Frederic Adolphus Krummacher

Frederick Adolphus Krummacher was the grandson of Adolph Heinrich Krummacher, captain of the ducal castle of Tecklenburg. This castle was well known as the “tabernacle of God with the blessings of the children of men.”

He was the son of the court-fiscal, commissary, and burgomaster of Tecklenburg. He was so deeply in earnest in prayer, the hollow found in his chamber floor after he died was believed to have been caused by his many shed tears, as he wrestled with God in prayer.  

Frederic Adolphus Krummacher was the father of the devout writer, Frederic Wilhelm Krummacher. When his son was a boy, his father kept a diary of him in his name, listing all the exciting moments of him growing up, and especially his prayers for his son. He also recorded many poems about his son, and about the beauties of his young life.

Friedrich Adolf Krummacher (spelling of name on tombstone) was born on July 13, 1767 in Tecklenburg, Germany. He died on April 4, 1845 in Bremen, Germany.  He married Eleonore Christine Moller (born December 23, 1763 in Lippstadt, Germany) and they had six children.

In 1800, Krummacher was appointed the successor of Dr. Berg, as professor of Theology at the University of Duisburg. Krummacher was very hesitant to take this job because Dr. Berg was famous for his learning and piety.

Krummacher had great delight in bringing up apt quotations from the Greek and Latin classics, and English writers like Shakespeare.

In October of 1807, the family moved, with a huge joyous parade! The way was strewn with flowers, and triumphal arches were raised for them to pass under on their way to their new home in Kettwig. Krummacher had been getting many offers, and so decided to leave the hallowed chair of Theology, to take a village pulpit. Because the village did not have a high school, Krummacher had to handle teaching his boys the classics and higher subjects himself.

His sons were used to hear Krummacher say when returning from the frequent visits of the peasants of the area, “There are many unpolished gems, the peasants are more sensible and intelligent than many big-wigs in the professorial chair, and on the judge’s bench.” He had an incredible ability to talk with people about any subject, and since the subjects were mostly self-taught, and seeking to conduct their business and interests scientifically, he was able to raise their thoughts step by step, without them being aware of it.

He was not a man to pointedly and roughly berate people into repentance, nor to methodically drive them to it, or to overwhelm people with high theological terms and teaching. Instead he aimed at bringing to life within each person a belief that all things depend on God’s blessing. From that he would seek to awaken an awareness of need so that he could lead them to depend on God’s grace with full joy and confidence, and to enter into fellowship with Christ.

In 1812, the time for the family to leave the village so his children could get a better education. He accepted an invitation to become the General Superintendent of the Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg. When the move was announced, it was done in the midst of a great flow of tears by the family as well as the people of Kettwig. It took many days to finally reach their new home, in the town of Bernburg, which was surrounded by vineyards and the river Saale. The welcome was very quiet with a few friends and some of those Krummacher was to work with meeting them outside the city and then walking with them as they made their way the their house. They had a grand house on a high point that enabled them to see a great and wide expanse of land, and offering a glorious view all the way to the mountains.

Not long after they arrived, the great army of Napoleon passed through on their way to Russia. The sight was very imposing, and the soldiers were haughty to excess, as if they had already conquered the whole world. Krummacher and his wife secretly gnashed their teeth in anguish at the sight. Several months later, the army returned, after having suffered the judgment of God in Russia. Their high numbers were reduced to a few tattered fragments. They stopped for about 15 minutes to change horses, and the family was able to see Napoleon, who looked very much like the busts of Nero. He was leaning back in silence in the corner of his carriage and only once formally sat forward when some girls offered him a bunch of flowers. On his carriage were his armed carabineers with drawn sabers, forming his escort.

In 1834, Krummacher completed and published the translation of Calvin’s Institutes into German. He became known as the Pope of Wuppertal Calvinists and the Saint Michael of the doctrine of predestination in standing against rationalism.

Krummacher was a pastor of the church in Bremen in 1840, St. Ansgarii. It had a tower that was about 335 feet high, and served as a landmark for locating the city by travellers.

His book on Parables is mentioned as “Krummacher’s beautiful little parables” by C.H. Spurgeon.

Sources

Friedrich Wilhelm Krummacher, An Autobiography. (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1869).

Morgenblatt für gebildete Leser No. 249, October 17, 1840, Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org.

Philip Schaff and David Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), vol. 8, chapt. 7, #58.

C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Volume 4, electronic ed., p. 389.

WorldConnect program, www.ancestry.com, GEDCOM index