work in progress
Life and ministry
1842: Johann Jacob Greiner was born as son of the Mayor of Brombach (Lörrach) near St. Chrischona. His pastor was the revivalist Rev. Ledderhose.
1863f: Study at St. Chrischona
1863/64: Study at the training institute at St. Chrischona near Basel (Switzerland)
1865ff: On the “Prophets’ Road“
1865: St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission was urgently looking for candidates to reach to the Oromos via the White Nile (“Prophets’ Road” Project). Greiner broke off his studies and travelled to Jerusalem and then to Cairo to learn Arabic.
1866: Established a school in Alexandria
1867ff: Travel to Khartoum; subsequent trip to Oromo areas cancelled due to death and illness of colleagues travelling ahead; established a school
1870/71: Return to Alexandria; taught at school
1871f: Completion of studies at St. Chrischona
1871-72: Completed his studies at St. Chrischona
1873-79: Teaching Oromo children and
work for the King in Ankober
1873/74: Travel to Ankober, then capital of Shewa (and many Orthodox clergy), via Warra Illuu.
1874ff: Taught freed Oromo children part-time because King Menelik did not allow Greiner and other St. Chrischona missionaries to travel further south. Instead, they had to spend most of their time doing technical work for the king.
1877: Married to a Christian Oromo woman (who died of smallpox half a year later)
1879: Married to Lydia Mayer, daughter of Johannes and Sara Mayer (previously known as Workenesh). Greiner and his assistant Joseph Gallu translated Barth’s Bible Stories into Oromo. (It is not clear when that work began.)
1880-86: Teaching Oromo children, Sunday services
and farming in Balli
1880: Oromo version of Barth’s Bible Stories printed in St. Chrischona
Johannes Mayer, Greiner, his colleagues and a few former students moved to Balli (Ada area), where the King had made a wild piece of land available to them. They offered school lessons in Oromo.
The group could not devote as much time to school and missionary work as they would have liked, as they had to cultivate the land, provide for themselves and do some work for King Menelik.
After a few years, Gobaw (i.e. Gebru Desta) joined the team. He taught at school and helped with the Sunday services.
1886: The Protestant missionaries are asked to leave the country. On his way home, Greiner was robbed of his luggage near Tadjoura. Several manuscripts have been lost: Greiner’s translation of the prophetic books of the Old Testament and probably also the manuscripts that aläqa Zännäb left behind after his death in 1876.
1886-87: In search of a new field of work
Greiner considered joining the Swedish Evangelical Mission. Eventually, he responded to a call of a new German mission, the Evangelische Missiongesellschaft für Deutsch-Ostafrika (alias Berlin III). One consideration, as with Ludwig Krapf, was to reach the Oromos in Kenya.
1887-97: Establishing mission stations in Tanzania
1887-91: Greiner built a mission station in Dar es Salaam
1892-97: Greiner established a station in Kisarawe (for outreach to the Zaramo people)
1898f: Stay in Germany
Due to health problems, Greiner returned to Germany
1900 (?)-05: Agricultural project in Tanzania
The German colonial administration employed him for an agricultural project in Minaki (near Kisarawe).
June 1905: Greiner passed away in Minaki.
Picture
Further reading
1. Sources
1.1 Published sources
Greiner, Johann J., and Joseph Gallu. Barth’s Bible-Stories, translated into Galla / Si’a lama oduu shantamii lama Kakuu Moofaatii fi Kakuu Haaraatii: Kan hiike Yooseef Gaaluu Kan Iluutii biyya Oromootii. St. Chrischona: Mission-Press, 1881. [View online]
1.2 Unpublished sources / archival material
Prophetical Writings of the Oromo Old Testament (lost)
Staatsarchiv des Kantons Basel-Stadt
Greiner to Jäger, 1882.11.15 (PA 653a D. 3.3)
Archives and Library of the UEM / Vereinte Evangelische Mission, Wuppertal
Personnel file Johann Jakob Greiner, 1842-1905 (Ref.: M 208)
- Includes letters and a detailed history of Greiner’s life and illness, 1899 (in German)
EFS [SEM] historical archives, Uppsala
Letters:
- Greiner to Lundahl, 1880.05.13.
- Greiner to SEM [1886] (Ref.: E I 28).
Religious Tract Society
(?) Correspondence [by Krapf?] about the printing of Barth’s Bible Stories
1.3 Mission journals
Report of Greiner’s Journey to Shoa, Dec. 1872‒Jan. 1874, [SEM] Missions-Tidning 1875, no. 12, 38‒40.
“Aus dem Leben des Missionar Greiner”, Nachrichten aus der ostafrikanischen Mission 1 (1887), 23-29, 37-45, 51-53. [View online]
2. Literature
Arén, Gustav. Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978. [Esp. p. 247, 262f, 272, 275, 277; view online]
Baumann, Andreas. Die Apostelstraße: Eine außergewöhnliche Vision und ihre Verwirklichung. Gießen and Basel: Brunnen, 1999.
Menzel, Gustav. Die Bethel-Mission: Aus 100 Jahren Missionsgeschichte. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1986. [Esp. pp. 32ff, 39f, 64ff, 67ff, 70ff, 74f, 87, 92, 138, 492f (notes)]
Cross-references
Prophets’ Road (St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission)