Bartholomaeus ziegenbalg biography samples
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A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE FIRST LUTHERAN MISSIONARY IN INDIA, BARTHOLOMAEUS ZIEGENBALG
Page 1 of 5 A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE FIRST LUTHERAN MISSIONARY IN INDIA, BARTHOLOMAEUS ZIEGENBALG MOHANAVELU SUNDARAMOORTHY Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (1682 – 1719), the first German Lutheran missionary in India and a pioneer bridge builder, between Germany and India, had been the subject for many discussions, dialogues and discourses for a very long period of over 300 years, because, his career and achievements, in the face of stiff competitions, rivalry, legal and diplomatic hindrances, from many quarters, had been quite remarkable. During his pathetic short life span, he could gain many laurels and luminous feathers not only for himself; but also to the Lutheran Church – his very bread, passion and mission. Soaked in acute pathos and webbed into a net of sorrow, declining supple health, disappointment and perennial resistances from many sides, had been the sad biography of this pioneer German mis
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(From the Lutheran Kalendar)
Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg was born in Saxony in 1682. He studied at the University of Halle, then the center for the Piestistic movement in the Lutheran Church. He responded to an appeal from the King of Denmark for missionaries, and in September 1706 he and Heinrich Pluetshau arrived in Tranquebar on the southeast coast of India, the first Protestant missionaries in that country. They began preaching, and baptized their first converts about ten months later. Their work was opposed both by Hindus and by the local Danish authorities, and in 1707-8 Ziegenbalg spent four months in prison on a charge that by converting the natives he was encouraging rebellion. The Copenhagen Missionary Society wanted to encourage an indigenous Christian Church, not one which simply imitated European cultural patterns, and accordingly instructed its missionaries simply to preach the Gospel, and not concern themselves with other matters. Ziegenbalg replied that a concern
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Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg – The First Protestant missionär to India
While William Carey’s role in the evangelization of India is undisputed, few remember a two-men team who preceded him by 88 years. In reality, the German Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau, who landed in the Indian distrikt of Tranquebar in 1706, can be considered the first Protestant missionaries to India. Their endeavor fryst vatten known as the Tranquebar Mission or the Danish-Halle Mission (since it was sponsored bygd the Danish king and the students and faculty of Halle University – especially theologian, A. H. Francke).
A Tamil Bible
Born in 1682 and 1676 respectively, Ziegenbalg and Plütschau were both Halle graduates– both known for their piety, devotion to the Scriptures, sacrificial love, and interest in education. Of the two, Ziegelbalg was the most linguistically talented. Within six months of his ankomst at Tranquebar