Schellenberg, Karl Adolf Gottlob

Protestant pastor, pedagogue

born: 02.05.1764 in Idstein

died: 13.09.1835 in Wiesbaden

Schelleberg studied philology and Protestant theology in Halle from 1782 and completed his studies with a doctorate in 1786. At the same time, he was a teacher at the Francke Orphanage from 1783. In 1787 he became a teacher in Idstein, from 1789 he was a pastor in Neuwied, where he founded a boys' educational institution in 1799, which he ran until 1813. From 1813 he was a pastor in Wiesbaden, and from 1817 he was also a church and high school councillor, who also excelled in the social field. In 1830 he became a privy church councilor.

He made a particular contribution to the reorganization of the Nassau school system. In 1817, he was the main founder of the Nassau Simultanschule, in which pupils were taught regardless of their denomination. The separation of "general" and "denominational religious instruction" was essential here. The Catholics and General Superintendent Georg Müller (1766-1836) raised objections to "general religious education"; the venture ultimately failed.

Schellenberg supported the Nassau Union, which was adopted at the Idstein Synod in 1817. His efforts to create a uniform liturgy, a uniform catechism and a uniform hymnal for all Protestant Christian churches and schools in the duchy were significant in terms of religious culture, for which he provided the impetus and made important proposals in 1821. The hymnal was published in 1840 by the Schellenberg'sche Hofbuchdruckerei in Wiesbaden and was in use until 1895. Schellenberg managed the Nassau Bible Society, which he founded in 1815, until his death.