staunch opponent of Nazism and communism.
The Pfarrernotbund was an organisation founded on 21 September 1933 to unite German evangelical theologians, pastors and church office-holders against the introduction of the Aryan paragraph into the 28 Protestant regional church bodies and the Deutsche Evangelische Kirche (DEK) and against the efforts by Reich-bishop Ludwig Müller and the German Christians (DC) since April 1933 to merge the German Protestant churches into one Reich Church that would be Nazi in ideology and entirely lacking any Jewish or Christian origins. As a Christian resistance to National Socialism it was the forerunner of the Confessing Church, founded the following year.
Hans Joachim Schliep is a German Lutheran theologian, pastor and author. From 1990 to 1999 he was director of the Amt für Gemeindedienst, and by May 2000 the commissioner for the environment of the Church of Hanover and the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony. From 1999 to 2008 Schliep was the first pastor at the Kronsberg Church Centre and founder of the congregation at the Expo-neighbourhood in Kronsberg, Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Einheitsübersetzung (EÜ) is a German translation of the Bible for liturgical use in Roman Catholic worship. It is published by the Katholisches Bibelwerk and was compiled from 1962 to 1980 by Catholic theologians with contributions from Protestant theologians. Collaboration was done on the New Testament and the Psalms. The Protestant side withdrew support from a project revising the Einheitsübersetzung in 2005.
The Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck is a United Protestant church body in former Hesse-Cassel and the Waldeck part of the former Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
The Protestant Church in Baden is a United Protestant member church of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), and member of the Conference of Churches on the Rhine, which now functions as a regional group of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). The Evangelical Church in Baden is a united Protestant church. Its headquarter, the Evangelical Superior Church Council is located in Karlsruhe.
Neues Geistliches Lied, abbreviated NGL, is a music genre of songs in German intended for church usage, and based on contemporary lyrics and with music by contemporary composers.
Wilhelm Jannasch was a German Protestant theologian and clergyman.
Friedrich Karrenberg was a German Evangelical-reformed social ethicist and professor. He was a leading member of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland.
Heinrich Bedford-Strohm is a German Lutheran bishop.
Herta Leistner is a German is a practitioner of social pedagogy, a teacher and an author. She is a Deaconess of the Evangelical Church who has come to wider prominence as a pioneer of the lesbian liberation movement inside the church.
Klaus-Peter Hertzsch was a German Protestant theologian, poet, author and hymn writer.
Die prägnanteste Formulierung dieses Zusammenhanges stammt übrigens aus einer reformierten Bekenntnisschrift: praedicatio verbi divini est verbum divinum, „Die Verkündigung des Wortes Gottes ist das Wort Gottes" (Confessio Helvetica Posterior).
Wenn man so Martin Luther bei der theologischen Arbeit beobachtet, wird deutlich, dass seine reformatorische Theologie erst in dem Augenblick komplett ist, da er nach der detaillierten Analyse der Sakramente der Kirche verstanden hat, wie Gott die Schuld vergibt und die Rechtfertigung im Einzelnen zur Wirkung kommt: durch sein Wort, das als Schöpferwort die Wirklichkeit, die es verheißt, auch bewirkt. Wie beim sakramentalen Verheißungswort schafft das in der mündlichen Verkündigung ausgesprochene Wort die Wirklichkeit, die es zusagt.
Prästens uppdrag är ett tecken på att den kristna församlingen och tron får sin andliga näring när Ordet förkunnas och sakramenten delas ut. Som Verbi Divini Minister (det gudomliga ordets tjänare) ska prästen i trohet mot sitt uppdrag förkunna evangeliet rent och klart, genom dopet föra nya människor till kyrkans gemenskap, leda firandet av den heliga måltiden och förmedla förlåtelse, tröst och hopp. Prästen ska uppbygga och undervisa församlingen i tron, ge själavård och utrusta för vittnesbörd och tjänst i världen. Prästen är församlingens tjänare och samtidigt en herde för församlingen.
Von Anfang an hat die evangelische Kirche deshalb das akademische Studium der Theologie für die, die in ihr zu predigen haben, vorangestellt und herausgebildet. Das liegt an der Hochschätzung der Predigt, die so verantwortlich wie möglich zu geschehen hat. Eine teure Ausbildung. Und deshalb haben wir Pastoren und Pastorinnen, die in der Schweiz zuweilen noch „verbi divini ministeri", Diener am göttlichen Wort, genannt werden.
V.D.M.
when did reverend replace V.D.M?.