Tempelgesellschaft (Germany)

The German Templer Society, also known as Templers, is a Radical Pietist group that emerged in Germany during the mid-nineteenth century, the two founders, Christoph Hoffmann and Georg David Hardegg, arriving in Haifa, Palestine, in October 1868 with their families and a few fellow Templers to establish the German Templer colonies in Palestine. Templer theology is rooted in the legacy of preceding centuries during which various Christian groups undertook to establish the perfect Christian religion in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus. The movement was founded by Hoffmann (1815–1885), who believed that humanity's salvation lay in the gathering of God's people in a Christian community. He also thought that the second coming of Jesus was imminent and that, according to biblical prophecy, it would take place in Jerusalem, where God's people were to gather as a symbol of the rebuilding of the Temple. Hoffmann's thinking was inspired by the adherents of early Christianity and was based on Matthew's gospel regarding Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) prophecies and their relevance to the coming of Yeshua aka Jesus. Hoffmann also believed that these "prophecies concerned mainly the founding of the Kingdom of God on Earth." In deciding where a Christian community should be established, Hoffmann wrote, "I made a special study, to discover if a center were named in the prophesies. I found that some Prophets declared Jerusalem to be the center. Others mentioned Israel, that is, Palestine, to be the external manifestation of the Kingdom of God on this earth. The prophesies stress the importance of uniting and gathering God's people. This is the responsibility of those who wish to work for the salvation of mankind. There is no doubt—and I believe it with all my heart—this Kingdom of God has a complementary, temporal meaning as well as a spiritual one. For instance, in a Christian state, a Kingdom of God, the misery and famine among poor people after a crop failure is uncalled for! The Kingdom of God is a happy state. This is emphasised in all the Biblical prophesies, and should exist for all people. The Prophets point to Jerusalem as the Center of the Kingdom of God, a Happy State!"