Gustav Warneck

Gustav Adolf Warneck (1834–1910) was a German missiologist. In 1874, he established the first German missiological journal, Allgemeine Missionszeitschift. He was also involved in the founding of the German Protestant Missions Committee in 1885, serving as secretary until 1901. He held the first university chair in missiology at Halle University from 1896 to 1908. He is considered to be one of the first missiologists. David Bosch describes him as "the father of missiology as a theological discipline."

Life

The oldest son of a master needlemaker, Warneck went from the family needleshop to study at the Francke Foundation and then studied with the theological faculty at Halle University beginning in 1855. During his studies he became a member of Hallenser Wingolf, a Christian non-denominational student association. After graduation he served as a private tutor and became an assistant pastor in Dommitzsch, Germany. In 1871 he was appointed as theological teacher for the Rhenish Mission Society in Barmen. Due to illness, however, in 1874 he moved to the parish office in Rothenschirmbach near Eisleben.

In 1874 Warneck founded the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, which he published in conjunction with Reinhold Grundemann. In 1879 he founded the Saxon Provincial Mission Conference. In 1896 he was appointed Professor of the Science of Mission (missiology) in the University of Halle which was the first time missiology was an academic discipline at a German university.

He was buried in the north cemetery in Halle an der Saale and wished for the words on his tombstone, "Let my grace be enough for you, because my strength is mighty in the weak."

Writings Missionsstunden, Bd. 1: Die Mission im Lichte der Bibel. 1878 Die gegenseitigen Beziehungen zwischen der modernen Mission und Kultur. 1879 Die christliche Mission: ihre sachliche Begründung und thatsächliche Ausführung in der Gegenwart. 1879 Abriß einer Geschichte der protestantischen Missionen. 1882 The scientific study of missions. 1909 Prayer for missions. 1930 Die Apostolische Und Die Moderne Mission: Eine Apologetische Paralle (The Apostolic and the Modern Mission: An Apologetic Parallel) Evangelische Missionslehre, ein missionstheoretischer Versuch (Protestant Mission Theory, an Attempt at a Theory of Mission) Pauli bekehrung, eine apologie des christenthums (Paul's conversion, an apology of Christianity) Night and morning on Sumatra Protestant Missionary Doctrine

Werner Raupp (Hrsg.): Mission in Quellentexten. Geschichte der Deutschen Evangelischen Mission von der Reformation bis zur Weltmissionskonferenz Edinburgh 1910, Erlangen/Bad Liebenzell 1990, S. 364–378 (Einl., Quellenauszüge, Lit.).* Evangelische Missionslehre. 1892, modernisierte Ausgabe 2015