30 years ago, the Friedensau Adventist University received the status of a state-recognized university. Dr. Bernhard Oestreich, professor of New Testament Studies at the university, was the provisional director of the seminary in 1990. He describes how recognition came about at that time.
"In September 1990, we were informed by telephone that the Council of Ministers of the former DDR (communist German Democratic Republic) would grant the former Friedensau Theological Seminary state recognition as a theological university from 15 September 1990," Oestreich said.
On September 27, he traveled to Berlin with the Friedensau church musician, Professor Wolfgang Kabus, to receive the certificate. However, it was not a beautifully printed document made of strong material in a representative folder, he said, but merely a simple piece of paper with the signature of the Minister of Education and Science from the former DDR, Professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Meyer. "There was no high government representative to be seen, there was no ceremony. The sheet was simply handed [over] by an employee sitting behind his full desk.”
But how did it come about? On February 22, 1990, the lecturers at the former Friedensau Theological Seminary had decided to apply for state recognition. "Years of continuous improvement in theological education provided the basis for this," Oestreich reports. "Many meetings of the Friedensauer Kollegium" followed to prepare the application. For this purpose, there had been talks with the responsible persons of the Adventist Church and the colleagues of the Adventist Theological Seminary Marienhöhe in Darmstadt/Germany, to win their support. Government representatives, party leaders, and university professors were asked for advice. "After many night shifts, the necessary documents for the application had been prepared." On June 25, the application was submitted to the ministry in Berlin. A decision was made on September 5. "Then we had the paper in our hands. Seven months of hard work came to a completely unspectacular end."
After state recognition had been achieved, it took another seven months before the Adventist Church leadership decided, on April 17, 1991, to close the Marienhöhe Seminary in Darmstadt and to conduct theological training for Germany only in Friedensau, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
On November 19, 1899, the university's predecessor institution, the "Industrial and Missionary School", began its activities with initially seven students in quite simple conditions. The buildings of an old mill on the river Ihle were used, which was first mentioned in 1306. Within the next ten years, large teaching and residential buildings were constructed, which still characterize the campus's appearance today. Based on a holistic pedagogical model, a sanatorium, workshops, and a food factory were also built, which simultaneously offered practical lessons as well as opportunities for earning money. Before the First World War, up to 250 people a year used the educational opportunities.
During the First World War, the War Ministry established a military hospital in the buildings. It was not until 1919 that education could be resumed and, in the following years, new courses were added, such as home economics school and nursing pre-school. The institution was renamed "Missionsseminar Friedensau" (Mission School) in 1923. In 1930, the seminary received state recognition from the Magdeburg district president for its domestic and commercial courses.
The period of National Socialism brought many restrictions, to the extent of the renewed closure of the seminary during the Second World War. Once again, the seminary buildings were used for the care of wounded and sick soldiers: first, the German Wehrmacht and then, from 1945, the Soviet Army. Through the intercession of the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Erhard Hübener, the Soviet Military Administration permitted the seminary’s reopening in 1947. This made the former Friedensauer Seminary the first and only ecclesiastical training center that was allowed to resume its teaching activities in the Soviet occupation zone.
During the DDR era, the government only permitted the training of church employees. In addition to the training of pastors, there were one-year deacon training courses. In 1981, the demand and quality of the training led to renaming the theological seminary "Friedensau". Two years later, the General Conference (World Church Leadership) of Seventh-day Adventists accredited the seminary as a senior college. Since the 1980s, it has been possible to train students from other socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Africa as pastors in Friedensau.
After state recognition as a university on September 15, 1990, a department of Christian Social Work was established in addition to the Faculty of Theology, which had offered a diploma and a master's degree in theology since 1992. At present, eight Bachelor's (B.A.) and Master's (M.A.) programs can be taken in Friedensau - some of them extra-occupational - in the departments of Christian Social Work and Theology, as well as a course in "German as a Foreign Language". 38 nations are represented among the students and teachers.
The original article was published on this web site.
