Archive Louis Adrien Bähler

Description of collection Louis Adrien Bähler

Brief overview

Title: Collection Louis Adrien Bähler

Provenance: Louis Adrien Bähler (1867-1941)

Dated: 1891-1937

Size: 20 cm

Language of the material: Dutch

Summary:

Personal archive of Louis Adrien Bähler (1867-1941), minister

Collection number: UBG005

Institution: University Library Groningen

Repository: University Library Groningen

Provenance and acquisition

Biography

Louis Adrien Bähler was born on 2 October 1867 in Kesteren. He is the son of Louis Henri Antoine Bähler, a Dutch Reformed minister, and Johanna Maria Adriana Tieleman. On 2 June 1894, Bähler married Gesina Boerma (1874-1953). He passed away 22 March 1941 in Paterswolde.

Bähler started studying theology in 1886, at the universities of Groningen and Strasbourg. On 5 July 1893 he was promoted under the supervision of professor G. Wildeboer in Groningen, writing a historical-critical dissertation: De Messiaansche heilsverwachting en het Israëlitisch koningschap. Due to a conflict with the government, he only started working as a minister from october 1895, in the reformed municipality Schiermonnikoog. From 1902 until 1909, Bähler was minister for Oosterwolde (Friesland). In 1911 he went into early retirement, laying down the position he then held in Aduard. He and his wife moved to the ‘Lemferdinge’ estate in Paterswolde. Here he devoted himself to writing and to pacifism. He also ran an iridology practice from 1922 until 1936, working together with the local GP.

Bähler’s published works mainly concerned religion and militarism. As a student, he had been interested in and influenced by works on Christian anarchism, mainly those of Leo Tolstoy, which are characterised by absolute pacifism and a highly moral lifestyle. Later, Bähler developed a theosophic gnostic vision regarding religion which he called Johanneïsch Christianity. This vision regularly caused friction between himself and church authorities. As a result, the Gereformeerde Bond tot vrijmaking van de Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk was established on 18 april 1906.

Together with like-minded peers such as Felix Ortt and Lodewijk van Mierop, Bähler founded the foundation Het Ingekeerde Leven (1907) and the magazine Vrede: Orgaan tot bespreking van de praktijk der liefde. He also took part in the bible study group Gemeenschap van Johannes den Evangelist in Nederland, for which he also took on secretarial duties. Bähler wrote for periodicals such as Onze Kring: Weekblad voor vrijzinnig Godsdienstige democraten, An-archie and Vrede-tijdschrift (renamed De Vrije Mensch in 1907). In 1915, Bähler was one of the initiators and co-signatories of the Dienstweigerings-Manifest.

A selection of his published works:

• Zelfopenbaring: een preekenbundel, Groningen 1900
• Mijn Jezus: twaalf preeken, ’s-Gravenhage 1901
• Het Christendom: eene positieve beschouwing, ‘s-Gravenhage 1907,
• Het Boeddhisme in Europa, Baarn 1911
• De levende God, Baarn 1911
• De kosmische achtergrond van het Christendom: een critische beschouwing, Amsterdam 1908
• Getuigenissen van den kansel, Groningen 1913
• De mythologie als gepopulariseerde mysteriekennis, in ’t bijzonder verduidelijkt aan de Odyssee van Homerus, Groningen 1917
• Tolstoy: eene waardeering, Groningen 1918

Acquisition

The collection was given to the University Library Groningen in 19xx.

Future additions

No additions are expected.

Contents and collation

The collection contains letters, manuscripts and printed material, horoscopes, proofs of memberships for societies, magazines and newspaper clippings.

Instructions for users of the archive

Accessibility

The collection is accessible for research purposes. People who want to access the collection need a University Library Groningen access pass.

Limitations to use

The materials from this collection are available for viewing only. If you wish to study this archive, the rules set out in the Reglement voor de gebruikers van de Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Reproductions, as far as they are allowed, are to be made conforming to the rules set out in Tarieven en diensten Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

The copyrights are held by Bähler’s heirs. The University Library Groningen, as owners of the collection, have the right to publish (parts of) the collection.

Accessing the collection

An inventory  of the collection is available. Letters in this collection have been included in the inventory of both the University Library Groningen as well as the CEN (Catalogus Epistularum Neerlandicarum).

Citations

When referencing the collection as a whole, or an individual item from the collection, one full citation without any abbreviations must be given. After this, an abbreviation suffices.

• Collection: Universiteitsbibliotheek Groningen, Collectie Louis Adrien Bähler
• Individual items: Groningen, UB, Bähler [number]

Requests

The materials in this collection can be requested by sending an email to Special Collections department.

Description of collection made by:

G.C. Huisman, M. van Someren, 2006