Bickel, Karl

Protestant pastor, dean

Born: 10.08.1838 in Runkel

Died: 03.03.1926 in Wiesbaden

After graduating from the humanistic grammar school in Wiesbaden in 1859, Bickel studied Protestant theology in Jena and Halle and was ordained in 1862 after attending the preacher's seminary in Herborn. In 1863 he became chaplain to the Protestant congregation of the lower Rheingau, based in Rüdesheim/Rhine, and from 1864 in Biebrich, where he became pastor in 1870.

From 1872, he served in Wiesbaden, from 1892 as first pastor of the Marktkirche and from 1898 as dean. He wrote the "Festschrift zur 50jährigen Einweihungsfeier der Marktkirche in Wiesbaden" (1912).

Bickel was largely responsible for the draft of the "Evangelical Catechism" published by the Wiesbaden district synod in 1890 after a long period of preparation, which took into account the complicated unionist church structure in Nassau. In 1866, the Hessian hinterland (Biedenkopf) and five parishes in Hesse-Homburg were added to the Duchy's Lutheran church, which had been united since 1817, but were allowed to retain their traditional confession.

In 1900, General Superintendent Heinrich Maurer wrote a popular handbook on Bickel's catechism. Bickel's catechism was still used in some parishes in Nassau until the middle of the 20th century.