Benjamin Kurtz
| Benjamin Kurtz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | February 28, 1795 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 29, 1865 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Education |
Harrisburg Academy Washington & Jefferson College Wittenberg College |
| Church | |
|
Offices held
|
President, Susquehanna University Founder, Susquehanna University |
| Title | Ordained pastor |
Benjamin Kurtz (February 28, 1795 – December 29, 1865) was a German-American Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was part of the revivalist movement of the Lutheran Church in the 19th century, ran the Lutheran faith-based newspaper Lutheran Observer, founded the Lutheran faith-based Missionary Institute (Susquehanna University) in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and assisted in the founding of the Gettysburg Seminary.
Benjamin Kurtz was born February 28, 1795 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His family came from a line of German Lutheran ministers and religious affiliates. His uncle, Dr. John Daniel Kurtz, one of the founders of the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of America, studied under Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, founder of Muhlenberg College, and served as a minister in York, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland. His grandfather, Dr. John Nicholas Kurtz, a clergyman from Lutzelinden, Nassau-Weilburg, Germany and a graduate from the University of Halle, arrived in Pennsylvania in January 15, 1745 and served as a minister in Tulpehocken and York, Pennsylvania.
Kurtz began his studies in Harrisburg Academy, where he, by the age of fifteen, would become an assistant teacher. At the age of eighteen, Kurtz began studying theology at Lebanon, Pennsylvania and two years later was licensed to preach. At this time, in 1815, he became an assistant preacher to his uncle, John Daniel Kurtz, then a pastor at Baltimore. That same year, he became a pastor at Hagerstown, Maryland, where he remained for sixteen years. In 1831, he moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to lead a ministry, where he would remain for another three years. In 1833, Kurtz retired from active ministry duties and took charge of the Lutheran Observer, a post which he held for nearly thirty years. In 1838 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania (now Washington & Jefferson College), and in 1858 that of LL. D. from Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio.
...
Wikipedia