Franz Eugen Schlachter

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Franz Eugen Schlachter (born 28th July 1859; died 12th January 1911) was a revivalist preacher, classical scholar and the translator of the Schlachter Bible.

He was the son of Joseph Franz Schlachter, a business man from Mühlhausen/Elsass in France. At the time of his confirmation he visited the assembly of Robert Persall Smith, the leader of the Holiness Movement, in Basel. At the same time he experienced conversion to Jesus Christ. As his parents lacked money he left school to begin vocational training for a merchant. He continued to study Ancient Greek and Hebrew nearby.

From 1878-1882 he studied at a seminary in Basel. In 1882 he began his service as a preacher of the Evangelische Gesellschaft of the Bern canton. In 1884 he was baptised by a preacher from the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde in Thun named Konrad Werndli. In the same year he journeyed to Great Britain, to meet the assemblies of Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Dwight Lyman Moody.

He wrote many theological and biographical books about, among others, HerodesI (Herod the Great), Resli, a little boy, and Dwight Lyman Moody. In 1888 he published a short pamphlet named "Brosamen von des Herrn Tisch". In the first part be wrote about the Bible and belief in Jesus Christ. In the second part he wrote about animals and nature. In the third part he talks about men of God such as Moody and the history of the church. The last part is a report on the political scene in Europe. The pamphlet was distributed to farms in the Emmental.

In 1890 he built a new assemlby in Biel. Subsequently he began his translation of the Bible, beginning with the book of Job in 1893. In 1905 the Miniaturbibel (Miniature Bible) was completed, named for its size (1 cm thick), small enough to carry in a pocket. The translation was faithful to the Greek and Hebrew transcripts.

In 1907 he went to Bern to join the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde as a pastor.

He was married to Maria, with whom he had four children. In 1911 he died in Bern of a stomach illness.

This article incorporates text from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of 19 December 2005.