Goepp, Jean Jacques

Goepp, Jean Jacques, a French Protestant theologian, was born at Heiligenstein, Alsace, April 6, 1771. He studied at the University of Strasburg under Oberlin and Schweiglaeuser, and had already begun his career as a preacher when the French Revolution broke out. Appointed secretary of the Central Committee of Strasburg, he opposed the cruelty of Schneider, the Republican commissioner, and would perhaps have paid dear for his courage but that he was drafted into the army, in which he served until 1796, when he returned to finish his theological studies at Strasburg. In 1802 he was appointed pastor of the French Protestant congregation at Strasburg, almoner of the Lyceum of that city in 1803, director of St. Thomas's Seminary in 1808, and, finally, pastor of the Lutheran Church in Paris in 1809. There, together with Boissard, he opened the church called the Billettes, took care of over 14,000 souls dispersed all over Paris, attended to the poor, the schools, and all the other details ofhis charge. He was one of the founders of the Missions Evangeliques, of the Societe Bibligue, the Societe protestante de Prevoyance et de Secours mutuels, and the Societe de la Morale Chretienne. In 1815, at the time of the massacre of the Protestants at Nîmes, a London society had made proposals to the French Protestants to help them. Had the proposal been accepted, the position of Protestantism in France would have become even much worse than it had been. Goepp, while gratefully acknowledging the offer, declined, in the name of the French Protestants, accepting the protection of any foreign power. The French government acknowledged the service thus rendered by Goepp by creating him a member of the Legion of Honor. Goepp died at Paris June 21, 1855. Besides his immense pastoral work, Goepp did a great deal of literary labor. He wrote, besides numerous pamphlets and funeral discourses, Precis de la doctrine chretienne exposee par le texte de l'Ecriture Sainte (in collaboration with Boissard, Paris, 1815, 8vo): — Prières à l'usage du culte domestique, suivies des exercices et preparation a la sainte Cène (same, Paris, 1821, 12mo): — Principes de la Religion chretienne, à l'usage des ecoles elementaires (Paris, 1826; 12mo): — Discours sur le nom et le but de la Societe de la Morale chretienne (Par. 1834, 8vo), etc. See Villenave, Notice sur J.-J. Goepp. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 20:949 sq.