Ernst Benz

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Ernst Wilhelm Benz (born November 17, 1907 in Friedrichshafen , † December 29, 1978 in Meersburg ) was a German Protestant theologian and church historian. He taught in Marburg .

life and work

Ernst Benz first studied classical philology and philosophy in Tübingen , Berlin and Rome . In Rome he was mainly influenced by Ernesto Buonaiuti . In Tübingen he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD. He then studied Protestant theology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin (among others with Erich Seeberg ) from 1929 to 1931 and acquired the degree of Lic. Theol in February 1931 . In the same year he completed his habilitation in the subject of church and dogma history at the University of Halle .

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , he became a member of the SA in 1933 . 1935 he received an extraordinary professor at the University of Marburg. In 1937 he became a member of the NSDAP . In the same year he was appointed full professor for church and dogma history as well as the history of German mysticism . He turned down a call to the University of Vienna. During the Second World War he served as a divisional pastor, including in Ukraine , and published the book The religious situation in Ukraine in 1942 . After his return from captivity in 1946, he became director of the ecumenical seminar at the University of Marburg . He was also a member of the scientific advisory board of Rowohlt's German encyclopedia . In 1965, Benz was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1973 he retired.

In 1968 Benz, along with many other professors from the university, was one of the main initiators and signatories of the “ Marburg Manifesto ”, which formed an academic front against the emerging co-determination and “democratization” at universities.

Benz was an unconventional researcher who also dealt with topics that mostly remain on the margins of classical church and dogma history. He published more than 50 books and 500 articles. He has made a name for himself above all with his studies of German mysticism and the churches of the East.

The best-known book is a "historical phenomenology" of Christianity published in 1975 under the title Description of Christianity , in which Benz paints an overall picture of its religious and social forms in the past and present. The three major denominational groups of Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant Christianity (including the free churches) form the basis. However, side forms such as Christian socialism, the Quakers, the Mormons and esoteric Christianity ( Rosicrucians , theosophists , anthroposophists , Christian community ) are also included.

Benz inherited his father's house in Meersburg at Glaserhäusleweg 1. He died in Meersburg and was buried in Meersburg.

Publications (selection)

  • Ecclesia spiritualis. Church idea and historical theology of the Franciscan Reformation. Stuttgart 1934; New edition 1964 (about Joachim von Fiore ).
  • Rudolf Otto in its importance for research into church history. In: Journal of Church History . Vol. 56 (1937), pp. 375-398.
  • Leibniz and Peter the Great. Leibniz's contribution to the Russian cultural, religious and economic policy of his time. In: Leibniz on his 300th birthday. Berlin 1947.
  • Franz von Baader's thoughts on the “Proletair”. On the history of pre-Marxist socialism. In: Journal of Religious and Intellectual History. Jg. 1 (1948), H. 2, pp. 97-123.
  • Emanuel Swedenborg . Naturalist and seer. Munich 1948.
  • Human dignity and human rights in the intellectual history of the Eastern Church. In: The Eastern Church and Russian Christianity. Tübingen 1949.
  • Wichern and socialism. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1949.
  • Wittenberg and Byzantium. For the encounter and discussion of the Reformation and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Marburg / Lahn 1949.
  • The occidental mission of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Russian Church and Western Christianity in the Age of the Holy Alliance (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and Social Sciences Class. Born 1950, Volume 8). Verlag der Wissenschaft und der Literatur in Mainz (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden).
  • The righteous crucified in Plato, in the New Testament and in the old church (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and social science class. Born 1950, Volume 12). Verlag der Wissenschaft und der Literatur in Mainz (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden).
  • Indian influences on early Christian theology (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and social sciences class. Born 1951, Volume 3). Verlag der Wissenschaft und der Literatur in Mainz (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden).
  • Paul as a visionary (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and social science class. Born 1952, Volume 2).
  • The Eastern Church in the light of Protestant historiography from the Reformation to the present (= Orbis academicus . Vol. III / 1). Freiburg / Munich: Alber, 1952, ISBN 3-495-44104-2 .
  • Russian legends of saints. Die Waage, Zurich 1953; Diogenes paperback, Zurich 1987.
  • Augustine's Doctrine of the Church. For Augustine's 1600th birthday on November 13, 1954 (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and social science class. Born in 1954, Volume 2).
  • Schelling's theological spiritual ancestors. Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1955 (= Academy of Sciences and Literature. Treatises of the humanities and social sciences class. Born 1955, No. 3).
  • Franz von Baader and Kotzebue. The picture of Russia from the restoration period (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born in 1957, No. 2).
  • The prophet Jakob Boehme. A study of the type of post-Reformation prophethood (= treatises of the humanities and social science class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born in 1959, No. 3).
  • The importance of the Greek Church for the West (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born 1959, No. 5).
  • Spirit and Life of the Eastern Church. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1957; extended edition Munich: Fink, 1971; 3rd edition Munich: Fink, 1988.
  • Ideas for a theology of the history of religion (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born in 1960, No. 5).
  • The superman . A discussion. Zurich: Rhein-Verlag, 1961.
  • ZEN from the west. Zen Buddhism - Zen Snobbery. Weilheim: Otto Wilhelm Barth, 1962.
  • The Protestant Thebais. On the aftermath of Macarius the Egyptian in Protestantism of the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and America (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. 1963, No. 1).
  • The Russian Church and Western Christianity. Nymphenburger, Munich, 1966, 186 pages (in memoriam: Leo A. Zander † December 17, 1964).
  • Les sources mystiques de la philosophie romantique allemande. Paris: Vrin, 1968.
  • The vision. Forms of experience and world of images , Stuttgart: Ernst Klett 1969
  • The Holy Spirit in America. Düsseldorf: Diederichs, 1970.
  • Description of Christianity. A historical phenomenology. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1975; revised and expanded new edition: Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1993.
  • Cosmic brotherhood: the plurality of worlds. To the history of ideas of the UFO belief. Freiburg, Aurum, 1978; 2nd edition 1990 under the title: Extraterrestrial Worlds. From Copernicus to the UFOs.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 38.
  2. ↑ Wording and list of signatures of the manifesto against the politicization of universities ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Blätter für German and international politics , born in 1968; Issue 8 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dearchiv.de
  3. ^ Marburg Manifesto , in: Der Spiegel of July 22, 1968
  4. ↑ http://www.suedkurier.de/region/bodenseekreis-oberschwaben/friedrichshafen/Ein-Theologe-mit-weitem-Horizont;art372474,2913003
  5. ↑ Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 1978, p. 288.
  6. ↑ http://www.suedkurier.de/region/bodenseekreis-oberschwaben/friedrichshafen/Ein-Theologe-mit-weitem-Horizont;art372474,2913003
personal data
SURNAME Benz, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benz, Ernst Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant theologian and church historian
DATE OF BIRTH 17th November 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Friedrichshafen
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1978
Place of death Meersburg