Wednesday Witness: John Frederick Oberlin (1740-1826)

The other day, Justin and I took the dog for a walk and he had a very specific place he wanted to go.  "I want to show you my favorite piece of art on campus," he said.  We walked through the quad to a little stone pillar, with a dedication to the school's namesake, John Frederick Oberlin, who was a pastor in Alsace, France.  "I wonder if he was Lutheran?" Justin pondered, "Alsace is the German part of France."  Which, of course, got me thinking.

John Frederick Oberlin
(image from Oberlin College's website)

So with a little bit of Google searching, I found out that Oberlin was, in fact, a Lutheran pastor.  He was a passionate advocate of education, and worked tirelessly for the benefit of his parishioners.  He "practiced medicine among them, founded a loan and savings bank, introduced cotton manufacture, helped the people build better roads, and brought in modern agricultural methods." The monument Justin showed me has a beautiful piece of art work, which viewed from one side is a rose and from the other is a bird.  According to the monument, Oberlin used this during his pastoral counseling to show that "people with diverse perspectives can live in friendship with one another."  


According to the Oberlin College Archives, the founders of the college had read a biography of Oberlin and were "inspired to create a new community and institution of higher learning, in what was then a wilderness, for scholars and students who wished to be of service to others and change the world for the better, as Oberlin had done in a remote region in Alsace."

Photo credit

As I get to know my new community better, it's been fun to learn this little fun fact about a Lutheran brother who witnessed from across the globe and gave the name to this community.  Although I've not been here long, Justin's speaks of the passion his students bring to the classroom, community, and world, and I suspect I will see that more and more as I have a chance to visit with students.  They continue to live, perhaps unknowingly, into the legacy set by their college's namesake.  A little known (at least to me) witness to the way God calls us to be at work in the world!