Johannes Greber

Johannes Greber (2 May 1874 – 31 March 1944) was a German Catholic priest and short-term Centre Party Reichstag deputy who later became a Christian spiritualist author and Bible translator.

Life

Greber was born in Wenigerath. He was ordained in 1900 and served a church in the poor area of Hunsrueck. Many in the area suffered from tuberculosis, even ‘’organizing nurses to treat large numbers of tuberculosis’’. During WW1, he also helped thousands of children escape the war by fleeing into Holland.

From January 1918 to November 1918 he was member of German Reichstag for the Centre Party. thumb leftIn 1923, he attended a séance and his life was changed. He renounced his vows and left the Catholic church. He emigrated to the USA in 1929 and began a nondenominational church, with prayer and healing sessions in Teaneck, NJ. He later worked on a translation of the New Testament, publishing ‘’The New Testament, A New Translation and Explanation Based on the Oldest Manuscripts’’ (1935). He claimed using the oldest sources available including the Greek codex D. Where a meaning was not clear, according to his prologue, he received supernatural guidance as he translated, after much time in prayer, with his wife acting as a medium, and with visions of the actual words given to him on occasion. “In the rare instances in which a text pronounced correct by the divine spirits can be found in none of the manuscripts available today, I have the text as given by the spirits.”

In a small number of 1950s and 1960s articles the Watch Tower Society referred approvingly to Gerber's rendering of John 1:1 and Matthew 27:51–53. They later ceased citing him on account of his occult connections.

Publications

Communication with the Spirit World of God, Its Laws and Purpose (1932) A Plan for the Solution of the Problem of the German Refugees (1939) New Testament, A New Translation Based on the Oldest Manuscripts (1935)